It’s time to recognize and applaud the brands that are showing us how good Chinese watchmaking can get. For most of the past 20 years, China’s watchmaking industry has been stigmatized by cheap quartz and mechanical movements, shoddy manufacturing, and labor concerns — and that’s just from the brands that admit to using China. So when a brand like Celadon explicitly, exclusively, and proudly uses Chinese production and releases beautiful timepieces like the Celadon CL Imperial collection, it’s worth taking notice.
We’ve been talking about the growth and progress of the Chinese watch industry for at least ten years. At the same time we saw luxury brands catering (some would say pandering) to the Chinese market, we started seeing overtly Made in China brands emerge, Celadon among them. These brands weren’t just admitting they were made in China, they were trumpeting it as the standard bearers of a new chapter for Chinese watchmaking. The message was and is clear: China isn’t just about cheap knockoffs. (Though it’s worth noting that even the cheap knockoffs are astoundingly high quality these days.) Frankly, we shouldn’t be surprised: It’s a poorly kept secret that many luxury watchmakers outsource at least some of their production to China. So of course the Chinese watch industry can produce high-quality watches — it’s already making them for everyone else!
Celadon positions the CL (short for Claire de Lune) as its midtier collection, between Celadon HH, priced at $14,900 and above, and Maison Celadon, priced below $2,000. The separation between each tier is defined by the cases, the level of dial artisanship, and the movements used. At the low end, the Maison Celadon models use a hand-wound Beijing Watch Factory movement with a stamped guilloche dial, while the high-end Celadon HH has handcrafted hands and enamel dials and an exclusive manufacture movement with hand-finishing.
The case of the Celadon CL Imperial models approaches perfection for the style. Made of stainless steel with a sapphire crystal, they measure 38mm and just 10.1mm thick. That translates to an easy wear on just about any wrist, but I found the sculpted form of the case a treat to look at off the wrist, as well. The case is mostly polishing, but the teardrop lugs have wide brushed sides and mimic individually soldered lugs that you might find on watches five times as expensive.
Beyond that, though, almost every surface is concave. While this is common enough for a bezel, if you turn the watch over (check the caseback photo below), the brushed caseback ring and the underside of the mid-case and the lugs both feature concave surfaces. I found this gave the watch a slimmer appearance than even the 10.1mm thickness would suggest, and that’s something I’ll always welcome. To complete the watch, which is rated to 50m water resistance, Celadon works with enthusiast darling Delugs to supply quick-release 20mm leather straps; if you’re familiar with Delugs, you’ll know these are well made and comfortable, though I would’ve preferred a Celadon-branded buckle that was customized to echo the case design.
The more overt beauty here is with the handmade paillonné dials. Each dial is made with grand feu enamel which then has silver flakes hand-applied to create depth and texture. Three solid colors, including the Silver Snow azure blue seen here, are offered, but the stars (pun absolutely intended) are the Cosmos dials, which feature a Galaxy or Nebula design. On the Silver Snow dials, the texture is there seemingly for its own sake. But on the Cosmos dials, it brings the starry scenes to life, each flake taking on the role of another star and giving the gaseous bodies shape. While the Silver Snow dial will catch your eye, the Cosmos will hold your gaze and definitely had me looking down at the watch with no intention of reading the time.
The dial, as you can see, is devoid of any markings. That allows the art to shine, but it also makes setting the watch an absolute guessing game where the closest you can get is setting it at the hour. Even then, though, you have to eyeball where 12 o’clock falls between the lugs. Further, the polished hands sometimes get lost against the dial, especially the blue dial, as they lack significant contrast. Against the Cosmos dials, they stand out a bit more, so you’ll deal with less frequent disappearing acts. It’s also important to note that legibility is often at least partially sacrificed on watches with such beautiful, artistic dials. You’ll find the same issue on a number of Pateks and Vacherons, so this isn’t really about any corners being cut. My only thought is that the surface of the hands could have been rounded off to allow them to reflect light at more angles.
The Celadon CL Imperial watches are powered by the Seagull ST18 automatic movement, maintaining the brand’s emphasis on and commitment to Chinese production. Many will immediately raise an eyebrow, but don’t be misled: the ST18 is a far cry from its adjacently numbered sibling, the Seagull ST19 hand-wound chronograph movement. While that movement is ubiquitous in affordable chronographs (like the HAIM Legacy), the ST18 is a cut above. Seagull describes the ST18 as an “ultra-thin high-end base movement.” Its 3.6mm thickness allows for the watch’s slim profile, and it operates at 28,800 vph with a power reserve of 42 hours. While typically offered with a date, Celadon has removed that function and also regulated the movements in-house to -/+ 10 seconds per day. During my time with the watches, I found no issues with timekeeping.
For all the gestural Chinese New Year releases, there are very few brands that will openly produce their watches in China. Celadon and others like Atelier Wen are showing the true ability of Chinese watchmaking and that the “Made in China” label needn’t be feared. The challenge for these brands, of course, is that the majority of (disclosed) Chinese watch manufacturing is not of this caliber, and these brands must constantly fight against the stigma that has been created. Celadon and the rest of Benjamin Chee’s endeavors are at the vanguard and are proving themselves worthy of the position. The Celadon CL Silver Snow Imperial Azure is priced at approximately $2,907 USD while the Celadon CL Cosmos Imperial Nebula and Celadon CL Cosmos Imperial Galaxy are both priced at approximately $3,944 USD. For more information, please visit the Celadon website.
