Introducing Some More Watch Madness: The Behrens × Konstantin Chaykin “Ace Of Hearts” In Three Materials
You don’t realize you want it if you can’t imagine it. Luckily, free-spirited watch brands like Konstantin Chaykin and Behrens have enormous imagination. When they collaborate, they reach new levels of watch madness. These two brands worked together for the first time three years ago and have joined forces again to create something that perfectly combines their styles. The lightweight trapezoidal watch with a caricaturist face is called the Behrens × Konstantin Chaykin “Ace of Hearts,” and this transparent creation comes out in different colors and materials — titanium, black and white carbon, and pink and light blue sapphire.
If you have seen the watch, you will remember it. In 2022, Chinese brand Behrens and Russian brand Konstantin Chaykin teamed up to create the “Ace of Spades.” The watch had a round case made of striking crystallized titanium, and on the dial, Chaykin’s instantly recognizable Joker face from his playful Wristmons series took center stage. Three years later, the two brands push the boundaries with another captivating watch, proving that, sometimes, 1 + 1 = 3.
Introducing the Behrens × Konstantin Chaykin “Ace of Hearts” in three materials
The Behrens × Konstantin Chaykin “Ace of Hearts” is greater than the sum of its parts. As you might know, I’m a fan of the Behrens Ultra-Light 11G. And although I won’t consider myself a fan of Chaykin’s style, I do appreciate his originality, and the open-worked Joker “Fiat Lux” is my favorite of his Wristmons. Something transcends both watch brands’ characteristic creations when the concepts come together. The Behrens Ultra-Light trapezoidal 42 × 37mm trapezoidal case seems to be the perfect frame to bring a slightly disturbing mechanical portrait to life. Because of the case shape and the large open spaces around the face, the “Ace of Hearts” presents itself with a hypnotizing and slightly menacing look in its eyes.
Behrens × Konstantin Chaykin “Ace of Hearts” in titanium
Time is in the eye of the beholder
The “Ace of Hearts” is a statement and a portable objet d’art, but it’s also a watch that will tell you what time it is. How? The left eye tells the hour with a circular indicator on an oval chapter ring. Similarly, the right eye contains a dot that moves along a track to show the minutes. There’s also a seconds hand. It’s inside the mouth at 6 o’clock, and it shows a red heart-shaped tip. And there’s more. The furrowed brow at 12 o’clock holds the power reserve indicator.
The face comes alive because the Behrens logo sits in the left eye and Konstantin Chaykin’s is in the right eye. The latter seems to wink at you in a mildly disturbing way. In the dark, things get particularly creepy because there’s luminous material in all the right places to show the shape of the face, and the glowing eyes start staring at you very intensely.
The in-house Behrens caliber BM07 powers all this horological folly. It’s a manual-winding movement that boasts 11 patents and provides 46 hours of power reserve. The minimalist color-coordinated movement is an impressive piece of micromechanics. It reveals brushed plates, mirror-polished pivots, and angled chamfers. Caliber BM07 is not only a micromachine but also the central aesthetic element and, quite literally, the beating heart of the Behrens × Konstantin Chaykin “Ace of Hearts.”
Versions and prices
Appreciating watches made by either Behrens or Konstantin Chaykin requires an open mind. This is experimental horology aimed at nonconformists. Behrens, especially, can be seen as a gateway to avant-garde Haute Horlogerie, sometimes named Nouvelle Horlogerie. In this fun and fabulous realm, brands like MB&F and Urwerk are masters of the universe. But they operate on a level that’s out of reach for many. The Behrens × Konstantin Chaykin “Ace of Hearts” is also not an entry-level luxury watch per se in the traditional marketplace. Still, in the wondrous, boundaryless world of Nouvelle Horlogerie, it acts as a gatekeeper.
The Behrens × Konstantin Chaykin “Ace of Hearts” is a limited edition offered in three case materials — lightweight Grade 5 titanium (600 watches, US$7,500), Behrens’s propriety carbon fiber SPSCF compound (150 pieces each in black or white, US$9,200), and translucent synthetic sapphire (80 in blue and 20 in pink, US$13,600). For more information and availability of the different Behrens × Konstantin Chaykin “Ace of Hearts” models, click here.
