CIGA design Hunter Gold Review

Over the last few months I've become more familiar with watches produced in China and Hong Kong. Just a few short years ago, hearing that a watch was made in China meant it probably wasn't the best quality. Through brands like CIGA design, this narrative has been changed emphatically from "Made in China" to "Created in China". It's a subtle difference in wording that actually means quite a lot.

Before we get into the newest watch that CIGA design sent us to review, let's first go over a quick history of the brand. We did much more in-depth histories of the CIGA design in our reviews of the Time Cipher Wandering Hour and Everest Summit Central Tourbillon if you'd like to go even deeper with the history of the brand.



CIGA design was founded by veteran industrial designer Zhang Jianmin in 2016. The brand was the newest entry in the history of horology in China which goes back centuries when engineers like Su Song created water-powered clock towers that used extremely early examples of escapement mechanisms. Mechanical clocks were then introduced to the Chinese Imperial Court in the 17th century by Jesuit missionaries. A full on Chinese watch industry didn't exist until 1955, when the government thought it was a matter of national defense to have its own watch industry.

This decision by the Chinese government led to the creation of the Tongji movement, or the Chinese Standard Movement. The mechanical movement was extremely robust and designed to be interchangeable with virtually any watch produced in China during that period. This also meant that the entire country's watch production was using the same caliber that any watchmaker could service and repair. In recent decades, facilities like the Tianjin Watch Factory (Sea-Gull) have evolved into global watchmaking production powerhouses, producing high quality movements embraced by serious collectors and the watch industry as a whole.



When Jianmin started CIGA design, his entire goal was to shift the narrative of Chinese produced watches away from the mass produced nature people in the West had come to know. He wanted people to look at his watches as being "Created in China", meaning a high level of design was what Jianmin wanted people to remember his watches for, not just being highly affordable and rolling off of an assembly line.

For the first release from CIGA design, the brand focused on producing skeletonized watches with mechanical movements. The early C Series was one such watch that CIGA design launched on Xiaomi's crowdfounding platform. CIGA design had a ton of success with this method for selling their watches in China between 2017 and 2020. By the time 2020 rolled around, the brand decided to shift their focus to the global market. This time CIGA design used Indiegogo to launch their Series X and Z models to a global audience. To say these campaigns were a success would be a massive understatement. The release of the Series X and Z actually ended up shattering the all-time sales records for Indiegogo's watch category.



As with most successful things, after a few years many other brands were offering skeletonized mechanical watches and CIGA design needed to find their new defining piece. This came in the form of the Series U Blue Planet. The Blue Planet was housed in an organic pebble like case with a dial that had nothing resembling the hands of a traditional watch. Instead the watch used asynchronous-follow technology which featured a rotating highly detailed micro-carved globe that was used to indicate the time. The Blue Planet was a huge success for CIGA design and even earned the brand a GPHG (Grand Prix d'Horlogerie de Genève) award in the Challenge category, a first for a Chinese brand.

After the success of the Blue Planet, CIGA design continued to push the boundaries of what was possible in terms of watch design. The brand would release the Central Tourbillon Mount Everest, which had a titanium case housing a tourbillon at the center of a dial made out of rock the brand collected from the base of Mount Everest. The Eye of Horus used the brand's signature high-tech case architecture paired with a skeleton movement and an ancient mystic symbol acting as the dynamic seconds indicator. Recently CIGA design release the Time Cipher, which is a very unique take on the wondering hour complication that uses a single hand to tell both hours and minutes. The brand has also released refined versions of both the Blue Planet and Central Tourbillon Mount Everest.



Initial Thoughts

The watch we will be taking a closer look at today in the CIGA design Hunter Gold. This watch is the newest in the line of skeletonized mechanical watches that trace their roots to the founding of CIGA design where the brand was built off of the success of such watches.

When the Hunter Gold arrived, the first thing I noticed about it was just how well done the skeletonization was. Viewing the watch from the front or the back shows off every part of the exposed Caliber CD-07 movement. CIGA design states that the way the CD-07 was designed shows off 200% more of the movement than standard skeletonized movements. After a few moments with the Hunter Gold, I really believe that to be true. There is a certain airiness to the movement where it looks like it's floating inside of the case. I've really only seen this before on very high-end skeleton watches from Ulysse Nardin and Arnold & Son.



The next thing I took note of during my initial time with the Hunter Gold was the design of the matte black case. CIGA design uses DLC-coated 316L stainless steel for the case of the Hunter Gold. The case shape is an octagonal tonneau, similar to what people associate with Richard Mille, but CIGA design has made the case shape their own by removing large sections of the case. This results in the watch being more lightweight and also adding to the perceived airiness of the skeletonized movement.

