Why? Why write about a modern watch? Well because such a thing as modern history also exists. The Iraq War, the Great Recession, and other significant, recent events of our time have been written about, so why not write about a significant watch?
So, what makes the Mars Conqueror so noteworthy? There are two main aspects: it’s implication on the industry landscape and the technological innovation behind it. You see, the Mars Conqueror is not only an excellent example of where the industry finds itself today, but also a show of where its going in the future. Watches based off of unique concepts; remember we discussed the Laco RAD-AUX before? Instead of incorporating ‘1950s British Racing spirit’, ‘Early pilot watch design’, or otherwise, it was inspired by a contemporary pastime – a video game. The Mars Conqueror is also inspired by something novel: human’s capacity to go to Mars. Konstantin Chaykin, the watchmaker behind this beast, was inspired by Elon Musk’s Space-X program to create this watch. Today, NASA, Roscosmos, the UAE Space Agency, Boeing, and many others have joined Space-X in their pursuit of bringing human civilization to Mars and this watch would become the first extraterrestrial tool watch.
That’s right, it’s a tool watch that’s relevant to this century, how? Because it shows not only UTC but also average solar time…on Mars! Talk about travel watches, eh? It does so using a triangular, ETA 2836-2 based movement. Chaykin mounted a 159-part, 30-wheel ‘Martian’ module on top of the original movement and the third dial also includes the relative positions of the two planets. All in, the movement took only 8 months to develop.
So why Mars Conquerer? Because the combination of innovative technology and futuristic inspiration is exactly the direction in which mechanical watchmaking needs to go in to compete with things like smartwatches. We need tools for the 21st century that are inspired by concepts that are relevant to their consumers today. And the people working towards these ever more difficult goals deserve praise.