Russian Independent watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin just celebrated his brand’s 10th anniversary last week, so I’ve decided to celebreate with a a review of one of his pieces. Back in August I shared a review of the Hijra, an Islamic watch made by independent Russian watchmaker Konstantin Chaykin; one of the few if not the only mechanical watch with a complete Islamic “Hijri” lunar calendar. Here’s a look at his other Abrahamic religion-inspired piece, the Decalogue Rega.
I admittedly don’t know nearly as much about Judaism as I do about Islam, so please don’t hesitate to point out any mistakes I write here. The Decalogue is the name of the Ten Commandments, handed down to Moses in the presence of the sons of Israel on Mount Sinai on the fiftieth day after the Exodus from Egypt. The Konstantin Chaykin Decalogue gets its name from its silvered dial decorated with Aramaic letters (Hebrew is based on Aramaic) that symbolize the Ten Commandments. 
The off-centered hours and minutes dial is also unique. Instead of the usual Roman or Arabic numerals, the hours are marked by letters of the Jewish alphabet. It is with their numerical value, or “gematria”, that their numerical values can be interpreted. This recalls the Kabbalistic teachings that consider letters to be a type of “reflection” of the original divine scripture. Because Hebrew is read from right to left, the hours are marked in reverse order and the hands turn anticlockwise. So where for example a standard watch would read “3:15” the Decalogue would read “9:45”. It’s actually more intuitive than you would imagine. 
The Konstantin Chaykin is the only wristwatch on earth able to give two Jewish units of time, “halakim” and “rega”. In the Jewish calendar, the hour is divided into 1080 halakim. A single “helek” is 31/3 seconds or 1/18 minute. One halak is made of 70 moments or “regaim”, which measure approximately 44 milliseconds. The helek is indicated by the dial’s rotating blued Star of David, while the rega is indicated by a fast-moving hand and subdial on the movement (back) side of the watch. 
The movement is also decorated with several Jewish symbols. The Lion of Judah, engraved here in gold, is the symbol of the Israelite tribe of Judah. The barrel is also engraved with a golden Star of David. The movement is otherwise decorated in traditional wide Côtes de Genève stripes with hand-beveled and polished edges. 
The Konstantin Chaykin Decalogue Rega is available in several case and dial combinations, and comes at a price of around $28’000 for the gold case versions. More information at www.konstantin-chaykin.com
