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To be honest, seeing anything that conceptual and original in the cheap category is basically unheard of.And it’s easy to see why. It doesn’t just challenge our expectations for what can be achieved in affordable watchmaking, it challenges our expectations for Chinese watchmaking, too. And, most importantly, it challenges our mindset towards the world we live on, without which there would be no watches at all. Dan Tangherlini is the Managing Director of Emerson Collective, a social change organization.
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That same year, he earned his first Academy Award in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. Now a five-time Academy Award nominee and Golden Globe winner, DiCaprio has produced and starred in many award-winning films – The Wolf of Wall Street, The Great Gatsby, Django Unchained, J. Edgar and Inception - to name a few. He recently starred in The Revenant for which he won a Golden Globe for Best Actor, and an Academy Award for Best Actor. In 2014, DiCaprio was designated as a United Nations Messenger of Peace with a focus on climate change, received the Clinton Global Citizen Award, and addressed the UN Summit. In 2016, DiCaprio was awarded a Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum in Davos for his work to address climate change.
There’s technical interest behind its unique looks
Jennifer McFarlane is a global finance executive and investment banker. Board Director of three organizations, including Chair, Audit and Compensation Committees. Prior Board experience with Australian NASDAQ-quoted company that regularly accessed global capital markets.
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That being said, the Sea-Gull x CIGA Design movement, while technically unspecified does come with a pretty standard spec list. It carried 30 jewels with a 40-hour Power-Reserve and is visible through a sapphire caseback. It’s well-decorated, so it definitely gives the wearer something visually interesting to look at. And, yes, I know it’s fine for a watch to exist for its own sake. That said, I would’ve liked to have seen some sort of effort made towards actually affecting some good in the world on CIGA Design’s part beyond making such an Earth-centric watch.
” Despite its prominent globe motif, it’s also kind of got an extraterrestrial, flying-saucer-like vibe to it. Although the Blue Planet does carry rather intimidating case dimensions of 46mm × 15mm, it wears differently than any other case I can think of. For one thing, it's a completely perfect circle, with a pebble-like smoothness and a matte finish. There's clearly a bit of Ikepod influence present, as there are no lugs to speak of, and the supplied fluorine rubber strap integrates directly into the lower flank of the case without interruption. It also helps that the diameter of the three-dimensional globe-style face measures about 26 millimeters across, helping to reduce the Blue Planet's overall visual impact when it's on the wrist. Enter Sea-Gull, the Tianjin-based producer of mass-market mechanical wristwatches, who assisted in the development and execution of the Blue Planet's exclusive movement, which features a proprietary timekeeping system.
It’s Chinese
I wasn't able to meet Zhang Jianmin, the 55-year-old founder of CIGA Design, that night in Geneva. He was unable to attend the Grand Prix in person due to COVID-19 travel restrictions that existed at the time between China and Switzerland. In fact, I wouldn't speak with him until several months later, when reporting on a small feature on Zhang and CIGA Design that appeared in HODINKEE Magazine, Volume 10.
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Earth-Inspired Mechanical Timepieces - Trend Hunter
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Again, its 46mm width doesn’t compromise wearing comfort or practicality, but it does have a big visual presence. In other words, although it’s far from the brashest design you can find in watches, you need either the mood or the overall personality to wear a Ciga Blue Planet. Unfortunately, the Blue Planet only has a water resistance of 3 ATM. I would love to see what the sapphire crystal over the globe looks like underwater, but not at the expense of the watch’s functionality. In the arenas it’s best worn in, this level of water resistance is plenty. The soft curve of the case and supple rubber strap definitely place it on the more comfortable end of the spectrum as watches go.
While the book the watch came in is mostly paper, it was secured in its box with foam. There’s no indication that the foam is recyclable or biodegradable, so I have to assume it’s not. This would not be as big an issue if it wasn’t in relation to a watch that is doing its best to spread the message of the beauty, wonder, and, ultimately, the fragility of the Earth.
Watch Brand
The Chinese Watch Brand That Beat the Swiss (Published 2022) - The New York Times
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Watches such as this are more about art than pragmatism, of course. The designers worked hard to get the aesthetic balance of elements just right — and did a pretty good job, in my opinion. However, making the numerals and indicator (here, the compass rose) stand out more would lend the watch not only usefulness but purpose.
What I received was a flat, wide box that looked like it might house a tablet. Inside was a book — an actual book — slipped inside a tasteful sleeve with “CIGA Design” and an embossed image of the Blue Planet’s dial on it. The first pages of the book reveal images of our planet and a poem about the magnificent phenomenon that is the existence of Earth and us on it. The second pair of pages is completely covered in the phrase “Mankind has only one Earth” translated into countless languages.
This means that you get a book-like box in which the watch, strap, and bracelet are placed. It’s not only fun and original, but also needs less space in storage. With the original Blue Planet being already so good that it impressed the jury of the GPHG, this Gilding Edition takes the unique design of the watch to an even higher level. An impressive creation by CIGA Design and a great promise for the future. This kind of approach to creating something new, that nobody has ever done before is exactly the kind of fresh air I feel the industry needs.
The new CIGA Design Blue Planet – Gilding Version combines an impressively luxe feel with the same unique display as its predecessor, delivering what may well be the Chinese marque’s most compelling offering to date. Ciga Design’s web page for the Blue Planet makes no mention of the movement spinning its dials. The engine was developed in collaboration with Sea-Gull Movements, the Tianjin-based manufacturer. Its unique gear train contains 30-jewels and a 40-hour power reserve. The Earth watch’s accuracy isn’t exactly stellar; the manufacturer claims -15±30s per day. The Blue Planet watch does as well as any watch could in emulating that experience (head back nearly twenty years for the eerily similar quartz-powered Seiko Think The Earth Wn-1).
All Sponsored Posts are subject to editorial guidelines with the intent that they offer readers useful news, promotions, or stories. The viewpoints and opinions expressed in Sponsored Posts are those of the advertiser and not necessarily those of aBlogtoWatch or its writers. The watch only carries 30m of water resistance, and I’ve seen a number of criticisms about that. So no swimming with it - Though, I would question why anyone would to begin with. A lot of watchmakers want to achieve visual interest through three-dimensional elements, and this is one area where Ciga shines.
CIGA Design opted for links that fall a little bit over each other, like the scales of a reptile. The bracelet lacks a micro-adjustment function, as the vast majority of the watches with a ceramic bracelet. The links are small enough to compensate for this, as adding one doesn’t make a huge difference.
CIGA Design is not a traditional watchmaking company but more a design studio that happens to create and sell watches. The company was founded in 2016 by Zhang Jianmin and is located in Shenzhen, China. Mr Zhang Jianmin is not a watchmaker but an industrial designer by trade and education. Prior to his watchmaking adventures, he worked as a graphic designer of guidance systems in public areas (airports, train stations, public roads etc.). Under the name of CIGA Design, Zhang Jianmin works with a team of eight international designers to create very original watches, with the Blue Planet being the stand-out creation to date. In just a few short years, CIGA Design has won multiple highly praised international design awards, including the Red Dot Design Award and, of course, the GPHG Challenge Award in 2021.
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