SHADOW
A ONE EYED CAT
One of the most unique design briefs that we've ever had - this timepiece was designed to reflect a customer's one eyed cat.
The special pet was adored by the owners and they wanted a jewellery piece that reflected the uniqueness of their animal.
'Shadow' was motley rescue cat who lost one eye before it came into the loving care of its new owners.
The design reflected a number of the feline's unique elements to those in the know, while still maintaining an overall elegant appearance.
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The timepiece features a skeletonised dial, with a single eye shaped cutout, aligned over the balance wheel of the movement, slender index markers (in triplicate at the 9 & 3 positions), mother of pearl insetS, elegant tapered custom made hands, and a textured dial featuring a repeating eye engraving.
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This timepiece is part of a pair, with the MK2 watch - one timepiece each for a husband and wife.
SHORTCUTS ON THIS PAGE
DESIGN CUES
Cutout in watch dial
The dial is designed with a large cutout, so that you can peer through the watch face and see parts of the movement underneath.
The cutout is designed to resemble a cats eye, with the center located over the ruby within the balance wheel which rotates when the watch is in use.
38mm watch case
Waterproof to 3am, this stainless steel case included a exhibition glass case back to allow the full movement to be viewed through the back.
Engraved watch crown
As a reference to Shadow, the crown has an egraving of a cat, with a tail in the shape on an ‘S’.
Coloured dial
The colour of the watch dial is designed to resemble the cat’s fur colour. The dial was also textured to give it additional depth
Hour markers
Chromed baton shaped hour markers were incorporated around the dial. The three markers at the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions are a reference to feline whiskers
JL symbol
As a reference to the wearer, their initials 'JL’ were included into the face of the watch, inlay with mother of pearl.
Unique watch hands
A set of elegant watch hands were also designed and fabricated in-house, to complement this design
MOVEMENT
The timepiece uses a NH70 skeletonised automatic movement, made by Seiko Japan.
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As this watch was one of two, for a husband and wife (its accompanying timepiece is the MK2 watch). The same movement was used in both watches, to create a connected between the pieces.
Skeletonised design
Parts of the metal have been removed to allow you to see more of the internal cogs and gears inside.
Twenty-Four Jewels
This refers to the number of rubies embedded into the movement. Rubies are used as they have a hardness close to diamond and therefore don't create much friction on moving parts.
FRONT
21,600 beats per hour
This is the number of times that the mechanical balance (brass wheel) rotates.
Automatic movement
The weight on the back moves as it is worn, keeping the watch powered up. The watch never requires batteries.
BACK
PHOTOS
BUILD VIDEOS
Protoyping the dial out of 0.25mm brass​
Custom making the watch hands
Designing and 3D printing a movement holder (holds the movement in the case)
