They have a bright character, Swiss reliability, a great designer name and an interesting brand history. It seems that we have witnessed a quiet revolution in the world of watches. Now they captivate not with their technical complexity, but with their design. And they do not serve for centuries, passed on from generation to generation, but can change along with fashion trends.
It’s hard for me to say, SAGA Stella Illusion is more of a watch or a piece of jewelry. The designers clearly did their best. True, until today I did not know such a watch brand. And the history of the company deserves a separate story.
The saga of SAGA
In 1978, Leung Wai Ho, manager of a small watch case factory, opened his own company, Dailywin, in Hong Kong. At the first stage, he had 20 employees and a workshop of less than 500 sq.m. Dailywin made cases to order from third-party manufacturers (they say that Casio and the American Timex were among them). After 5 years, the company began making its own watches, after 15, it had its own factory of 18 sq.m and conducted sales in the USA and China.
From 1997 to 2003, Dailywin was engaged in retailing products from world brands, but then returned to creating watches. Now Dailywin has a large, super-technological watch factory, as well as a separate research and development center, where they come up with designs, create drawings, and make 3D prototypes of future watches. It has its own watch institute and division in Switzerland. The company employs 1 people, annually supplies 300 thousand watch production kits to Swiss customers and produces 700 million watches under its brands. Including SAGA.
Since 2019, SAGA has been working closely with the China Lunar Exploration Project (CLEP). To support the Chinese aerospace industry, they released a line of “Moon&Mars” watches and opened a museum dedicated to the Chinese aerospace industry, where they presented the Dailywin Watch developments.
Here we have a watch made by a still little-known, but serious, technologically advanced and very ambitious company.
“Swedish minimalist and British elegant”
Since 2012, “Swedish minimalist and British elegant” women’s watches have been produced under the SAGA brand. In particular, the Stella line is fashionable watches at the intersection of jewelry products (or rather, costume jewelry).
The hero of our review, Illusion, is an elegant model with an emphasis on the geometry of its edges. This is, first of all, a design object, and a watch is a secondary matter. On the brand’s website, the watch is also described with the words “original”, “elegant”, “romantic art with a sense of technology” and “dances easily around the wrist”, rather than with watch characteristics.
But inside there is a Swiss Ronda caliber 751. So everything is in order with the watch component. This is a reliable and fairly accurate watch mechanism with a long battery life (about 5 years). Which is understandable: there are no complications here - only hour and minute hands.
Water resistance 30 WR - you can still wash your hands and walk in the rain, but you can’t swim.
Magic of crystals
The watch case and stainless steel bracelet are available in one of three colors (platinum, champagne and rose gold).
The case is a miniature quadrangle of non-standard shape measuring 22,5 x 21,7 mm. Mineral glass. The dial is made using Sunray technology (“sun rays”), painted in a purple-pink gradient. Four steel applied marks in the form of strokes. Two rectangular arrows, slightly pointed at the ends.
An open steel bracelet with a dial at one end and a large crystal at the other. On the websites of different dealers you can find conflicting information: somewhere they write that it is Swarovski, somewhere it is the mysterious Crystal Danube. The origin is clarified by the QR code on the tag of the watch itself, which leads to the brand’s website. In reality, this is an imitation of crystal, but, as the manufacturer promises, it is durable.
My bracelet size is S (160 mm wrist circumference), but you can buy a watch with a larger bracelet size L (170 mm). To put on the watch, you need to slightly pull the bracelet in different directions and it will open wider.
My first association with SAGA Stella Illusion is an ancient artifact with a sacred meaning. It seems that if you know a special spell, then with the help of this “amulet” you can conjure whatever you want.
This effect is created due to the fact that there are no right angles or straight lines. It’s as if the watch was made by hand by jewelers of that era, when there were no such advanced stone processing technologies as there are now. And the inscription “SAGA” on the dial adds a touch of mystery, hinting at a long, intricate story.
Since the bracelet is open at the top of the wrist (and not at the bottom, as we are used to), there is a strange feeling of “wrongness”, which is why the watch constantly attracts attention. And admiring how the crystal shimmers and sparkles under the watch, you can forget why you moved the cuff away in the first place and never see the time. Thanks to the 9 crystal faces, an optical illusion of a large cube is created: it hypnotizes and seems to transport you to another dimension.
Suitable for whom and with what?
All this together - bright colors, crystal shine and irregular geometry - is pretentious and catchy. For brave ladies who love to be seen.
Thanks to the play of shades and the play of light on the edges, the watch can be combined with many clothing options. But the style should be laconic, with a straight cut, not overloaded with details or small patterns.
This watch is designed to be a gift for your loved one. They are packaged in a shiny box tied with a bow. Even if your chosen one does not wear a watch, she will definitely like this one.
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