Monday, April 29, 2024

Ciga Blue Planet Review: A Unique, Novel, Striking and a Bit Odd Chinese Watch

ciga design blue planet

But it’s not the case shape, as unusual and organic the way it blends seamlessly with the domed crystal is, that makes you take pause. An abstract case with normal hands and dial is nothing innovative in and of itself, and so the time and effort required to develop a display that reads in a novel way ends up costing some serious wedge. To benchmark that, developing a basic, time-only movement, using centuries of knowledge, costs about a million dollars, so you can imagine how much you’d have to spend—and therefore charge—to make something completely out there like an Urwerk. Laura brings over two decades of experience within the energy transition sector to her Government Affairs role at Blue Planet. She has leveraged her expertise in policy, business development, strategic planning and finance to promote sustainability and reduce and mitigate carbon emissions. Laura’s focus has ranged from energy efficiency/building technologies (Siemens), solar energy (SolarCity), demand response (Comverge), and electric vehicle infrastructure (Greenlots).

Ciga Blue Planet Review: A Unique, Novel, Striking (and a Bit Odd) Chinese Watch

I slot it firmly in the statement/art watch genre, though it’s comfortable and capable enough to be a daily wearer if one feels so inclined. More than anything, though, the CIGA Design Blue Planet is fun. The dial is where the ingenuity of the Blue Planet really comes to life, a richly saturated depiction of our home, complete with highly detailed relief that accurately represents the terrain. The way this curved mass occupies the dial, wider even than the chunky rubber strap, gives the watch a quietly awe-inspiring vibe.

Powerful packaging

But I think it’s pretty clear the CIGA Design Blue Planet is not the watch for me, a man who worships at the altar of the Swiss Railways Watch. And I’m extremely excited to see what the future holds for CIGA Design. The rest of the book is the presentation box for the watch with pages fused to form a solid structure.

ciga design blue planet

GPHG Challenge Award

Previously, Dan was Chief Operating Officer of Artemis Real Estate Partners. Dan was appointed by President Barack Obama as Administrator of the General Services Administration (GSA) where he was responsible for managing the Federal Government's 350 million sq. Ft. real estate portfolio and the annual acquisition of $65B in products and services. Dan joined GSA from the Treasury Department where he was appointed by the President as Chief Financial Officer and Assistant Secretary of Management.

An Award-Winning Design

The result is a vibrant play of light, while the warm glow of the yellow gold offers a beautiful contrast to its black surroundings. While this watch can’t possibly be called understated, its overall look is far more sophisticated in real life than one might imagine. The gold-continents are so detailed that you simply cannot help yourself staring at it. Visible underneath the exhibition caseback, decorated with various swirls and stripes, the movement is meh.

Buy a Watch Abroad? Don’t Do It!

The CIGA Design Blue Planet, winner of the Challenge Watch Prize at the 2021 edition of the GPHG. Each of your watches is covered up to 150% of the insured value (up to the total value of the policy). We've minimized the paperwork and maximized protection, so you can stop worrying about your watches and focus on enjoying them. The fastest and most secure way to protect the watches you love.

The model marked the first time that a Chinese company won a GPHG Award for the Challenge Prize. It was a significant win for the brand, and a testament to how far Chinese watchmaking has come over the years. This week however, CIGA has released a new model based on the Blue Planet with an interesting take on what the Blue Planet already did really well. We had the opportunity to go hands on with the all new CIGA Design Blue Planet Gilding Edition, so of course we took it.

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Rakesh also has a broad experience in hydrogen production and purification technologies. If we start with the exterior of the watch, the CIGA Design Blue Planet looks and feels perfectly round, like a pebble. Although it’s something very common in the industry as it immediately reminds us of Ikepod, it matches the overall theme of the watch perfectly. Our review watch came with a titanium case, which measures 46mm in diameter and tops out at 15mm in height due to the domed sapphire crystal. The crown has a nice profile and feels very sturdy, although it can be a bit fiddly to extract.

Ciga Watch Review: A Closer Look at the Future of Chinese Watchmaking - FashionBeans

Ciga Watch Review: A Closer Look at the Future of Chinese Watchmaking.