The last thing I noticed while looking at the CIGA design Hunter Gold for the first time was the excellent bracelet. Being completely honest, I'm just not a bracelet guy, so that I was impressed by the bracelet on the Hunter Gold is saying something. The bracelet is also made out of matte DLC-coated stainless steel which really reminds me of some recent ceramic bracelets I have experienced. Nothing about the bracelet feels flimsy and it just seems extremely well made and something that will last over time.



A Closer Look

Now that I've gone over a brief history of CIGA design as well as my initial thoughts of the Hunter Gold, let's now go over the technical specifications of the watch. As I mentioned earlier, the Hunter Gold is made out of DLC-coated 316L stainless steel. Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) is much more scratch resistant and harder than similar looking yet inferior PVD coatings. It has case dimensions of 43 x 48mm when you exclude the crown and is 12.1 mm tall at its thickest point. When sized for my 7.25 inch wrist, the Hunter Gold along with its bracelet weigh in at 137 grams.

The Hunter Gold uses a curved sapphire crystal which contours to the shape of the case. Through the crystal clear sapphire, you can see the exceptionally well done skeletonized Caliber CD-07 movement. The main surfaces of the movement have been micro-sandblasted and go perfectly with the matte DLC-coating of the stainless steel case. The most pronounced components of the movement are the main spring barrel at 12 o'clock and the balance wheel and escapement assembly at 6. The main spring barrel has an engraving of "CIGA design CT-07 Movement" on it and the front of the winding rotor is also engraved with "CIGA design". Looking through a loupe, you can see that the finishing of the CD-07 is really quite good as well, with no poor finishing in sight.

Around the outside of the dial is the minute track printed in white. Every minute is represented by a thin hash mark with five minute intervals being done in a thicker hash mark. Moving slightly in are the applied hour markers done in gold. Markers at 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock are angular U-shaped markers filled with luminous material that glow green in low light. The other hours are represented by smaller diamond shaped markers without lume.



There are three centrally mounted hands on the dial of the CIGA design Hunter Gold, being the hour, minute and seconds hand. All of the hands are fully skeletonized with the body of the hands being done in a golden hue, the tips are then coated in matching lume to the hour markers. The hour and minute hands are large fence post style, while the seconds hand is also rather oversized and ends with a syringe tip. Overall, the dial elements are bold enough to be read easily, but do not take away from the aesthetic of the skeletonized movement.

The finishing of the Hunter Gold's case is purely matte DLC with the only polished areas being the "ears" of the bezel at 3 and 9 o'clock. At 12 o'clock there is a triangular zero-marker as well. Very prominent on the bezel are four gold case screws found at each corner of the case. As I mentioned before, this top down view of the case shows off large areas of the case that have been removed, especially between 1 and 2, 4 and 5, 7 and 8 and 10 to 11 o'clock. Lesser areas of the case have been removed along the top and bottom of the case as well. Not only do these removed areas save weight, but they also make the highly architectural design of the case tie in better with the skeletonized movement.

Looking at the profile view of the CIGA design Hunter Gold, you can see the three part construction of the case. The bold angular design of the bezel also meets the long flowing lines of the mid-case here. There is a slight curve to the case of the Hunter Gold to better make it form to your wrist as well. The right hand side of the case features a large non-screw down crown that is nicely scalloped and features an engraving of CIGA design's logo on top. The crown does feature some polished elements, giving the crown some visual presence. On either side of the crown are two long crown protectors that protect about two thirds of the crown.



Without a screw down crown, the Hunter Gold still has 30 meters of water resistance. This is more than enough to get the watch wet, but really isn't recommended for anything more than surface swimming. In the resting position, you can manually wind the automatic movement. There is only one additional crown position since there are no calendar functions on the Hunter Gold. Pulling the crown out to position one stops the seconds hand and allows you to set the time. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump the minutes hand either.

Flipping the CIGA design Hunter Gold over shows off the display case back that is held into position by the same four gold case screws seen on the bezel. Important information about the watch such as case construction and water resistance are engraved into the case back. Through the mineral crystal caseback, you can see the in-house Caliber CD-07 automatic movement. The movement is topped off with an anthracite black winding rotor in the shape of an anchor. The rotor has "CIGA design Kinetic Rotor" engraved on it. The back of the movement is finished the same as the front of the caliber with the micro-sandblasted major components matching the matte look of the DLC-coated case.

The Cailber CD-07 movement takes a full 90 days to become production ready. During this stage, the movement is assembled, finished and then run through vigorous quality checks to make sure that it ready to be added to a case and then sent off to a collector. The Caliber CD-07 has a power reserve of 40 hours and beats away at 28,800 vph (4Hz). CIGA design quotes an accuracy of -15 to +25 seconds per day, but on our timegrapher the watch showed an accuracy of +4 seconds per day when averaged out over several positions. That's actually much better than CIGA design quotes and even within chronometer standards.



