The White Rabbit Wrist/Pocket Watch Prototype

White Rabbit: now among the top 20 most complicated wristwatches in the world

The latest ‘White Rabbit’ Wristmon, featuring grand-complication-level functions, ranks among the twenty most complicated wristwatches in the entire history of horology.

The model incorporates 16 complications, including the first wristwatch perpetual calendar both in Russian watchmaking and in Konstantin Chaykin’s career. The watch also features a unique “secret” function that directly links this premiere to Lewis Carroll’s tale Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

At first glance, it is clear that one of the key inspirations behind the design is the perpetually hurried White Rabbit, anxiously checking his pocket watch. The titanium case, made up of 169 components, is both reversible and transformable, meaning the watch can be worn on the wrist or used as a pocket watch.

All ‘White Rabbit’ masterpieces were sold out long before the project was completed and never reached regular retail. This makes the Ineichen auction scheduled for 13 December 2025 the only chance for collectors to acquire the first ever working prototype of the model through a public sale. Bidding is already open.

All White Rabbit wristwatches were sold out long before completion, with no retail availability.

Thus, Lot 6 offers the only White Rabbit wristwatch ever to appear at auction — a grand-complication masterpiece ranking among the twenty most complicated wristwatches in the entire history of horology.

This is the first and only opportunity worldwide to acquire the model through a public sale.

As Lot 5, Ineichen will offer the original painting “A Mad Horological Party”, created by Konstantin Chaykin specifically for the White Rabbit project.

Although offered separately, the two lots form a rare dual narrative where a grand-complication wristwatch and the artistic universe that inspired it appear side by side.

The White Rabbit Wristwatch

An imaginary immersion into the surreal world of Alice in Wonderland — translated into the language of high complication.

The White Rabbit, unveiled in 2025, is one of the twenty most complicated wristwatches in the history of horology, featuring sixteen complications, including the first wristwatch perpetual calendar ever created in Russian watchmaking.

It is the fifth creation in Chaykin’s series of zodiac-themed wristmons, which began in 2019 with the Unique Pig, followed by the Mouse King (2020), Minotaur (2021), and other culturally layered interpretations of the Chinese zodiac.

Zodiac Origins and Literary Transformation

The White Rabbit was conceived in early 2023, as the Year of the Black Water Rabbit approached.

Following his tradition of blending zodiac themes with wider cultural contexts, Chaykin reinterpreted the zodiac symbol through literature, transforming it into the White Rabbit of Lewis Carroll—a character defined by his obsession with time and his iconic pocket watch.

The First Perpetual Calendar by Konstantin Chaykin

Inspired by Alice’s remark in Chapter Seven about “a watch that shows the day of the month but not the time,” Chaykin developed a fully in-house perpetual calendar, marking:

•  the first perpetual calendar of his career

• the first wristwatch perpetual calendar in Russian horology

The mechanism uses a traditional 48-segment month cam and main switching lever, enhanced with two major innovations:

• unidirectional safety transmission preventing reverse motion

• safe-correction system, allowing adjustments during the “red zone” (00:00–03:00) without risk of damage

A Project That Grew Beyond Itself

What began as a perpetual calendar rapidly expanded.

By early 2023 Chaykin had added:

• sunrise indicator

• sunset indicator

• daylength

• night-length

• moonphase

• dead-beat seconds (evolved from simple seconds)

• instantaneous a.m./p.m. indicator

• zodiac sign

He then introduced the idea of a reversible, transformable case and the poetic Suspended Time function.

The project continued evolving “until a sense of sufficiency emerged,” as Chaykin later wrote.

With sixteen complications, the White Rabbit approaches the complexity of Chaykin’s Stargazer (17 complications) and surpasses it in component count: 691 parts.

Suspended Time — “Time of a Mad Tea-Party”

Pressing the left-side pusher instantly moves both pupil-discs to 6:00, freezing the time and creating a surreal cross-eyed expression—an homage to the Mad Hatter’s eternal tea-party where “it’s always tea-time.”

This mechanically rare poetic complication visually embodies Wonderland’s surrealism.

Reversible, Transformable Case — 169 Components

The titanium case is both reversible and convertible between wristwatch and pocket-watch form.

It incorporates:

• multiple correctors

• the Suspended Time pusher

• dual dials

• reinforced internal architecture

With 169 components, the case alone surpasses the complexity of many complete calibres.

Haute Horlogerie Movement Finishing

Calibre K.34-1 features hand-finished details including:

• hand-polished anglage

• perlage

• circular & straight brushing

• black-polished steel

• rhodium-plated bridges

• gilded wheels

• spherical burnishing of pivots

• polished screw heads and countersinks

The movement comprises five main modules, each visually distinct and artistically arranged.

Complications of the White Rabbit

     1. Joker indication (hours/minutes)

              2–6. Perpetual calendar (date, day, month, leap-year)

      7. Daylength

      8. Night-length

      9. Dead-beat seconds

     10. Moonphase

             11–12. Instantaneous a.m./p.m.

    13. Sunrise

    14. Sunset

    15. Zodiac sign

    16. Suspended time