The Thinnest Mechanical Watch Ever Comes From a Brand You’d Never Expect

Measuring just 1.65mm, the aptly named ThinKing is a quirky watchmaking marvel inspired partly by an ultra-thin watch made 200 years earlier.

Konstatin Chaykin ThinKing watch sitting on a table on its side behind a piece of an ultra-thin watch movement

By Ben Bowers

Published August 30, 2024

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Updated August 30, 2024

Who can make the world’s thinnest mechanical watch? It’s a battle for watchmaking engineering supremacy that’s grown incredibly competitive in recent years, typically fought by well-known luxury brands like Piaget, Bulgari and Richard Mille.

Case in point, just four months ago, Bulgari took the crown back from Richard Mille with the release of its Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC Edition. At that time, I wrote, “Bulgari has snatched the world’s thinnest mechanical watch crown back and looks poised to hold on to it for years to come.” Boy, was I wrong.

A Russian watchmaking master has entered the ultra-thin watch race

Konstantin Chaykin working on a watch movement using a small watch tool while sitting at a table with a magnifying loupe in one eye. — Konstantin Chaykin is a Russian master inventor, watchmaker and clockmaker, probably best known for his so-called Wristmon series which initially launched in 2016

Just over four months after Bulgari’s snatched the title again, Konstantin Chaykin has come out of nowhere to wrest the mantle away. The appropriately named ThinKing watch is just 1.65mm thick. That’s 0.5 mm thinner than Bulgari’s watch for you caliper-wielding refs keeping score. The ThinKing also happens to be one of the lightest in the world, weighing 13.3 grams without the strap.

If you’re unfamiliar with Konstantin Chaykin, you’re not alone. He’s a Russian master inventor, watchmaker, and clockmaker, probably best known for his so-called Wristmon series, which launched in 2016 and now includes the new record-breaking ThinKing.

Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing watch shown in closeup on a man’s wrist. — Konstantin Chaykin is known for making watches with anthropomorphic faces.

The Wristmon name nods to the fact that all of the series’s watches feature anthropomorphic face-like dials resembling those of cartoonish monsters. Some faces are generic, while others feature recognizable characters, including the Joker and an animated Minion from the popular DreamWorks movie series.

Like other Wristmons, the newly unveiled ThinKing features separate hour and minute dials, each protected by 0.35 mm thick sapphire crystals forming the face’s “eyes. ” But unlike previous Wristmons entries, no other complications are visible. Instead, the “mouth” is formed via an engraved logo curled in a semi-circle smile.

Setting a new thinness record required a new strap design among other innovations

An imagine of the various parts and components of the Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing watch separated and arrange sitting on a table surface next to a watch tool and loupe. — Chaykin says his decision to design an ultra-thin watch was inspired by an ultra-thin Bagnolet pocket watch he encountered dating from the mid-19th century with a movement that was one millimeter thick, not counting the height of the hour and center wheels. If someone could design a timepiece that thin back then, Chaykin believed modern watchmakers should be able to make something similar.

The simple yet playful look of the ThinKing’s face belies several significant engineering innovations.

To reduce the thickness of the movement, Chaykin’s design places key hairspring and barrel components traditionally layered in a vertical stack side-by-side. This allowed the watch’s entire gear system to be built on just two levels.

Since ultrathin watches are naturally more susceptible to bending, Chaykin vaguely states that the ThinKing’s case is made from “a special steel” known for its exceptional rigidity.

But he also designed a new strap for the watch that he hopes to patent. It’s made of alligator leather and features a pair of flexible titanium supports and two elastic inserts sewn inside that are designed as force-absorbing outlets if extreme pressure is applied to the case.

The Konstantin Chaykin ThinKing watch worn on a wrist showed from the side to highlight the timepiece’s recording breaking thinness. — The ThinKing is technically thicker than a US nickel.

Someone might argue that the ThinKing doesn’t deserve the thin watch title, at least for now

As usual with modern ultra-thin designs, the ThinKing’s K.23-0 movement is directly integrated into the watch case to save space.

Though a key can technically wind the movement, Chaykin also designed a unique carrier mechanism that attaches to ThinKing, making it easier to use.

The so-called Case-PalanKing snaps on the back and around the sides of the ThinKing’s watch case. It includes an automatic winding mechanism and also adds a crown to the timepiece, allowing wearers to set the hands of the watch more traditionally. Chaykin specifically designed the accessory so that it could be worn on the watch for extra protection at the expense of making the watch bulk up to 5.4mm thick.

Graphic showing the Case-PalanKing accessory that snaps to the back of the ThinKing watch allowing it to be automatically or manually wound via a crown. — The novel Case-PalanKing accessory makes the ThinKing easier to wind and can be worn with the watch for additional rigidity.

Offboarding these key watch capabilities to a separate accessory might be viewed as an engineering cheap shot by some watchmaking sticklers.

After all, if more than one component is required to interact with all of the watch’s functions, why should only part of the system be measured for record breaking purposes?

But this also isn’t the first time we’ve seen a watchmaker competing in the ultra-thin category lean on an accessory to make the timepiece more pragmatic. Bulgari’s Octo Finissimo Ultra COSC Edition also comes with a separate box designed to make setting the watch more user-friendly.

The stronger argument for disqualifying the ThinKing from consideration, at least for now, is that it’s technically still a prototype and not available for purchase.

As such, Bulgari still technically holds the title of the world’s thinnest mechanical watch someone could actually buy. That said, owning a record based on a loophole is rarely something to brag about, and we’d bet that a production version of the ThinKing will appear eventually.

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