Not many microbrands can claim a GPHG award. High watchmaking and accessibility don’t often go hand-in-hand. And yet in 2021, CIGA design did just that with their novel Blue Planet, becoming the first Chinese brand to ever win at the Oscars of Watchmaking. To put that into context, only one other Chinese brand – Fam Al Hut with the Möbius – has ever won at the awards in the years since.
Since their win, CIGA have proven to be substantially more than a one hit wonder. Their release slate, if anything, is exhausting. They’ve tackled the rare central tourbillon with the Everest Summit and more recent Year of the Horse, and they’ve built an allusion to the Ulysse Nardin Freak in the sleek carousel of the Time Cipher, while the Hunter’s angular scaffold of a case takes skeletonisation to its illogical extreme.
Designs like these would be striking from any haute horology brand. Indeed, a few of them on top of the Time Cipher would be at home in Ulysse Nardin’s catalogue. The reason CIGA design stands apart however is price. Even by Chinese-made standards – which are founded on affordability – a central tourbillon for $2,699 (just over £2,000) seems too good to be true, and that’s the most expensive in their line-up. This is haute horology at impulse buy levels.
But it’s not simply about complications. If that were all, you could find even cheaper tourbillons online, even if there’s a good chance they fall apart getting to you. But what you won’t find on those Alibaba specials is quality. And even in their newest time-only model, CIGA’s quality is on full display.
The Falcon is to skeletonisation what a Bugatti Chiron is to daily runabouts, an approach that starts with the engine of the watch, the CD-02 automatic movement. This is CIGA design’s own, in-house calibre, with excess material where the bridges would normally be instead giving way to a clear view through the watch. It’s surrounded by a gear-like support that doubles as the minute track, but secured into the case by a transparent support, seeming to float at the centre of the Falcon. It allows you to see not just through the movement, but around it, emphasizing the chamfered edges and mix of micro-sandblasting and polishing.
Both types of finishing continue across a substantial 43.5mm case, a sizing that doesn’t just feel large in the context of current vintage tastes. The skeletonised lugs, oversized crown and muscular shoulders are all hard, machined angles and multi-layered construction. Between the facets and alternating sandblasted and polished elements, it has wrist presence that goes well beyond its diameter.
The only part of the CIGA Design Skeleton Falcon that you could call traditional is the bezel, which is actually a diving scale in monochrome relief. This is not a dive watch – its 50m water resistance means you won’t be scuba diving with it – so it’s an odd choice. But it does add some much-needed structure to the watch, a recognisable and intuitively understandable frame for the skeletonised centre of the watch. The watch is finished with welcome splashes of colour in the red seconds hand and green lume-tipped hour and minute hands.
All the elements of the case flow through to the H-link bracelet. With a hidden push-button clasp, the bracelet seems completely uninterrupted from one set of lugs to the other, precise, comfortable and industrially handsome. It’s not the most exciting part of the watch, but it bookends the exceptional attention to detail CIGA design funnel into their watches.
This all brings us to the most important part of the Falcon: its price. CIGA design’s accessibility is a core part of their appeal, and the Falcon is no different. If this was a Swiss watch, with this amount of skeletonisation, an in-house movement and a paradoxically maximalist approach to taking things away, you’d be looking at tens of thousands of pounds – not $499. That’s roughly £375, plus tax.
You’d be hard-pressed to find a Swiss-made automatic watch for that little, let alone something in the same league as the CIGA Design Skeleton Falcon. That’s not to say Swiss watches are overpriced, especially given that the majority of Chinese-made watches simply can’t compete in quality. But it does illustrate CIGA design’s position as an outlier which shows that Chinese-made isn’t synonymous with cheap. Affordable, yes, but cheap – never.
More details at CIGA Design.
