STAR CHRONICLE MECHANICAL BLACK

The STAR CHRONICLE collection received the Winner Award in the prestigious German Design Awards 2025 competition, and was also honored with gold awards in the international design competitions MUSE Design Awards 2024: Season 2 and NY Product Design Awards 2025: Season 1.

The HVILINA Star Chronicle collection is inspired by ancient Belarusian myths and legends about the Moon and the Sun, and our ancestors' understanding of celestial mechanics. Many of these legends predate the advent of writing.

Iryna Klimkovich - journalist-publicist, former employee of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus, co-author of the encyclopedic dictionary "Belarusian Mythology" - helped the HVILINA team gather unique material.

In the model descriptions, you can read about the intricacies of the design and engineering solutions, as well as some amazing stories behind the Star Chronicle collection! The full history of the myths and legends will be published later, in a separate article on our website.

FEATURES:

• movement - Miyota 9122 premium automatic, 26 jewels, 40-hour power reserve, accuracy -10+30 seconds per day;
• functions: date, day of the week, month;
• front and back glass - sapphire;
• case material - stainless steel;
• quick-release strap made of genuine leather with a butterfly clasp;
• water resistance - 100 meters;
• engraving on the case back;
• decorated crown;
• specially crafted movement rotor, adorned with a seal;
• case diameter - 43 mm;
• case thickness - 12.6 mm;
• strap width - 22 mm;
• limited edition - 500 pieces of each model;
• warranty – 24 months;
• watch lifespan – from 10 years.

Our ancestors' ideas about cosmic order and the interaction between celestial luminaries changed over centuries under the influence of science, culture, and religion. However, many even the most archaic tales reflect real astronomical events. The Star Chronicle collection is inspired by these amazing stories.

As a visual representation of the Moon and the Sun on the dial, HVILINA designers developed a stylized image of Francysk Skaryna's original 16th-century coat of arms.

It is no coincidence that the Moon is depicted on the dial in its first quarter. In archaic tradition, the full Moon and the first-quarter Moon were perceived as two different celestial bodies. The full Moon embodied masculinity, while the first-quarter Moon embodied femininity. Compositionally, the dial represents the sky, featuring the Moon and the Sun, crafted in the style of medieval artworks: massive hands with complex shapes, a starry sky pattern, and hand elements.

According to one ancient myth, which has survived under the name "Celestial Family" or "Celestial Wedding," the Sun and Moon represent an ideal married couple: the Sun is feminine, embodying the ideal Lady, while the Moon is masculine, appearing as the ideal Lord. The stars are their children. The cosmos is their home and yard, together embodying a perfectly ordered universe.

But even in this perfect order, disruptions sometimes occur, with the Moon being the main culprit due to the variability of its nature. Thus, it sometimes courted Vechernitsa (Venus), for which it was severely punished by Perun. Astronomically, this corresponds to periodic conjunctions of Venus and the Moon in the sky.
The watch is powered by a Japanese Miyota 9122 premium automatic movement with 26 jewels. The watch features a calendar displaying the date, day of the week, and month. The case is made of stainless steel. The crown is adorned with a prominent brand dial. Sapphire glass front and back reliably protect against scratches. Water resistance is 100 meters.

The transparent case back reveals a specially crafted movement rotor with a seal designed in the form of a batleika, where the Sun and Moon appear as the main characters of the "cosmic theater." Batleika is a Belarusian folk puppet theater that has been widespread since the early 16th century. The stylization of the batleika on the movement's rotor represents the theatricality and lyricism with which our ancestors described the phenomena they observed.

The volumetric box is also designed in the shape of an improvised batleika and can accommodate up to two models: men's and women's for paired ordering. The collection is limited, with 500 pieces of each model to be produced.     

As part of the limited collection, 1% of the models feature a unique seal on the calendar dial. The seal is located at the position of one of the date numerals; for men's models, it is an image of a bull, which is associated with the Moon. Their connection was revealed as early as the Paleolithic era when people noticed that during a new moon, the crescent of the nocturnal luminary resembled bull's horns. In this way, we emphasize the symbolism of celestial illumination, which speaks of strength, determination, and perseverance. There is no possibility of deliberately selecting such models; they will find their owners in a random order.