The CIGA Design Event Horizon watch (aka Black Hole), dedicated to black holes, is a talentedly conceived and impeccably executed design object. The cosmic idea determines not only the appearance, but also the design of the watch.
CIGA - watches as an object of design
CIGA Design was founded in 2012 and is more of a design company than a watch company. The founder, Zhang Jianmin, is one of the top 10 industrial designers in China. He studied industrial design at the university, worked as a graphic designer, worked on orientation systems in public places (airports, train stations, etc.) and architectural projects. For five years he was on the jury of the Chinese watch exhibition CWCF, and then he decided to work in this industry himself and founded his own company. By the way, the abbreviation, dissonant for the Russian ear, is also deciphered in a designer way: China International Great Art.
For 10 years, CIGA models have collected 16 international design awards, including 9 Red Dot Awards (for comparison, Chinese watchmakers have taken this award 13 times in total). In 2019, CIGA was the first Chinese watch to be shortlisted for the planet's main watch competition, the Geneva GPHG. Well, in 2021, the Blue Planet model won the GPHG in the Challenge category, and CIGA became the first ever Chinese GPHG winner.
The CIGA Design team has over 70 employees, including designers from 8 countries, from Norway to Australia and from China to Israel. The watch from our review, for example, was invented by the Australian Paul Cohen. But the production, as I understand it, is third-party: the watches are easier to use ready-made calibers from other manufacturers, and the complex Blue Planet mechanics for CIGA was developed by the Chinese watch giant Sea-Gull. Well, the most famous investors of CIGA Design are the e-commerce platform JD.COM and Xiaomi.
Space geek device
We have a watch dedicated to black holes on our review - CIGA Design Event Horizon (this name is indicated on the watch itself, but many sources call it Black Hole). In 2019, they set a record on the American crowdfunding platform Indiegogo, raising 100% of the funds needed for a watch release in less than an hour.
Event Horizon - the event horizon is the border of a black hole, because of which neither light nor any particles can escape. Everything that happens beyond the event horizon remains invisible to an external observer. And Event Horizon is a network of 8 radio telescopes that in 2019 were able to get the first photo of a black hole. The clock is dedicated to this photo.
There are watch companies that make limited editions and thematic models cheaply and cheerfully: an engraving on the cover, an image on the dial - and you're done. But when cool designers get down to business (and Paul Cohen is one of the best designers in Australia and the winner of dozens of awards), then design is expressed through construction. And then the magic happens.
The topic of black holes starts with packaging. A CIGA Design feature is book-shaped watch packaging: a cover, a first page with a thematic description, and then a thick box page that contains a watch and a strap. On the dust jacket of Event Horizon there is a schematic drawing of the gravity well of a black hole, on the cover there is an outline of a clock signed by Paul Cohen, on the flyleaf there is the same photo of a black hole.
On the first page is a list of major dates in the history of black hole research, ending with 2019 and the Event Horizon. The next translucent page again depicts a gravity well with a black hole in the center, and its role is played by the central, black part of the clock - this is the only thing that looks through the translucent lines of the well.
Next come the watch itself and instructions for them.
The theme of the gravity well is continued by the watch case. We are accustomed to straight or convex sapphire glass, but here it is slightly concave - as if dragging everything that falls on it, into the depths, to a massive black hole. The dial is again made in the form of a gravity well, bending smoothly and steeply towards the center, and the long risks of the minute markers resemble a grid of lines on the package. The clock is transparent through and through, because the gravity well has no bottom visible to us.
In the center of the dial is a black disk, the black hole itself. But, as it seems to me, there is a second meaning here: the disk closes the mechanism, so that it is beyond the event horizon. We do not see what is happening there, and we can judge this only by indirect signs - the tips of the arrows.
If you love space, you see these references and they are close to you - you will get high from the watch. And if you are not a geek on the space theme, then why would you need this watch?
Manufacturing level
In terms of quality, these watches leave a very good, but at the same time, a peculiar feeling. I generally associate them not so much with watches as with an expensive and high-quality gadget. Event Horizon looks modern and stylish thanks to the simple and clean lines of the brushed case, quite unlike the alternation of polish and satin and the complex sharp edges that we appreciate in traditional watches. I would say that they are like instrumental watches, but their design concept is too dissonant with instrumentality.
