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CIGA Design

CIGA Design – a creative niche-brand watch from China

CIGA Design Silver Watch in Box
CIGA Design Silver Skeleton Dial

I have introduced several CIGA Design watches on my blog, each of them has their own features, perhaps this is the main selling point of CIGA Design, it is also the feature that differentiates CIGA Design and other Chinese watches. “Creative” is the most proper word to describe CIGA Design, at the same price level, CIGA Design focus more on creating their own designs than copy, this is also the reason why they can win design award from abroad. Several days ago, I received my fifth watch from CIGA Design, it looks so special, actually I did not see such type of watch with a floating square movement before, it surprises me.

CIGA Design Silver Watch with Black Leather Strap

This watch has two options, black and silver, I bought the silver model. Now I regret a little, I found the black model looks better, the black color matches well with its red hands.

CIGA Design Silver Watch

The round case looks big, which has a diameter of 44mm, case thickness is 13.6mm, do you think it is a little thick? While the entire watch has a very light weight, which is less than 90 grams, you will feel very comfortable when wearing on your wrist. The case is completely polished, including the round bezel and lugs, through the crystal back, we can see the movement inside. Actually, I do not like the mechanical watch with an ultra-thin case, unless it has a very classic dial design, so, for some people, this watch’s case is a little thick, but for me, it is acceptable and looks very good.

CIGA Design Silver Case

The dial has a breakthrough design, first, it is hollow, almost each CIGA Design’s dial has this feature, second, it is a floating square frame, actually, the dial only shows you the entire movement and hands, there are no other extra elements. We can see that the front of the movement is in square shape, with four corners being fixed. The entire dial looks like a book. Both hour hand and minute hand are skeleton, with red tip, the long second hand is completely in red color, very eye-catching. The outer bezel on the edge of the dial is very narrow, you need to keep your eyes on the dial for seconds to read an accurate time.

CIGA Design Silver Crystal Back
CIGA Design Silver Deployant Clasp

The engine inside is an automatic movement, CIGA Design claims the movement is from Sea-gull, but did not tell us which Sea-gull movement it is. Any way, currently most Chinese watches in moderate or high quality are likely to choose Sea-gull movement, which is more popular at home and abroad. I have been wearing the watch for five days, now it is about one minute faster each day, the power reserve can also be up to 35 hours as long as I wear it on my wrist each day.

CIGA Design Silver Movement
CIGA Design Silver Wrist Shot
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CIGA Design

CIGA Design MY Series by Michael Young – the black pearl on your wrist

CIGA Design MY Series Box
CIGA Design MY Series Watch

CIGA Design is the first Chinese watch brand I have ever seen that has so much creativity in design, every watch created by CIGA Design is a combination of industrial design and mechanical sense. It is different from most Chinese watches, CIGA Design looks more in line with the aesthetics of young people, it breaks through the traditional rules of mechanical watches, follow their industrial design concept, CIGA Design has created many amazing timepieces that have won important prizes from abroad. This watch I bought from CIGA Design is a skeleton model from MY series, it is totally black with a skeleton dial, the watch also has a silver option.

CIGA Design MY Black
CIGA Design MY Dial

The watch is full black and features a very creative dial, it will look like a black pearl on your wrist, I like the watch very much. On CIGA Design website, many people have bought this watch and given positive reviews. The watch is made with 316L stainless steel, it is fully plated with pvd black coating, including the case, bezel, crown and bracelet. The entire case has an unique construction, check it from the back, the small lugs that connect the bracelet through lock-tite spring bar are hidden on the back, you also can not see the end of the bracelet, such design makes all your focus on the big dial once you see this watch.

CIGA Design MY Movement

The black dial is skeletonized, but it is not completely hollow, some movement components are shown through the skeleton dial, there are also supports and holes on the dial, they form a special pattern on the dial. There are printings of brand name “CIGA Design”and designer name “Michael Young” in white. The dial has a certain slope to bring better visual effect, the design of hour markers and minute markers is like radioactive rays, not hard to read the time from this full black dial because hands are silver, and longer hour markers are easy for you to locate current hour time.

