The race for ultra-thin watches was initiated by the Piaget brand in 2018, when it presented the Altiplano Ultimate Concept model with a 2-mm case. The competition was joined by the jewelry and watch house Bulgari and the Richard Mille company: gradually, model after model, the case thickness was reduced to a record 1.7 mm.
This year, watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin decided to break the record by presenting a new ultra-thin mechanical watch, ThinKing, the thickness of which reaches only 1.65 mm. The idea to create such a watch came to him thanks to a client. “This story began when, once, talking to a client, I showed him the project of my super-complicated wristwatch. He responded that all this, of course, is very cool, but there are probably more difficult tasks. Like, can I make an ultra-thin watch,” said Konstantin Chaykin.
ThinKing will be part of the Ristmon collection — watches with a smiling face-dial that made their author famous and made him the first European watchmaker in the Temporis Hall of Fame. The main feature of these watches is the signature joker-type mechanism, in which the hour (left) and minute (right) indicators act as the character's eyes, and the role of the smile, which usually served as a moon phase indicator, in ThinKing will be taken over by the brand logo.
The palanquin case (the palanquin has been used for centuries by rulers and nobles) of the new ThinKing will be made of a special grade of stainless steel, which will solve the problem of low rigidity in ultra-thin watches. Additional protection will be provided by a specially designed black alligator leather strap, which will help transfer the load from the case to the titanium insteps. The watch will also have an ultra-thin winding barrel with manual and automatic winding and a double balance, which counterbalances the movement of the mechanism.
