The True Cyclo is the third in a series of six watches where Rado collaborates with today’s up and coming modern designers across multiple genres. Today, we consider at the work of Philippe Nigro.
From targeted ads on our smartphones to increasingly immersive outdoor advertising, many things fight for our attention yet nothing holds it in the cacophony of competing voices. Enter French designer Philippe Nigro, taking his muse of theatre’s infinite cyclorama – a piece of canvas meant to evoke the illusion of an infinite sky or some other background onstage, Nigro has managed to create a minimalist timepiece in the Rado True Cyclo which succeeds in maximising your perception of time.
Conveying quiet elegance with its harmonious blend of matt black and silver surfaces, the Rado x Philippe Nigro True Cyclo creates the seductive appeal of minimalist simplicity with its smooth concoction of ultra-reflective and ultra-matt surfaces resulting in an automatic timepiece which is not only an interesting combination of contrasts but also one of distinctive distraction.
How so? The understated silver-coloured dial boasts a satin finish, concave shape, highly reflective face with round date window at 6 o’ clock, expressing a minimalist attitude but upon casting your gaze watch ward, the reflection of countless myriad of surfaces and textures behind you become simultaneously apparent catching all details but defining non of it. There’s a poetic expression in the Rado True Cyclo but it never forces its perspective on you, allowing you to make of it what you will – much like a theatre’s cycloram – an infinite canvas to express any mood.
Standing in contrast, are the hands, logo, and rounded, recessed indexes all feature the same slightly contrasting grey-coloured finish – the True Cyclo is minimal yet highly detailed. Housed within a matt black high-tech ceramic case houses the creation, the True Cyclo hugs your wrist with tapered ceramicized titanium end pieces attached to a sleek black leather strap. What results from Rado’s collaboration with Nigro is a discreet yet powerful, True Cyclo Swiss automatic timepiece.
“There’s something very reassuring about wearing an automatic wristwatch – a purely mechanical object that keeps us grounded in this hypertechnological world, the attachment that each of us forms to such an object, for our own specific reasons, encourages a sense of intimacy and creates a strong emotional bond with the object.” – French designer Philippe Nigro
Indeed, the provenance of Rado’s signature material has undeniably high tech roots thanks to attributes like beauty, lightness and scratch resistance and Nigro manages to use the avant garde ceramic material as a matt black canvas to play up the organic qualities of texture and the concave reflective surface of his watch face.
“I love the clean simplicity of the True Cyclo, this is a timepiece that radiates an air of purpose and versatility. Philippe Nigro’s vision of minimalism is a perfect addition to the Rado collection.” – Rado CEO Matthias Breschan
The True Cyclo, as with other Rado True watches in the collection, is powered by the ETA C07.611 Swiss automatic movement. Nigro, a graduate of industrial design in Lyon and product and furniture design in Paris, has worked as an independent designer since 1999, creating products, furniture, lighting, interior architecture, events and scenography for international brands and his experience with lightplay truly makes the Rado True Cyclo, an object of simple seduction.
Rado True Cyclo Singapore Price and Availability
The Rado True Cyclo designed by Philippe Nigro will be available at:
Rado Boutique, Marina Bay Sands, #B1-86
Price: SGD 2410
Limited to 1001 pieces, the Rado True Cyclo features Philippe Nigro’s signature style housed in one of Rado’s most sought-after watch designs. Check out the previous Rado timepiece, the True Blaze featuring Sam Amoia’s signature style., or Big-Game’s True Phospho. Click to find to out more