About ten years ago I first picked up my iPhone 5. I remember the impressions that I received from the pleasantly heavy aluminum case, unusually laconic and stylish packaging, polished operating system. Similar impressions were left from Event Horizon, and I like it.
I haven't been able to find any manufacturing flaws. And in general, the only thing I could find fault with is an open caliber. It is too ordinary for this incredible design object, and besides, it is not decorated. Was it worth it to open? As for me, a controversial decision.
There's something wrong with me
But when I put on this watch, the feeling does not let me go: "Something is wrong." I can't figure out what exactly. Maybe the dissonance of a huge body and a small caliber? Watches do not complain about this. Or maybe in life the watch turned out to be much larger than I expected from the photo? This size feels a little awkward.
Or maybe all due to the fact that this watch looks extremely strange and unusual on the hand? Yes, they do not look like a watch at all - rather, like some kind of cunning bracelet. Well, wearing such a huge and atypical bracelet is strange, unusual and “somehow not right” for me. A kind of "uncanny valley" for watches: not a watch, not a gadget, not a bracelet, but something else. Unnatural and slightly alien.
As a result, I am inspired to read the meanings inherent in these hours. I like to twist them in my hands and admire them. But wearing them - alas, is not quite comfortable.
Ease of use
Zhang Jianming said that as a watch designer he was influenced by bauhaus principles. At first glance, nothing in common. Bauhaus is functionalism and convenience, Event Horizon is design and symbolism. At a second and closer look, there is something in common. Yes, the concept of the Horizon severely limits it in terms of practicality, but within these limitations, almost all possible convenience was squeezed out of it.
For starters, the huge (46 mm in diameter, 13,7 mm in thickness) watch sits comfortably on the wrist. This is the merit of a shape resembling a bowl narrowed down. They don’t really fit under the sleeve: a jacket or a sweatshirt is no problem, but the shirt cuffs are gone (but you’re not going to wear this watch with a shirt, are you?).
The crown is slightly felt when bending the arm, but since it is raised above the wrist by a good 2-3 mm, it does not really interfere. It is convenient to use it - still, it is quite large.
Water resistance would be desirable not WR30, but WR100 - in vain, perhaps, the case is so large. Sapphire glass seems to be without anti-glare, but in the light it does not particularly glare and is not lost. However, for some mysterious reason, it easily collects dirt and fingerprints - even when no one seems to have touched it at all.
You can’t understand the time readings from the floor – you have to peer for a second. However, it is not only quite possible to use this watch as a watch, but it does not cause any particular inconvenience. At least while I had Event Horizon on my left hand, I never once caught myself wanting to watch the time on a smart watch on my right hand instead. After half an hour / hour, the colored tips of the hands above the void are already perceived as quite contrasting and more or less normally read, and the lighter arch-hand intuitively looks like a minute, and a darker one looks like an hour.
At least that's how it works during daylight hours. It will be much more difficult in the dark: the lume is only on the minute hand (and don't ask why).
The watch comes with a thick, good silicone strap. But I didn't even unpack it, because the braided bracelet is even better. It matches the design of the watch better, it is flexible, and it is convenient to use it - how convenient can a bracelet with a clasp without pushers, which you have to pry with your nails. However, both the strap and the bracelet are quick-detachable, so you can change one for the other at least several times a day.
The watch is equipped with the Seiko NH05 caliber. It has a two-way automatic winding and manual winding, but there is no stop second. It is small in size and is generally positioned as a caliber for women's watches, but for the Event Horizon concept, such a baby was just needed. Power reserve - 40 hours, passport accuracy - prohibitively reinsurance -35 ... + 35 seconds per day. Real, as usual, much better.
The upper half of the case is qualitatively and finely brushed, the lower half is qualitatively finished with sandblasting. Now it looks good, but the watch is titanium and seems to be without a protective coating. What they will become after a couple of years of socks - who knows! However, for those who are very worried about titanium, there is a steel version.
Verdict
There is a much more readable, practical and convenient watch in the world than the Event Horizon. But if you liked the Horizon as a design object, then you can safely buy it: you can also use it as an everyday watch to tell the time.
Event Horizon didn’t work for me for subjective and not entirely clear reasons for me. However, I sincerely admire the ideas embedded in it, the high-quality, beautiful work of the designer, the style and workmanship. The name CIGA doesn't lie: it really is Great Art.
