Konstantin Chaykin is internationally recognised as an independent watchmaker, inventor and creator of some of the most imaginative mechanical timepieces in contemporary horology. Yet watchmaking is only one expression of his artistic universe. 

While individual Chaykin timepieces have previously been presented in Asia, Searching for the Face of Time offers a rare opportunity to discover the artist beyond the watch itself. Bringing together works from different periods, including entirely new creations, the exhibition presents his watches alongside graphic artworks and paintings, revealing the connections between different aspects of his practice. 

The exhibition title refers to one of Chaykin’s most recognisable artistic ideas — and to a curious double meaning in the English language. A watch has a face, and for Chaykin, that face becomes quite literally a character. 

His celebrated Wristmons series transforms watch dials into expressive faces. Their eyes indicate the hours and minutes, while their mouths often display the phases of the Moon. Humans, animals, imaginary creatures and figures drawn from mythology become mechanical personalities, each with its own expression, character and sense of humour. 

Behind these apparently playful faces lies extraordinarily complex watchmaking. Chaykin’s achievement is not simply to decorate a mechanical watch with a recognisable image, but to make the mechanics themselves part of the artistic expression. Time becomes a living character, and the dial becomes a face capable of communicating emotion.

Yet the search for the face of time extends far beyond the watch dial. Even a simple gear from a watch mechanism becomes an anthropomorphic, zoomorphic or erotomorphic character in Chaykin’s artistic universe. Entire groups of these animated mechanical figures also appear in his self-portraits, where the artist depicts himself surrounded by his own creations.

The exhibition explores how Chaykin develops his ideas across different media. A drawing may become the starting point for a mechanical invention, while a character originally conceived for a watch can take on an independent life in graphic art or painting. 

Graphic artworks form an important part of this story. Once primarily associated with the design process, Chaykin’s drawings have become collectible artworks in their own right, achieving prices of tens of thousands of dollars at major international auctions.

The exhibition also introduces a side of Chaykin’s practice that remains largely unfamiliar even to many admirers of his watches: painting. His paintings have already achieved auction results of up to CHF 180,000, approximately USD 200,000, demonstrating that his artistic reputation extends well beyond the world of horology. 

Konstantin Chaykin’s style is often described as Horological Art. In his paintings, zoomorphic and erotomorphic forms become visual metaphors, rendered with the precision of a watch movement. This approach grew out of his rare gift for inventing intricate mechanisms. For more than twenty years, Chaykin has created watches of remarkable complexity, with more than a hundred patented inventions to his name. In painting, the knowledge and experience he gained through watchmaking find a freer form of expression.

By bringing together watches, drawings, limited-edition graphics and paintings, Eurus Gallery invites visitors to see Konstantin Chaykin not simply as an exceptional watchmaker, but as an artist whose ideas move freely between different forms of expression. 

It is through this complete picture — from the first sketch to the finished mechanical character, and from the watch to the canvas — that the exhibition reveals the imagination, humour and visual language behind Chaykin’s search for the face of time.