Corum has been creating unmistakable watches since 1955. The Swiss company has always stood by its values for creative freedom, never being afraid to think outside the box to invent off the wall designs for fans of unconventional design. Together with his nephew, René Bannwart, Gaston Ries opened up a watchmaking workshop in La Chaux de Fonds, its logo symbolising a key pointing up to represent a mystery waiting to be unlocked.
One of the first designs created by Corum was its Admiral Cup model with a square shaped case, recognised today as the first water resistant watch. A few years later and several American presidents were sporting the Double Eagle watch which Corum created in 1964, followed by the Buckingham watch a year later. With a revolutionary design, the Buckingham got instant recognition with its oversized proportions, creating a bold wrist presence. One of the most popular Corum watches of all time is the Golden Bridge watch, which featured a hand engraved baguette movement that seems to float in an empty space between two sapphire crystal glass panels. The round models were made available in 39 or 43mm sizes, one of which features a crown in the unusual position of 6 o’clock on the case. Today Corum offers Ti Bridge watches for women with a striking horizontal rectangular shaped case crafted from materials like ceramic and diamond steel variations.
Over the years Corum has experimented with different materials, creating the Meteorite watch in 1992 which, as its namesake suggests, is crafted from a piece of meteorite. Extending on its Admiral Cup line, Corum also created an iteration with nautical pennants corresponding to the international maritime code, marking out the hours, along with a version called the Tides watch with an exclusive Corum movement that indicated the current state of the tide, the height of the water and the current’s strength.
New owners took over Corum in the year 2000. CEO Severin Wunderman launched the Bubble watch with an 11mm domed sapphire crystal glass. Making its presence known with a unique look, these timepieces suited larger wrists and came in an adventurous colour palette. Different artists like Canadian born Elisabetta Fantone and Spanish painter, Salvador Dali collaborated with Corum to develop these innovative models. Two blue Super LumiNova coated circles represent the hands in these models.
In 2009 Corum released its second automatic movement to be developed, designed and assembled in house. The Calibre CO 007 calibre has plates and bridges that have been cut from titanium and the movement was equipped to the Ti Bridge watch mentioned earlier. The signature twelve-sided case and nautical pennants of the Admiral Cup watch were revisited once again in 2006, emerging with a bolder and more contemporary design. In addition to this, Corum released the Heritage watch collection which is segregated into five categories, the Corum Lab, Eleganza, Sublissima, Romvlvs, and Coin Watch. The Romvlvs 44 Annual Calendar watch belongs to Corum’s current catalogue but like many Heritage watches, pays homage to a model from yesteryear. The 1966 wristwatch of which the timepiece takes inspiration from incorporates cutting edge technology into its design, exemplifying just how far the Swiss watch manufacturer has come since it was born back in 1955.
