It’s refreshing to come across a serious master watchmaker who knows how to have fun. Konstantin Chaykin, the Russian indie watchmaker, knows how to inject humour into his creations, including the anthropomorphic face of his smiling ThinKing, the world’s thinnest mechanical watch with a profile of just 1.65mm. His popular menagerie of Wristmons (wrist monsters) welcomes Matroskin the Cat, a striped talking cat who first appeared in a children’s novella by Eduard Uspensky and is now a pop culture icon. Chaykin, in collaboration with Soyuzmultfilm Animation Studio, has adopted Matroskin as a new pet for his Wristmon family with some fun details that bring the tabby cat to life.
Matroskin, who debuted in Uspensky’s 1974 novella Uncle Fyodor, the Dog and the Cat, also starred in an animated film produced by Soyuzmultfilm Studio. A beloved cultural reference, Matroskin was voted Russia’s favourite animated character in 2025, the same year that Chaykin and Soyuzmultfilm Animation Studio signed a collaboration deal.
Like the cartoon character, Chaykin’s interpretation of Matroskin’s face is constantly changing. Chaykin’s proprietary double-disc time display turns the hour and minute display into the eyes. Rotating at different speeds, Matroskin’s large green eyes indicate the hours (left) and minutes (right) with a white circular indicator. Up to 25 layers of lacquer are used to create the depth and lustre of Matroskin’s expressive eyes.
To suggest the cat’s fur, the grey galvanic-coated background surrounding the eyes is subjected to abrasive blasting. A distinctive feature shared by all tabby cats is the M-shaped marker found on their foreheads. The raised, rounded black shapes at noon recreate the cat’s signature forelock and display Konstantin Chaykin’s logo. The whiskers framing the cat’s plump white muzzle are crafted in guilloché relief and extend from the dial to the bezel. Depicted with a wide-open smiling mouth, the bright red tongue also changes position to indicate the current phase of the moon.
The 40mm stainless steel case with a height of 12.15mm replaces the top lugs with feline-shaped ears. To highlight their shape and depth, the recessed areas of the ears are sandblasted. The whiskers on the bezel are treated similarly with raised brushed areas and sandblasted recesses for a strong tactile appeal. In contrast to the circular-brushed areas, the bevels of the lugs and their undersides, the crown, the bezel and the ring over the screwed-down caseback are polished.
Powering the lively face of Matroskin is the modular calibre K.18.27 fitted with a La Joux-Perret G200 automatic base and Chaykin’s in-house 85-part Joker module. The movement has a frequency of 4Hz and a power reserve of 68 hours and features high-end finishes throughout.
Matroskin the Cat is paired with a black-and-grey leather strap inspired by the stripes of tabby cats’ tails. The watch is a limited edition of 90 pieces and retails for CHF 18,800. More information at konstantinchaykin.com.