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Early bird pricing for the Ciga Design Blue Planet Gilding Edition is a modest $1,899 USD (expect to see an increase to $2,199 in a few days). We liked this piece so much, we included it on our best watches from Chinese brands list. The ceramic crown offers enough grip and fits nicely in the overall design. It is connected to the automatic movement that powers this timepiece. CIGA Design doesn’t tell much about this Chinese-made movement, which looks a lot like the workhorse movements ETA and Sellita make.
BUILT ENVIRONMENT BOARD
Rakesh also has a broad experience in hydrogen production and purification technologies. If we start with the exterior of the watch, the CIGA Design Blue Planet looks and feels perfectly round, like a pebble. Although it’s something very common in the industry as it immediately reminds us of Ikepod, it matches the overall theme of the watch perfectly. Our review watch came with a titanium case, which measures 46mm in diameter and tops out at 15mm in height due to the domed sapphire crystal. The crown has a nice profile and feels very sturdy, although it can be a bit fiddly to extract.
CIGA Design Launches Magician-Inspired Watch Series on Indiegogo - PR Newswire
CIGA Design Launches Magician-Inspired Watch Series on Indiegogo.
Posted: Fri, 15 Jul 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]
It almost doesn’t look like a watch
As Founder and Chair of Integral Group, Kevin leads a global team of driven and committed leaders transforming the industry through engineering excellence. Bringing over 30 years of experience to the engineering profession, Kevin has spent the past 15 years focusing on green design and advancing its cause. Kevin leads the Integral team to explicitly deliver on the current needs of the profession across the globe. He is Former Chair of the World Green Building Council (World GBC), Past Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council, Cascadia Chapter and a Cofounder of its Canadian counterpart, the Canada Green Building Council, and also serves as a faculty member to the USGBC and CaGBC. He is a Professional Engineer in 6 states in North America and also in the UK.
TECHNICAL ADVISORY BOARD
The name popped up for the first time last year when the Blue Planet was pre-selected for the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève Challenge Award (which it ended up winning!). Now, a year later, we’ve finally had a chance to enjoy a hands-on with the fascinating CIGA Design U-Series Blue Planet in titanium and determine if it is any good. The special caliber used in the Blue Planet has a power reserve of 40 hours and an accuracy of +30/-15 seconds per day. CIGA Design doesn’t specify what the caliber is or is based on. However, it’s visible through the exhibition case back beneath the printed text indicating the Blue Planet’s GPHG award from 2021.
Here’s where things go from visually engaging to horologically compelling. The dial features two additional rings, a rotating minute scale, and a static hour scale. The time display is described by CIGA Design as “non-synchronous tracking,” and it involves the compass rose not only pointing to the hour but also the minute. This is possible thanks to the movement’s modified gearing ratio, which sees the minute ring rotate an additional 30° each hour. Considering the dial alone, it’s no surprise that the CIGA Design Blue Planet won the GPHG Challenge Award.
I say that, because although the Blue Planet has a proprietary method of telling the time, it’s ultimately produced by Sea Gull. The watch is rated for 30M of water resistance, which means don’t take it swimming, but it’ll stand the test of most daily activities. While established marques have a variety of lines and a rich heritage with which to build upon existing success, the “sophomore album” problem can be a major challenge for a newer watchmaker. Beyond the need to build upon the foundation of its award-winning core design, the brand has arguably taken up the mantle of delivering innovative Chinese horology to the masses, which only adds to the pressure on its current slate of releases. With this in mind, any follow-up to the 2021 release of the CIGA Design Blue Planet is bound to garner intense enthusiast scrutiny. Rather than resting on its laurels, the brand takes the GPHG-winning base model and adds a new layer of visual drama and material quality.
The Award-Winning CIGA Design Blue Planet Titanium
The strap tucks in underneath the pebble case and can easily be exchanged thanks to quick-release pin bars. The competitors in the Challenge category consisted of watches from AnOrdain, Doxa, Furlan Marri, Massena Lab and Oris. The fact that CIGA Design won the Challenge award marks the first time a Chinese watch company has received an award for a mechanical watch, a sign that things might be changing with regard to the perception of Chinese watchmaking.
From the side, the Blue Planet resembles a UFO in the most traditional sense — a flying saucer. I haven’t quite wrapped my head around what the symbolism is for a watch with a case that resembles an alien spacecraft housing a representation of the earth. It’s simple, it’s inventive—and the hardest and most impressive part—it avoids being needlessly convoluted. You don’t have to scratch your head for a bit to work out the time. Dare I say it, simpler even than traditional hands and markers.
There’s technical interest behind its unique looks
Functionally, though, this is the same dial display as its predecessor. For those that are unacquainted with the line, the world map-style central dial is essentially a large circular hours hand. The compass rose element works in tandem with the fixed outer hours ring to indicate the current hours.
I’m wearing the CIGA Design Blue Planet, a watch of radical design and radical mechanics that is thoroughly grounded, if you catch my drift. I’m not sure a louder statement piece has graced my wrist before. This makes you almost overlook the quality of the rings surrounding the domed inner section. While CIGA Design could have easily gotten away with printing the scale, they made them in relief. The first is that they are much easier to read from different angles. Additionally, does it also add to the play of light and the depth perception of the watch.
Purpose is always a good look, in my opinion, and these elements could (theoretically) also be integrated in an attractive way (using color, perhaps). You want to look closely at details like this — and when you do (such as with a loupe or macro lens) you find that they’re not sloppily rendered. Still, step back, and the globe motif is recognizable even from a distance. This is a weird but captivating watch — one that’s chock full of talking points if nothing else. It might not be for everyone but…then again, it may be just right for you. The CIGA Design Blue Planet does one thing and does it exceptionally well.
The model marked the first time that a Chinese company won a GPHG Award for the Challenge Prize. It was a significant win for the brand, and a testament to how far Chinese watchmaking has come over the years. This week however, CIGA has released a new model based on the Blue Planet with an interesting take on what the Blue Planet already did really well. We had the opportunity to go hands on with the all new CIGA Design Blue Planet Gilding Edition, so of course we took it.
Ken Hines has over 30 years experience in the semiconductor, software and intellectual property markets, driving deals based on intellectual property licensing models, including the assertion of patents. He has extensive global experience with multinationals, having done licensing deals with revenue values up to $250M. Most recently Ken was VP of Licensing at Rovi Corporation, a software company focused on content solutions for PayTV, where he was responsible for Rovi’s North America patent assertion and licensing program with revenue of ~$85M/year.
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