Two crowns and four positions are used together to set a four-digit code in order to open a mechanical combination lock. When the code is entered correctly, the stem is released allowing you to wind the mechanical movement, set the time, or unscrew the case back. When I read the email from the creator about his mechanical lock on a watch, I was skeptical, I instantly envisioned a fortress that would turn the watch into some giant ugly safe. But if you've seen my collection, you know I am fascinated by all unusual watch complications. The quirkier they are, the more fascinated I am. So I kept reading and studying the project renders. What surprised me most was how seamlessly Denis Gladkov, the creator of the complex mechanical lock, integrated the idea into a watch case. I arranged a couple of calls with Denis and asked him to create a set of unique animations so that you could see the world premiere of his mechanical combination safe lock integrated into a?watch.Gladkov’s dream projectQuite literally! Last year on February 5th, Denis had a dream that his Breguet wristwatch was stolen. “I woke up with such strong resentment in my soul. How could this have happened? Why is there no lock in the watch like in a safe, so that the attacker could not use the watch and profit off of it?”, Denis explains how the story began. Inspired by this dream, he studied the numbers and realized that watch theft is a big issue globally. The FBI website estimates that the jewelry and watch industry in the US alone loses more than $100 million annually in retail theft. Paris reports that thefts of luxury watches rose 28% and Katya Hill, the managing director of the Watch Register, reports another 10,000 stolen watches in just the past 12 months.Watch stealing is a big “business”Denis could not stop thinking about his dream. That's why he started to think about protecting a watch in a way, that even when stolen, the thief couldnt use it. He decided to design a protection system, which if attempted to be broken into, would devalue the entire watch. In the beginning, he had to identify a node that can be blocked without disrupting the normal operation of the watch. The stem that allows to wind the watch and set the time, appeared to be the vital part, around which Denis decided to design the locking mechanism.