Following the massive success of their first collaborative watch, Louis Erard and Konstantin Chaykin released the Time Eater II yesterday morning at 8 a.m. CST. As soon as it was announced that there would be a new collaborative watch between the two companies, we posted the news to our Instagram story, so hopefully those who were interested in these limited edition watches saw and were able to order one. Back in March, Louis Erard partnered with Konstantin Chaykin to release the Time Eater, a series of two watches modeled after Chaykin’s Joker watches, part of his Wristmons collection. Konstantin Chaykin is one of today’s most well-known independent watchmakers and is a member of the prestigious AHCI (in English: the Horological Academy of Independent Creators), an organization that includes the majority of today’s most respected independent watchmakers. His Wristmons watches have skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, and prices for his watches have risen as well due to immense market demand. The previous collaborative Louis Erard watches gave collectors a more affordable way to add two of Chaykin’s designs to their collection, and yesterday’s release helped to add another two to that list.
Konstantin Chaykin at his workshop in Moscow
While the watches are produced by Louis Erard, Chaykin himself designed the watches and incorporated his Wristmons collection’s signature time-telling style of having an eye serve as the hour hand into the design. For the initial release, he designed what is essentially a cyclops dial with one eye at the top signifying the hour as it looks around, a rotating mouth below serving as a subsidiary seconds, and a minutes hand that sort of looks like a mustache between the two. As the minutes hand stretches evenly across the dial, either side could be used to indicate minutes. One end sort of looks like a smaller mouth and the other I’d go ahead and assume is a middle finger.
The previous release included two watches, one in 42mm with green accents and one in 39mm with purple accents. The two colors were chosen as they tied into Chaykin’s previous Joker Wristmons watch, as the watch was inspired by the classic look of the Joker from the Batman comics and tv show. The main other distinguishing factor between the two is that the larger model had an applied “Konstantin Chaykin” nameplate at the top of the dial and an applied “Louis Erard” one at the bottom, whereas the smaller watch had stamped versions of each. Each version was limited to 178 pieces, although there was also a set that included both watches with a custom-made box that was limited to 28 pieces.
With this new version, there are a couple of big changes from the original releases. We still have two versions of the watch, each limited to 178 pieces, with a box set of the two limited to 28 pieces, and a box set including all four versions of the watch (including the two from the previous generation) limited to 8 pieces. In terms of dial changes that both of the new watches share, the minute hand is now in red, the eye (hour hand) is now bloodshot, the eye itself now has an iris (instead of just a pupil), and both have darker dials. Both also feature black toad skin straps with red stitching and red inner lining. Important features that carry over from the previous watches are the domed sapphire crystals with dual anti-reflective coating, as well as crowns featuring Konstantin Chaykin’s logo.
Now, turning to the differences between the two newer models, the 42mm version of the watch has a stainless steel case with an anthracite sunray wave pattern dial. Like the previous version, this 42mm version also has an applied nameplate for both Konstantin Chaykin and Louis Erard. The 39mm version has a black PVD-coated stainless steel case with a sunray wave dial in black and both watchmakers are stamped on the dial. This version also has a red sapphire display case back, whereas the 42mm version has a black sapphire case back. My one complaint is that I wish the 39mm version had used DLC rather than PVD coating.
Both watches use Sellita SW266-1 movements that beat at 4 Hz and have power reserves of 38 hours. The rotors for these movements are openworked as well and feature a black lacquered Louis Erard logo. Both watches are water resistant to 50m. In terms of availability, there is already a waitlist on the Louis Erard website for both pieces (while both were available for purchase earlier in the day), so it may be the case that both watches have already sold out, at least for the watches as individual pieces and not in sets.
For personal reasons, I actually wound up liking this watch to the point that I ordered the 42mm version. I’m hopeful that in a few weeks I’ll have hands-on pictures to share of it! It’s definitely not my usual style, but I love Konstantin Chaykin’s designs, and something about this particular model resonated with me to where I now have one on its way. At the very least, it’ll be a great watch to wear during Octobers.
The Louis Erard X Konstantin Chaykin Time Eater II in 42mm or 39mm is priced at 4,000 CHF. The set of both is priced at 7,900 CHF and the set of all four watches is priced at 15,900 CHF.