The New CIGA Design Time Cipher Gold Opts For A Classy Colorway

At the start of this year, CIGA Design released the Time Cipher in two case variations — one in black and one in bare steel. Both have mirror-polished contours with capsule-shaped micro-sandblasted recesses. Also, both feature black dials with silver index tracks and steel “hands” with green inlays. Today, the brand adds a third version, the Time Cipher Gold, with a black case and gold-colored visible mechanics. This seems like a nice, classy watch for the year-end festivities.

By now, CIGA Design can certainly be considered a specialist in creating technically complex timepieces with superb finishing at unprecedented price points. For me, it all started in 2021 when the brand won the Challenge Watch Prize at the Grand Prix d’Horlogerie de Genève (GPHG) with its Blue Planet model. At first, that watch appears to have a stationary, domed, detailed globe for a dial with minute and hour tracks around it. It takes closer inspection to realize the globe and minute track rotate, while the hour track doesn’t. It’s a whole different approach to time-telling that most wouldn’t expect. This emphasizes CIGA’s specialism in technically complex movements. In fact, nearly all of the watches in the brand’s Aventur, Edge, Everest, and Zodiac collections reflect this anything-but-simple approach.

CIGA Design Time Cipher Gold

But today, we’re here for the new CIGA Design Time Cipher Gold, an automatic watch with a wandering-hour complication. This one retains one of the previous versions’ black case with mirror-polished contours and micro-sandblasted details. However, this new Gold variation will not be available in a non-plated steel case. Also carried over from the previous models is the deep, Vantablack-like dial. This time, though, CIGA uses a gold treatment for the CNC-engraved indexes and the wandering assembly — a skeletonized minute arm carrying a rotating hour disc.

What is a wandering-hour complication?

A conventional watch has an hour hand and a minute hand. The wandering-hour complication replaces those with a moving assembly. According to CIGA, the complication dates back to a 17th-century night clock made for Pope Alexander VII. It later found its way into pocket watches, and several independent watchmakers subsequently adopted it, often housing it in thick, theatrical cases. With the Time Cipher, CIGA chose a simpler concept and a slimmer execution.

On the Time Cipher, the skeletonized arm sweeps 360° every hour. It points to the minutes on the outer scale and features a gear-inspired hour disc that rotates against a fixed marker to indicate the hour. When the arm reaches the top of the dial, a new hour begins. In his hands-on article on the earlier Time Cipher models, Jorg found the display easy to read and, in his words, “quite a bit of fun.”

Dial and movement

According to CIGA, the watch’s Super Black dial absorbs 99.4% of light. The gold on the wandering-hour assembly is a DLC coating, and the finishing varies by part. The minute arm has Côtes de Genève, the hour disc is polished, and the counterweight is micro-sandblasted. A ring of CNC-engraved indexes runs around the perimeter, and the hour numerals are filled with white, green-glowing Super-LumiNova. A gently domed sapphire crystal protects the dial and wandering-hour assembly.

Inside is the CD-08, CIGA’s customized version of the Miyota 9015. This 24-jewel automatic movement beats at 28,800 vph and provides a 40-hour power reserve. The brand says it reworked the caliber’s structure to support the wandering-hour display and quotes an accuracy of -10/+30 seconds per day.

Pricing and availability

CIGA lists the new Time Cipher Gold edition at €949 (incl. VAT) / US$899 (ex. taxes). This is the same as the two earlier versions. The watch is available through CIGA Design’s official online store and the brand’s authorized dealers worldwide. For comparison, the Hunter Titanium Skeleton costs €999, so the Time Cipher models are in the same league. The wandering-hour complication is usually found in watches that cost considerably more, which makes this one notable, if you ask me.

Conclusion

I find the Time Cipher easier to position than the Hunter Titanium Skeleton that I reviewed. The Time Cipher is definitely more of a dress watch than a sports watch. It has just one complication that commands attention. The movement is a modified standard caliber, and the accuracy tolerance is only slightly wider than that of, for instance, the Hunter Tourbillon. The appeal, then, lies in the display and the case rather than in the movement technology. The Gold edition keeps that character and adds a contrast the other versions lack.

What is your take on the CIGA Design Time Cipher Gold? Would you enjoy a wandering-hour complication in a daily watch, or is reading the time a bit too much work? And how do you like the gold-tone assembly against the black case and dial? Let’s discuss it in the comments below!

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