CIGA Design
Founded 2016 · Shenzhen, China · Zhang Jianmin
CIGA Design is the house that broke through the ceiling: in 2021 its Blue Planet won the Challenge prize at the Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève — the most serious award in the trade — against 208 entries, and was the first Chinese watch to win in the history of the competition. It was founded by an industrial designer rather than a watchmaker, and it shows in everything it does.
History
Zhang Jianmin founded the house in Shenzhen in 2016. His training is industrial design, not watchmaking, and that is the key to what he makes: instead of copying a Swiss silhouette, he starts from the object. The Blue Planet shows the time with two discs standing for the Earth and the Moon, and to manage it the house developed with Sea-Gull a 30-jewel automatic movement with a gear train of its own, in which the hour hand turns 30 degrees while the minute hand turns 390. In 2021 that watch won the GPHG Challenge. The house has also collected several Red Dot design awards.
Iconic models
Blue Planet (U Series)
The one that won the GPHG in 2021, the first Chinese watch to do so. It shows the time with Earth and Moon discs.
Z Series
A titanium skeleton with the mechanics on show from both sides.
X Series
The house's flattest, most geometric design line.
Worth knowing
It won the GPHG against 208 watches, many of them Swiss and far more expensive, and its founder is not a watchmaker but an industrial designer. That is the whole argument of the house in one sentence.
CIGA Design at Reserva de Marcha
See all 41 in the catalogue →
Automatic Mechanical Watch C Series Skeleton Analog Wrist Watch with Milanese Strap Sapphire Cry
Automatic Mechanical Watch C Series Skeleton Analog Wrist Watch with Milanese Strap Sapphire Cry
Automatic Watch - X Series Eye of Horus Mechanical Skeleton Watch Bioceramic Case Square Waterpr
Automatic/Manual Mechanical Watch Magician Series Stainless Steel/Titanium Detachable Case Sapph
Mechanical Automatic Watch Blue Planet U Series Stainless Steel/Titanium/Ceramics Case Sapphire
Mechanical Automatic Watch Blue Planet U Series Stainless Steel/Titanium/Ceramics Case Sapphire
Mechanical Automatic Watch Blue Planet U Series Stainless Steel/Titanium/Ceramics Case Sapphire
Mechanical Automatic Watch Blue Planet U Series Stainless Steel/Titanium/Ceramics Case Sapphire