CIGA Design is no stranger to the global stage, having won the Challenge Watch Prize at the 2021 Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève with its U Blue Planet. Now, the Chinese-based watchmaker is back, continuing to make waves since its founding in 2016. The maison's latest piece is the super avant-garde Eye of Horus, a highly engineered and highly revered timepiece, such that at the time of publishing it had surpassed its crowd-funding goal by over 1,000%.
The CIGA Design Eye of Horus draws inspiration from Egyption mythology and features an aesthetic not that dissimilar to some fairly more expensive watches. What we have with the Eye of Horus is an unimpeded view of the piece's inner workings thanks to a completely openworked inverted design.
At the centre of this web of skeletonised bridges lies a rotating triangle depicting the literal eye of Horus, which makes one full rotation every 60 seconds. The translucent nature of the CIGA Design Eye of Horus is apparent both dial-side and case-side. What we also have here is an abundance of luminescence, applied to the hands, and rotating triangle and hour markers. This adds a touch of mystique to the piece that is already wonderfully intriguing.
Encasing the CIGA Design Eye of Horus is a bioceramic case with heat-hardened mineral glass that is virtually scratch and shock proof. This type of material is wonderfully light too, enhancing wearability more so than many other metals and alloys.
The CIGA Design Eye of Horus is powered by the brand's first ever custom-created Calibre CD 01 movement. It boasts enhanced stability from the X-frame, visible through the inverted dial. What we have is a piece that has a power reserve of 40-hours and a chronometrical deviation of only 15 seconds every 24 hours.
The CIGA Design Eye of Horus is available for USD269 with shipment estimated for February 2024.