The CIGA design Hunter Gold uses a rather standard lug width of 22mm. The lugs are hidden, residing underneath the case. This means that some aftermarket straps might not work on the case if the straps are too thick and can't get the spring bars to align. The watch does come with an excellent DLC-coated stainless steel bracelet though. The bracelet tapers down from 22 mm at the lugs to 18 mm at the CIGA design deployant clasp. The bracelet is matte in finish and the links have polished edges. The links are H-link in style with a connecting block inner link. Sizing of the bracelet requires a pin and hammer to remove each link and then re-insert. The bracelet can also be fully removed by a quick release spring bar system on each end. CIGA design shipped the Hunter Gold with all the tools needed to remove the links as well. If you are not comfortable with this process, any local watchmaker can size the bracelet for you in a few minutes. There are also no micro-adjustments on the bracelet, but I didn't have a problem finding the right number of links to remove to get a good fit.

On The Wrist

On my 7.25 inch wrist with a flat area of 55 mm, the CIGA design Hunter Gold wore extremely well. Typically a lug to lug width of 48 mm would be a little small for my tastes on a traditional round watch. With the tonneau shape, the watch actually wears a bit larger than its specification. Also being on a bracelet means the watch feels a bit bigger than it is. Overall, the Hunter Gold has as much wrist presence as any of my 44 plus millimeter watches do.



I do wish that CIGA design would have included a matching black rubber strap with the Hunter Gold though. While the bracelet is excellent and matches the case perfectly, I just am not a fan of bracelets. I think not only would a black rubber strap look awesome on the Hunter Gold, but it would also substantially lower the weight of the watch down closer to my preferred 100 grams.

Either way, the bracelet did an excellent job of keeping the watch centered on my wrist. There was no case overhang with a bit of wrist showing on either side of the case. We've been having some wild weather here in Austin, with the temperature swinging nearly 60 degrees in less than 12 hours. During this time the Hunter Gold did well with the changes in temperatures and never felt too tight or too loose, I must have got lucky with the bracelet sizing to achieve this.

With the CIGA design Hunter Gold being well over 100 grams, the watch never really disappeared on the wrist. The heft added by the full stainless steel bracelet could definitely be felt, but not to the point that wrist fatigue set in. Personally I prefer a lighter timepiece crafted out of titanium, carbon or ceramic, but most collectors actually love the substantial feeling of stainless steel. I like my watches to not be on my mind when I'm wearing them though. I keep thinking of how crazy the Hunter Gold would be if it was made out of full carbon…



To test the legibility of a watch I use a simple test where I see how easy it is to tell them time while driving at just a glance. In this test dive watches do the best with their high contrast dials and large dial markers, while skeletonized and complicated watches do the worst. Going into the test, I was fairly worried of how the Hunter Gold would do, but much to my surprise the watch did fairly well. The movement of the watch is mostly black, so the polished gold hour markers and hands really contrast well with the movement making quick time telling rather easy. In low light, the strategic use of lume also makes low light time telling a breeze. In all, the CIGA design Hunter Gold is one of the most legible skeletons I've seen in recent memory.

I wore the Hunter Gold out and about on boring everyday errands as well as out to dinner and drinks. I have to say the watch attracted a ton of attention. This isn't too shocking to me, since the case shape and aggressive dial brings up thoughts of Richard Milles. Our area of town is a bit watch crazy and you do see the occasional RM, so it's not to strange to see the Hunter Gold grab some wandering eyes. Most people that commented on the watch were highly impressed with the skeletonization job that CIGA design did and were just blown away by its asking price.

Value and Position in the Market

Speaking of price, the CIGA design Hunter Gold retails for $499 (€549). For that price you are getting an extremely unique case design done in DLC-coated stainless steel. The case houses an in-house automatic movement that has been expertly skeletonized to show more details of the movement from both sides than traditional skeleton watches do. CIGA design has been making skeletonized mechanical watches forever, and the Hunter Gold is just the culmination of all the previous models. Now is the time of the review where we look at other watches with similar features and specifications as the Hunter Gold to see how good of a value it is.



Up first we have the Ventura Edge Skeleton from Hamilton which has a 51 x 47mm case made out of PVD treated stainless steel. The Ventura has a very angular futuristic look to it like the Hunter Gold, but is not a true openworked skeleton. The Ventura is powered by a modified off the shelf ETA automatic movement with a full 80 hours of power reserve. The Ventura also has a bit more water resistance as 50 meters. The Ventura is much more expensive than the Hunter Gold at $2,025.

