Citizen Campanola's Global Art Collection

I’ve thought the subrand Campanola by Citizen died many years ago because they stopped updating their global site. Little did I know they stopped updating that one and now only update the Japanese site.

I found Campanola very early on in the hobby while exploring some of the more niche watches. One of them was “Galante” by Seiko which probably appealed to very few collectors. As someone who didn’t know anything about Campanola, I would describe it as taking some elements of haute horology and packaging them with simpler movements at a competitive price. I recently rediscovered the brand and noticed their new Global Art collection, a white gold cased watch with a small dial, and a custom made tourbillion movement by La Joux-Perret. Citizen also owns La Joux-Perret and I actually remember thinking about what crazy things they were going to do with them for Campanola back when they acquired them.

Some things I like about the watch are the use of the Cosmosign series hands instead of the more common sword hands found on Campanola series. There are two colorways. One is a blue and black wave dial with splotches and light blue outlines. The other one is a rough black and orange dial. If I had to choose one for myself I would pick the blue one. I also enjoy the use of the bell symbol as the running seconds hand attached to the tourbillion. The side of the case has the signature round end points and aggressive drop of the Campanola series.

This is one of the rare times I’ve actually liked a tourbillion watch. Chinese independents are really the ones pushing how a tourbillion can be presented in a watch and I believe they have the perfect balance of creativity and tame design. One thing this watch has in common with those Chinese independent pieces is that it actually looks like a clock and not a weapon Inspector Gadget would use.

Unfortunately there are only 5 of each color. At least they made it an affordable $62,365 USD. Joking aside, a white gold cased watch with a custom made movement developed by La-Joux Perret probably makes this a competitive offering compared to other tourbillion watches. That’s not me declaring that I’m going to buy a watch that costs this much. I repeat I AM NOT BUYING THIS WATCH. I’m glad I rediscovered this site and I hope they start expanding Campanola more. Citizen is already releasing the non limited edition “The Citizen” line to the United States so I’m hoping that Campanola eventually becomes more available. And please more watches with those Cosmosign hands!