CIGA Design My Watch Wrist Shot

CIGA Design claims that they are using a Sea-gull automatic movement in this watch, I am not sure if this is real because they do not tell us which Sea-gull movement is used in the watch, I doubt and more believe this is just a common Chinese automatic movement, whatever as long as it works accurate. I received the watch five days ago, now it is about one minutes faster. By the way, CIGA Design sends one pair of black leather straps and one screw driver in the book-shaped gift box.

CIGA Design Box Inside
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CIGA Design

CIGA Design Z011 Black Skeleton Watch Review

CIGA Hollow Black
CIGA Hollow Watch
CIGA Paper Box

CIGA Design, this Chinese brand has won a lot of awards from abroad, but not well known among watch fans, people usually pay more attention to these big-size diver’s watches other than such young brands like CIGA Design. At the beginning of their development, CIGA Design chose a different way which you can not find on most other Chinese watches, this is a brand that really has their own design ideas, not like some other Chinese custom-made watch brands that just copied the designs of Swiss watches at their early development stage. This CIGA Design watch is the one that has won German Red Dot Design Award, it has a stylish black hollow design both on the front and back, a very cool watch.

CIGA Box

The square case is in size of 40mm*40mm, there are two color options for this watch, black and silver. The watch is not only suitable for men, girls who love big watches can also choose it, the case is not too thick, only 11.5mm. The case is made with 316L stainless steel and then is DLC processed with black coating, the case has a very fine matte finish. The crown on the right side has diamond texture, which is more convenient for you to hold by fingers and rotate.

CIGA Design Black Case
CIGA Design Skeleton Dial

The crystal uses sapphire, which is 1.2mm thick and is highly scratch resistant, the sapphire crystal face is precisely cut so that it can perfectly fit into the inner case frame and guarantee a good water resistance. Do not be afraid of wearing it when swimming because of its thin case and hollow design, I have tested it, there were no issues when I am with it in a swimming pool.

CIGA Design Automatic Movement

The dial is totally skeletonized, you can see all movement components through the front and back, to get a better anti-shock performance, CIGA Design adopts a new and flexible way to fix the movement inside the case, I do not know how they do this, I just received the watch and have not disassembled it. Three central hands are also hollow, with striking red color on. The hollow dial design of the CIGA Design watch offers you more fun than other mechanical watches in my collection, I can even see the running gears when rotating the crown.

CIGA Accessories

The black steel mesh bracelet is a perfect match for this watch, it looks better on the watch than the leather or rubber band. The band also has a quick replacement system, the quick switch spring bar is easy for you to operate to replace the band without tool need. The movement inside is from Sea-gull, CIGA Design does not claim exact movement model on their website, but say it has a 21,600 bph, 19 jewels and power reserve over 40 hours, which Sea-gull movement it should be? Besides this black model, the silver one is also very popular.

CIGA Hollow Wrist Shot
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CIGA Design

CIGA Design Z Series DLC Skeleton Watch Review

CIGA Design PVD Black Watch with Box

This is my second CIGA Design watch I received several days ago, it looks very cool and is my most favorite tonneau-shaped Chinese watch.

The history of CIGA Design is very young, but this brand has made a lot of amazing models which we are very pround of, some CIGA Design watches even received important awards from abroad, many people are talking this Chinese brand now. I like CIGA Design, this is the second watch I bought from them, the first one is the X Series Gorilla model. This CIGA Design watch has a full black outlook, I love it, the design of its case and dial is a highlight of the entire watch. I think every one who likes sports style watches will choose it.

CIGA Design PVD Black
CIGA Design Box

The case is made with 316L stainless steel, its surface has a thick DLC black coating, which not only increases the hardness of the case, but also enhances its corrosion resistance. The case has a width of 40.8mm, not including the crown, its height is 48mm, case thickness is 12.3mm, the DLC coating is thick and black color can last a long time, so that the entire watch can keep a cool black outlook for a long time.

CIGA Design Skeleton Dial

The arc-shaped crystal is sapphire that is highly scratch-resistant and is perfectly installed. Under the sapphire crystal, it is the skeleton dial, where you can the golden balance wheel and gears and other machine parts, it looks like skeleton is a big feature of al. most all popular CIGA Design watches. The red color usage on central hands makes the dial more readable. There are white hour markers and minutes scales on the beveled inner bezel, together with the skeletonized dial structure, they give the entire dial a three-dimensional visual effect.