Moving on is the Masterpiece Skeleton Label Noir from Maurice Lacroix which has a 43mm DLC-coated stainless steel case. The Masterpiece is a more traditional round watch, but is does have a fully skeletonized movement. The Masterpiece is powered by a manually wound manufacture movement with a little more power reserve than the Hunter Gold at 45 hours. The Masterpiece also has a little more water resistance at 50 meters. The Masterpiece is much more expensive than the Hunter Gold at $8,150 though.



Next up is the PS2/03 BC from SEVENFRIDAY which has a 47 mm square case made out of stainless steel. The squared circle design of SEVENFRIDAY is iconic and doesn't look like anything else, it isn't a fully skeleton though, with just pieces of the movement visible from the dial side. The PS2/03 BC is powered by an off the shelf MIYOTA 82S5 automatic movement. The PS2/03 BC has the same water resistance as the Hunter Gold at 30 meters. The PS2/03 BC is also much more expensive than the Hunter Gold at $1,588.

Finally we have the Stratom X41 from Code41 which has a 42 mm case made out of titanium. The Stratom has a futuristic design and case shape like the Hunter Gold and offers a decent amount of skeletonization. The Stratom is powered by a manufacture automatic movement with a bit more power reserve than the Hunter Gold at 60 hours. The Stratom is water resistant to a full 100 meters as well. Like all of the other watches we have compared to the Hunter Gold, the Stratom is much more expensive at $14,985.



While the CIGA design Hunter Gold might not come out on top in every specification when compared to the above four watches, it does a great job of holding its own. The simple fact is that the Hunter Gold offers a fully in-house caliber and compares well to watches that cost many more times its asking price. The Caliber CD-07 was also developed from the ground up to be skeletonized, allowing it to have the most skeletonized movements of the above four watches, which is very impressive. That the CIGA design Hunter Gold can do all of this for less than $500 is insane to me.

Closing Thoughts

So in the end, is the CIGA design Hunter Gold for me? In all honestly the watch is kind of hit and miss for me. I do love the look of the watch and CIGA design has done an amazing job on the skeletonization of the movement. The view from the dial side and caseback is really something you'd never get tired of. Having an in-house caliber being as accurate as it is, for such a young brand that is highly impressive. Size wise, since the Hunter Gold is tonneau shaped, even though it is of a smaller lug to lug length than I typically prefer, it still wears big and has great wrist presence.



On the other hand, I just love lightweight watches. On the stainless steel bracelet, the Hunter Gold weighs nearly 40 grams more than the watches I am used to wearing. Years of living in the brutal Texas heat has also made me a true hater of bracelets on watches, where they would just turn into handcuffs in the summer. Finally a few weeks ago, I was invited by Richard Mille to see some of their newer releases and even these mid six figure watches didn't quite look right on my wrist due to the tonneau shaped case. I'm sure I'd get used to it over time, but I'm still not used to that shape on my wrist. I do think that a version of the Hunter Gold in full carbon with a rubber strap would be extremely interested to me personally though.

Would I then recommend this CIGA design Hunter Gold to somebody looking for a truly unique timepiece to add to their collection? Even though the watch isn't exactly to my personal preferences, the Hunter Gold will truly resonate with most modern collectors. My fondness of lightweight materials is a fairly niche desire in current watch trends with stainless being the most preferred case material. The Hunter Gold is extremely accurate and the level of skeletonization to the in-house movement can't be touched for less than many multiples more. If the collector liked the look of the watch and is open to tonneau shaped cases, the CIGA design Hunter Gold is a true no brainer that I'd have zero hesitation in recommending.



I'd really like to thank CIGA design for sending us over the Hunter Gold to review. This is now the third watch from the brand that we have reviewed and all three have been extremely different from each other. This has given us a great understanding of CIGA design, from their traditional roots of skeletonization, the Hunter Gold, to interesting complications housed in organic pebble like cases, the Time Cipher and Everest Summit Central Tourbillon. All of these watches have been of the highest quality and really drive home the meaning of "Created in China". Hopefully we will get the chance to review whatever unique creation CIGA design comes up with next!

For more information about the Hunter Gold please visit : CIGA design

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: Hunter Gold

Retail Price: $499 (€549)

Case Size: 43 mm

Lug to Lug: 48 mm

Thickness: 12.1 mm

Weight: 137 grams (On Stainless Steel Bracelet)

Case Material: DLC-coated Stainless Steel

Bezel: DLC-coated Stainless Steel

Strap: DLC-coated Stainless Steel Bracelet

Movement: In-House Caliber CD-07 Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes and Seconds

Power Reserve: 40 Hours

Water Resistance: 30 Meters