I knew Caluola several years ago, at that time, I worked in a watch company, they sold a lot of Chinese brand watches as well as replica watches, Caluola is one of the brands they were dealing with. I do not know the background of Caluola, but it is mostly likely from Guangzhou, there are a lot of micro brands like Caluola made in Guangzhou, perhaps the development of fake watch industry also gave birth to these types of Chinese brands. Caluola is not a homage and also does not make any models with sports styles, most of their watches are dress watches that looks elegant, some ladies watches have diamonds that look luxury.
Caluola does not copy the designs of Swiss brands, at most one or two elements of Cartier are used on some ladies models. Today, I want to introduce an interesting Caluola watch, why I describe a watch “interesting”? You will know the answer after seeing its dial. I have bought dozens of Chinese watches, some are like this Caluola, they really like to use subdials design and open a window on the dial. Take this Caluola watch for example, does the subdial at 9:00 really add extra function to the watch? I do not think so, it is just another hour hand, I even think it is redundant. The window opened at 6 o’clock, Caluola claims it is a tourbillon, that’s ridiculous, it is just an opening to show the working of balance wheel and gears. I do not know why they do these, maybe the purpose is simple, just to let the watch look more complicated than it is, so that they can sell it at a higher price than it worth in Chinese market, after all, most Chinese buyers know little about watches. But Caluola will never sell at such high prices in foreign markets. The subdial at 3 o’clock is displaying day and night, it is a false moon phase, but it is the only subdial that is useful to the wearer, because the small seconds hand is moving on.
I still like the watch although I complained a lot above, I choose the rose gold model with brown leather strap, the watch has a very uniform coloring, wearing it can both show your identity and luxury taste. The watch will be a perfect timepiece for men who usually need to wear suits to attend some formal occasions. The watch has a case diameter of 43mm and 12mm in thickness, it is completely polished with curved lugs to fit your hand in a more comfortable way, by the way, the straight lugs are polished smoothly with round edge to guarantee your wearing comfort.
About the dial, its finish is good, even better than the other dress watches in my collection. The functions on the dial I complained above are not big deal for most people, after all it’s a rule in the watch-making industry. The good craftsmanship is reflected through its two hands and hour markers, both sword hands are not flat, but a little ridgy because of their multiple cutting faces. The center of each hand is applied with white lume material.
I like the movement displayed through the transparent sapphire crystal back, it has a decorated auto rotor with brand name “Caluola” engraving in black. There are very simple striped polishings on the auto rotor and movement plates. For its price offered for Chinese customers, I think Caluola should choose an automatic movement with date feature for this watch, to show the date at 6 o’clock instead of a false tourbillon device there. Considering all aspects, this Caluola is a watch that can show the elegance of a dress watch to the maximum.