Posted: Mon, 15 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]

As Founder and Chair of Integral Group, Kevin leads a global team of driven and committed leaders transforming the industry through engineering excellence. Bringing over 30 years of experience to the engineering profession, Kevin has spent the past 15 years focusing on green design and advancing its cause. Kevin leads the Integral team to explicitly deliver on the current needs of the profession across the globe. He is Former Chair of the World Green Building Council (World GBC), Past Chair of the U.S. Green Building Council, Cascadia Chapter and a Cofounder of its Canadian counterpart, the Canada Green Building Council, and also serves as a faculty member to the USGBC and CaGBC. He is a Professional Engineer in 6 states in North America and also in the UK.

Here’s where things go from visually engaging to horologically compelling. The dial features two additional rings, a rotating minute scale, and a static hour scale. The time display is described by CIGA Design as “non-synchronous tracking,” and it involves the compass rose not only pointing to the hour but also the minute. This is possible thanks to the movement’s modified gearing ratio, which sees the minute ring rotate an additional 30° each hour. Considering the dial alone, it’s no surprise that the CIGA Design Blue Planet won the GPHG Challenge Award.

Mary Ann is also an advisor at the Resilient Design Institute and is an adjunct faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis. She was recognized with Evergreen’s Perspective Award in 2012 and served on the Vision 2020 Sustainability Council in 2014. James R. O’Neil is Professor Emeritus of Geochemistry at the University of Michigan. In 1988 he joined the faculty of the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Michigan where he focussed on studies of paleoclimate and the development of the oxygen isotope geochemistry of phosphates. He is a Geochemistry Fellow and the recipient of a "Forschungspreis" from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He was awarded the Victor Moritz Goldschmidt Medal by the Geochemical Society of America in 2004.

The titanium case keeps the ensemble light enough, yet still substantial. And although the diameter is officially 46mm, with no lugs to speak of, the Blue Planet wears as well as any mid-size watch with a similar lug-to-lug measurement. I have a smaller wrist and didn’t experience any discomfort or overhang. The options are far more limited, the ability to create and explore and develop far more restrained—but it’s possible. Using a basic movement and a whole dollop of upside-down thinking, it is possible to reinvent the traditional time display into something altogether more inventive. Wrought in titanium and packing 46mm of what can only be described as a shape like a flattened squash ball, the Blue Planet is immediately unlike anything you’ve ever seen before.

Mr. Zaelke received an Ozone Protection Award, and a Climate Protection Award in 2008 for his effort to maximize the climate benefits of the Montreal Protocol. Mary Ann Lazarus, FAIA, LEED AP BD+C, served as HOK’s firm-wide sustainable design director for over a decade where she led the implementation of sustainable strategies in all of HOK’s work. HOK is one of the largest U.S. architectural practices working globally with a strong sustainability reputation. She is now on leave from HOK and consulting with the American Institute of Architects as the Resident Fellow on sustainability where she was the prime author of the AIA Sustainability Leadership Opportunity Scan.

It’s interesting to see an original Chinese perspective in watches — and especially one that receives international attention, not to mention being honored by the notoriously conservative Swiss. The Ciga Blue Planet might have gotten many watch fans’ attention for those reasons, but it also deserves a closer look for its design, quality, execution and details. China — and Ciga’s home city of Shenzhen, in particular — supplies many respected watch brands with at least some components. The country is certainly capable of making high-quality products, but its own brands are underrepresented in the watch industry considering its contribution (not only to watchmaking but to watch consumption). Another design element Ciga got right is pairing this visual centerpiece with an otherwise minimal design.

I say that, because although the Blue Planet has a proprietary method of telling the time, it’s ultimately produced by Sea Gull. The watch is rated for 30M of water resistance, which means don’t take it swimming, but it’ll stand the test of most daily activities. While established marques have a variety of lines and a rich heritage with which to build upon existing success, the “sophomore album” problem can be a major challenge for a newer watchmaker. Beyond the need to build upon the foundation of its award-winning core design, the brand has arguably taken up the mantle of delivering innovative Chinese horology to the masses, which only adds to the pressure on its current slate of releases. With this in mind, any follow-up to the 2021 release of the CIGA Design Blue Planet is bound to garner intense enthusiast scrutiny. Rather than resting on its laurels, the brand takes the GPHG-winning base model and adds a new layer of visual drama and material quality.

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