CIGA Design See-through Case Back

CIGA Design claims that they use a Sea-gull automatic movement in this watch, I am not sure if they use a real Sea-gull, I do not know the model of the movement, maybe it is a basic Sea-gull movement, which has a beating frequency of 21,600 times per hour and 40-hour power reserve, well, maybe the watch can not work 40 hours continuously after being fully winded, I tested it, about 32 hours, that’s ok, I suggest you wind it every morning.

CIGA Design Black Watch in Box

The CIGA Design watch has a black rubber band, which feels very soft, the rubber band also suitable to wear in hot summer, it does not have a bad smell and also dust proof. By the way, the watch comes with one pair of black leather straps, which is free. Besides this DLC black version, CIGA Design also offers three stainless steel models with rubber straps in different colors, there are black, red and blue.

CIGA Design Watch Wrist Shot
CIGA Design Rubber Strap
CIGA Design Pin Buckle
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CIGA Design

CIGA Design X Series Gorilla – a mechanical elf beating on your wrist

CIGA Design X Series Box

CIGA Design is one of the few watch brands in China that has not copied the design of any other watches, it is totally a brand that is created by a Chinese designer, whose name is Zhang Jianmin.

CIGA Design X Series Gorilla Box

I like this brand, their watches are not knockoffs of some Swiss watches, they have their own design with many young and innovation elements. CIGA Design is a very young Chinese brand that was established in 2012, their first watch was launched in 2013 and won Red Dot Design Award(https://www.red-dot.org/project/ciga-design-009-series-6992), that’s crazy and I also saw they choose a development road that is completely different from other Chinese brand watches. In 2021, the Blue Planet watch from CIGA Design won Challenge Watch Prize(https://www.gphg.org/horlogerie/en/gphg-2021-prizes/challenge-watch-prize-2021-ciga-design-blue-planet), it is the first time for a Chinese watch to win a GPHG award, very inspirational. During the development in the past few years, a series of award-winning records show that their watch design has been recognized. So today, let’s see how the quality of their watches is.

CIGA Design Box
CIGA Design X Series in Box

This CIGA Design watch is a Gorilla model from X Series, I got this black/orange one in an iron box like a container, with one gorilla-shaped pillow for the watch. The container-style watch box has a big gorilla image, a big “X” letter crossing the entire box, “CIGADesign” logo is on one side of the box. The watch is cool and the gorilla watch pillow is so cute.

CIGA Design X Series Gorilla Orange

The case has an unique design, the entire case system is divided into two parts, inner case and outer case frame, I firstly saw such case structure on a mechanical watch. The more interesting thing is each corner of the case is equipped with an independent spring suspension device, whose design inspiration comes from car’s suspension system, this adds more fun to a mechanical watch, maybe also have a protection for the inner case. With the spring in four corners, the inner case can move when you push it with your fingers.

CIGA Design X Series Gorilla Crown

Under the protection of outer case frame, the entire watch looks very big, it is measured to be 44mm in width and 44mm in height, the case is not thick, only 11.8mm. There are orange metal pieces on both sides. The crown on the right has a big “C” logo, the left has a “Gorilla” image, both pieces are fixed by silver “X” screws. The matte black finish on case eactly meets the “Gorilla” theme of CIGA Design Series X.

CIGA Design X Series Gorilla Case

Black dial is hollow, with all machine parts clearly in front of my eyes. The big “X” support on the dial looks like a standing Gorilla, in dark condition, the “X” support is luminous, so are hour hand and minute hand. The central second hand is in striking orange color, which matches the orange color on the case. The use of this “X” support on the dial not only gives me a strong visual impact, but it also makes the movement work more stable.

CIGA Design X Series Gorilla Movement

Through the crystal back, the movement has a skeleton auto rotor that is engraved with “CIGA DESIGN CUSTOMIZED MOVEMENT CO-01”, I think this information is redundant, “CIGA DESIGN CO-01” will be enough. The watch comes with a black rubber band that features breathable grids, which is very comfortable to wear in summer, they also offer one pair of black nylon band for free, you can change by yourself.

CIGA Design Gorilla Wrist Shot

Overall, CIGA Design is a Chinese watch brand that is full of many creative and innovative designs, for this Series X Gorilla that looks fashion and sporty, I think a lot of young people will love it.

CIGA Design X Series Orange