TRUE COLOURS

CORUM TRANSFORMS LAST YEAR’S ADMIRAL 42 FULL BLACK INTO A FULLY FLEDGED COLLECTION, ALBEIT ONE WITH A TWIST, WRITES JUSTIN NG

With its 65th anniversary looming, Corum has set out on a quest to retrace a heritage of breaking new ground. To many tPe Jrand Pas come to Je defined by the Golden Bridge, a collection whose raison d’etre lies in its non-conformist, baguette-shaped calibre. The world¼s first linear mo^ement it was tPe realisation oN an idea, a calculated risk that ultimately bore fruit.

It’s said that Vincent Calabrese, who created the movement, was frustrated that watches at the time were customarily bought for their appearance and with no regard to what was within the case (it was, after all, the height of the quartz crisis). Determined to go against the grain, he decided to develop watches with intrinsic substance that revealed what truly mattered, and created a baguette-shape movement that would prove his point. News of its development reached the ears of Corum co-founder René Bannwart; the two met and struck up a friendship.

Sharing Calbrese’s vision and convinced of the movement’s potential, Bannwart ploughed resources into its production, so much so that the Golden Bridge has been emblematic of the brand since 1980, symbolising Corum’s willingness to push the envelope.

If Corum has never been part of the mainstream, its new “risk is the reward” tagline heralds the arrival of yet more adventurous, provocative and intrepidly original watcPes

)]tomatic .]ll *lacS – t]rned o]t to Je an elaJoration oN last year¼s )dmiral .]ll *lacS ) Jold watcP witP its s]a^e and anO]lar Ret JlacS presentation tPe oriOinal .]ll Black plays on the elementary palette of white/grey on black. Spurred on by the enthusiastic reception, Corum decided to de^elop it into a complete collection oN fi^e colours: blue, red, orange, yellow and green.

“The main objective is to go against the classic codes of watchmaking by proposing a trendy watch instead of a traditional case in steel or gold,” is how the brand explains it. “Corum [also] wanted to break the codes of its )dmiral collection representinO classic na^iOation

+or]m¼s )dmiral¼s +]p was tPe first watcP to Neat]re a water-resistant square case. The following decades saw numerous redesigns, as well as resizing and renaming, while nautical pennants replaced hour markers that were previously based on Roman numerals. The 12 nautical pennants adhere to the International Code of Signals, indicatinO n]mJers ]sinO colo]red AEaOs 1n tPe case oN tPe )dmiral )]tomatic .]ll *lacS tPese AEaOs are presented in black with contrasting accents of a singular colour that corresponds to the respective watch.

Barring the coloured outlines of the nautical pennants, Super-LumiNova, date and small-second indicator, every part of the watch is in black or deep grey, giving an a]stere and edOy e ٺ ect

4ast year¼s .]ll *lacS was a one o ٺ limited edition prod]ced in pieces -acP oN tPe fi^e new colo]red models this year are also limited to 100 examples. With water resistance rated at Jar tPe )dmiral )]tomatic .]ll *lacS is tPe contemporary sports watcP par excellence.

“THE MAIN OBJECTIVE IS TO GO AGAINST THE CLASSIC CODES OF WATCHMAKING BY PROPOSING A TRENDY WATCH INSTEAD OF A TRADITIONAL CASE IN STEEL OR GOLD”