The Circular C – SDG from ID Genève is not a trophy but a statement. Launched during Climate Week in New York to mark ten years of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, it is made in 17 pieces, each numbered to a specific goal, its dial a vivid gradient that reframes the familiar SDG colour wheel.
The process is as pointed as the premise. You do not simply buy one. You apply, and each watch is allocated to someone whose work reflects the goal on its caseback. A watchmaker asking what a watch should reward – not whom it should flatter.
The material story is the spine here. A regenerative carbon bezel and dial developed with CompPair. A case in 100% reprocessed stainless steel. A 70% recycled sapphire crystal engraved with all 17 SDG entities. Inside ticks a refurbished Swiss automatic movement drawn from historical stock. Swiss standards, minimal impact, with parts chosen for circularity rather than novelty.
Purists may raise an eyebrow at the lack of fresh movement architecture. Fair. Yet giving a serviceable calibre a second life is a kind of craft too – the quiet discipline of restoration over reinvention. It keeps the energy where it belongs: on intent, fit, and longevity.
The aesthetic is frank. The gradient dial could have tipped into sermon; instead it reads as a clear signal on the wrist, legible and purposeful. It will not be for every boardroom – but timepieces with a view seldom are.
Ten percent of proceeds support projects advancing the SDGs. The edition stops at 17. More than scarcity, it is symmetry: goal to number, number to owner, owner to action. Luxury, here, is accountability you can wind.
In a market fluent in editions and slogans, the Circular C – SDG feels unusually direct. Less slogan, more tool. If the watch reveals the mind of its maker, this one suggests a workshop that edits hard and means what it keeps.
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