The start up is offering attractive mechanical watches at a fraction of the going market rate. Too good to be true? We’re about to find out.

Goldgena is one of those pesky start-up brands that’s been making a bit of noise in the industry of late. For one, their crowd-funding project is already a huge success; at the time of writing they have raised 264,044 Swiss francs. To put that in perspective, their original goal was 80,000 Swiss francs, and they have tripled that with over three weeks left in the campaign.

The second reason why the industry has taken notice of the brand is because they are trying to debunk the Swiss Made label, as we covered back in May. They started with a policy of complete transparency on origin, costs and development to produce their timepieces.

They took issue with the fact that a watch might be labeled “Swiss Made” but may actually consist of mostly parts made in Asia.

As a result, Goldgena decided to be open about their part sourcing, whether the origin is Swiss or from somewhere else. They didn’t want to make a watch that’s Swiss Made simply to carry the label, so they only source Swiss parts when it makes sense in added value.

Apparently some were not happy with their openness, no doubt because it gave a better idea of the markups at each stage of the production chain.

But I can say with some certainty that no consumer has complained yet. That’s because the brand is promising to cut the prices of mid-range mechanical models by more than 50%!

They manage to keep costs low by using standard mechanical movements. Their ANOMALY-01, for example, relies on a Miyota 82S7 Japanese automatic movement. For those looking for a three hand and date model powered by a Swiss movement, there is the ANOMALY-02, which runs on the workhorse ETA 2824 automatic movement.

Their design is very clean and almost industrial, hinting at the fact that this is quality mechanical piece no matter from what angle you looked at it. The dials are sculpted on several levels and their machined look makes them look like they are a continuation of the mechanical movement.

To get fans a bit more excited and make them feel as if they’re a part of the revolution, the brand also offered a numbered series of 1-999 which feature the inscription: “Founding Member – Limited Edition”. While it’s a nice touch, the inscription seems to be the only thing that makes this a special edition.

I thought that the Goldgena team talked a big game when I first learned about them earlier this year. Partly that’s because the watches they proposed looked fantastic and the pricing was even more impressive. But based on the success of their crowd-funding campaign, it seems that many more are buying into their project.

Perhaps more importantly, their fans will ensure the company has enough capital to make the Goldgena promise a reality. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing a Goldgena piece up close and personal in the near future.