Sunday, April 28, 2024

The CIGA Design Blue Planet Is The GPHG's First Chinese Winner

ciga design blue planet

An automatic caliber unique to CIGA Design fully rotates the globe on the watch once every 12 hours, so that the compass points to the correct hour on the outermost ring. This is the minute ring, and its rotation has been engineered so that the point on the globe always points to the correct minute. This setup causes the experience of initially setting the watch to be mildly disorienting in the best way. Once the Blue Planet is wound and set though, the slowness of their rotation subdues the eccentricity. "When I first started out, I looked back at 200 years of watch history and asked myself, 'Is there anything that has never been invented?'" Zhang says. Joseph B. Powell, Ph.D., is the Principal of ChemePD, an advisory firm that works with the energy, chemicals and process development industries.

In-Depth If You're Into Technical Watchmaking, This Escapement Will Melt Your Mind

The aluminum globe itself is domed, its continents are in a silver tone with realistic topographic details, and its oceans are in a tastefully deep matte blue. We tested the first Chinese timepiece to win a prestigious Swiss award. CIGA Design notes environmentally friendly packaging on its website.

The CIGA Design Blue Planet Is An Award-Winning Chinese Watch That Deserves Your Attention

Ken has had several executive business roles in start-ups, and has experience in raising investment capital and securing Alpha customer deals. Early in his career, he held various sales and sales management positions at VLSI and Advanced Micro Devices. Further, the watch comes fitted with a single-link ceramic strap. It’s incredibly comfortable, although I might have liked just a little more texture on the bracelet over it’s more glossy appearance. Since it’s ceramic, the single-link makes sense to keep the cost down and provide some extra value, and there isn’t anything wrong with it. It’s lovely, and the added value of having a ceramic bracelet is undeniable, but I found myself wearing the rubber strap more often.

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This allows for both keepers to float freely if one wishes, another unique design consideration. And that’s exactly the point of the watch, a message that speaks in shapes and colours instead of words. Like a note written on the back of your hand to remind you to take the rubbish out, the CIGA Design sits on your wrist and reminds you to put the banana peel in the organic waste and not the general. It may be a small reminder for a small action, but that’s usually the way big things start. Zhang wanted to create a product where the design was directly connected to a person's individuality and sense of self. After a few years of experimentation, he started working on watches, and in 2012, he established CIGA (an acronym for China International Great Art) Design.

Hands-On Review: The CIGA Design Blue Planet

ciga design blue planet

This, along with the Ciga Blue Planet’s simply striking design and execution, makes it a watch worth taking note of — and a conversation piece should you pick one up. While I wouldn’t wear it every day, it’s certainly an object I can appreciate —and even wear from time to time. It’s a conversation topic for that reason (and those mentioned above), but for my tastes, it felt a bit over-the-top at times.

ciga design blue planet

Hands-On The Aquascaphe Titanium Is Baltic's Most Modern Watch Yet

Not content simply calling it a day after creating a gorgeous dial with a novel time display, CIGA Design utilized a rarely seen case design as well. It’s a design that completes the watch’s cohesive look and contributed to the Blue Planet receiving 17 international design awards. Eschewing the traditional rounded case and protuberant lugs of most watch designs, the Blue Planet features an organic, sleek case that calls to mind the smoothness of a river stone. The 15mm-thick profile is maintained by a perfectly curved domed sapphire crystal, which adds subtle reflection and protects the dial, just like the Earth’s atmosphere. The quick-release fluorine rubber strap makes the case’s 46mmx46mm dimensions wear shockingly well, while the lugless design furthers the comfort by creating a much shorter effective lug-to-lug.

CIGA Series U Blue Planet: Get the noble mechanical watch in the Black Friday deal! - Basic Tutorials

CIGA Series U Blue Planet: Get the noble mechanical watch in the Black Friday deal!.

Posted: Sat, 12 Nov 2022 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Let’s start with the case, because it sets the stage for how well the rest of the watch comes together. Measuring 46mm x 15mm in Titanium, the case itself is an almost UFO-esque shape. It’s a perfect circle, which would normally make the measurements a bit daunting but it truly wears differently than any “oversized” watch I’ve ever worn.

There’s technical interest behind its unique looks

The decorations are basic but pleasing, and the view on them is somewhat obstructed by printing on the transparent insert in the case back that celebrates the win of the Blue Planet at the GPHG. Running at 4Hz/28,800 VpH and offering a 40-hour power reserve, it is on par with the Swiss competition. The numbers in terms of accuracy that CIGA Design does communicate is between -20/+40 seconds per day. Most likely, its actual performance is in a much narrower range, as the motions of your wrist also affect this. Due to the way that the Blue Planet – Gilding Edition tells time, and the fact that it lacks a seconds hand, make it unlikely that you notice a significant deviation in time.

CIGA Design Mechanical Watch Series U Blue Planet review - The Gadgeteer

CIGA Design Mechanical Watch Series U Blue Planet review.

Posted: Sat, 02 Jul 2022 07:00:00 GMT [source]

The Battle for the World’s Thinnest Watches (incl. Video)

Prior to that, Dr. Powell spent over 30 years of his career working with Shell. He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, and was Shell’s Chief Scientist - Chemical Engineering for several years. In 1988 he joined the Process Development Department at Shell, where he led R&D programs in new chemical processes, biofuels, and enhanced oil recovery.

The back has a few more actual pages detailing the specifications and operating instructions for the watch. Overall, the experience of receiving the watch in this context only added to the “story” that CIGA Design is trying to tell with the Blue Planet. And so, since 2012, CIGA Design has slowly been warming a growing audience to more and more outlandish designs, subtly introducing concepts—even with the packaging—that sow the seeds of something bigger.

He holds a BS in Chemical Engineering from Rice University and a PhD from the University of California at Santa Barbara. As usual, securing the clasp with one hand requires both coordination and practice, best performed over a bed or other soft surface. Speaking of durability, it’s water resistant to 30mm/3 ATM, suitable for incidental water exposure (e.g., washing hands or light rain). Those of us living in the Western Hemisphere are not accustomed to the view, especially when it’s upside down or sideways (the globe rotates). Call me continental plate-centric, but looking at that part of the world doesn’t do it for me, regardless of its orientation.

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