Archive for February, 2010

The History of Corum Watches

Corum was founded in 1955 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland by Gaston Ries and his nephew, Renee Bannwart, and just one year later the first Corum watches were being produced.

Corum’s claim to fame came early on when the company introduced a watch made out of a $20 dollar gold piece which was an instant best-seller. Even though this had been done before on pocket watches, Corum was the first and only one ever to do a wristwatch.

In January 2000, Corum was purchased by it’s current owner, Severin Wunderman, and was soon under the guidance of his son Michael, the President of the company to this date.

The team was completed in 2007 with the arrival of a man with a rich professional background, Antoine Calce, to the CEO position, who oversees overall operations.
 
Corum Models
Admiral’s Cup

The Admiral’s Cup race was first held in 1957 and the Corum Admiral’s Cup watch was introduced just 3 years later in 1960. This first watch was square, water resistant and had a sailboat engraved in the back. It had little resemblance to the current Corum Admiral’s Cup watches with their twelve-sided case design and brightly colored nautical penants decorating the bezels. The Corum Admiral’s Cup is available in 40mm, 41mm, 44mm, and 48mm as well as in versions with a chronograph complication or just time and date. Several materials are available as well: rose gold, yellow gold, two tone, stainless steel and even a titanium and rubber fusion on the Admiral’s Cup Challenge Regatta 2007.
 
Romulus
Created in 1966, the Corum Romulus was the first watch ever to display the hour numerals on the bezel. It sports a sapphire case back engraved with a laurel crown in honor of Romulus, the founder of ancient Rome. It’s available in stainless steel, white or yellow gold and a dual time version in either yellow or white gold.

Golden Bridge
The Corum Golden Bridge collection is unique in the watchmaking world. It’s four sapphire sides offer an unrestricted view of the intricately detailed linear movement, which appears to be floating in mid-air, held only by the gold bridge that names this watch. The Corum Golden Bridge is offered in 18k gold or platinum, and is also available with delicate diamond work.

Tourbillon and Classical
The Corum Tourbillon and Classical collection, as the name suggests, is devoted to the most elegant and complicated watches. The current collection is comprised of the Corum Classical Billionaire Tourbillon, a diamond and sapphire covered masterpiece of watchmaking, the Corum Golden Tourbillon Panoramique with its tourbillon movement floating between sapphire bridges, and the skeleton dialed Corum Classical Skylight Skeleton.

Coin Watch
One of the most recognizable Corum watches, the Coin watch, is still available almost fifty years after its debut. Corum precisely installs a manual wind or quartz movement inside a $20 “Double Eagle” or a $10 “Liberty” coin to create this watches that will only get increasingly rare, as the supply for this historic coins diminishes. They are available with a diamond bezel, for a more distinguished look.

Artisan Timepieces
The Corum Artisan watch line is defined by beautiful dials depicting wild animals, exotic locales, or even historic scenes, all of them limited edition masterpieces of some of the very few craftsmen left who are familiar with the immensely time consuming techniques used in these watches.
   
Corum BUBBLE
The Corum Bubble collection exhibits the company’s passion for design innovation, using extra large domed crystals that give the wearer a changing perspective from each different angle. Corum has utilized this versatile platform to create some of the most unique and recognizable limited edition Corum watches, with themes ranging from poker, pirates, to bats or even a skeleton gangster.

Baume & Mercier Classima Executives 2010 Series Watches

In this busy world, time is a luxury for nearly every person. With the development economy and technology, Baume & Mercier launched its Classima Executives 2010 series watches. It is in all five pieces which have more distinctive technical characteristics: including exquisite watchmaking skills, high-tech materials, as well as simple design.

Baume & Mercier Classima Executives 2010 series watches not only perfectly inherit the elegant and traditional circular watchmaking style of Baume & Mercier, but also showing a new design connotation.

Classima Executives XL Dual Time Zone Chronograph (8851)Classima Executives XL Dual Time Zone Chronograph (8851)
Black is classic color forever. This watch is matched with black crocodile leather strap, adopts classic eternal circular design. The case material is stainless steel, white dial with rhodium-plated Roman numerals and small markers, Phi was engraved on crown, noble and elegant. 30-minute timing display set at 12 o’clock position, also engraved with the brand logos Phi, the hour display set at 6 o’clock position, the calendar display at 3 o’clock position.

Classima Executives XL Hollow Window and Power Reserve Display Watch (8869)Classima Executives XL Hollow Window and Power Reserve Display Watch (8869)
The design concepts of this watch come from the most exquisite traditional watchmaking skills, with high-level movement. Silver dial was decorated with a “grain d’orge” shaped Microhyla. You can see swinging rotor clearly through the hollow window at 12 o’clock position. Power Reserve Display Function shows through movement of the 18K red gold hands on a dedicated instruction set at 6 o’clock position. Sun Microhyla dial matches with black Roman numerals and small markers, gorgeous and low-key. Transparent back shows the perfect watchmaking techniques, engraved with Geneva Microhyla automatic-winding movement, fine grinding movement plywood, blue steel screws, which are the perfect example of traditional watchmaking.

Classima Executives XL Full Calendar Display Chronograph (8870)Classima Executives XL Full Calendar Display Chronograph (8870)
This traditional and elegant chronograph is equipped with high-end self-winding movement, matching with full calendar display function (18K red gold of the Central pointer display the calendar, week and monthly calendar display window at 12 o’clock position, moon phase display at 6 o’clock position), 24-hour display is located at 9 o’clock position. The silver dial is decorated with “grain d’orge” shaped Microhyla, crafted with the sun Microhyla satin display. Pendulum is engraved with the Geneva Microhyla, fine grinding plywood movement, as well as blue steel screws are clearly showed on the back.

Classima Executives Magnum XXL Chronograph (8852

Classima Executives Magnum XXL Chronograph (8852)
With black rubber strap and mechanical automatic movement, as well as the new 44 mm diameter dial design, this advanced chronograph has unique characteristics. Fine grinding polished / satin steel case gives you unique masculine charm; sand blasting treatment functional buttons make it easy to use this watch; screw-back ensures this watch can be water-resistent to the depth of 200 meters. Black dial decorated with rhodium-plated luminous (Superluminova ® *) hour markers, with hollow and luminous indicators to ensure optimal readability. Groove-type screw-in crown is engraved with the brand logo Phi. Calendar display is at 6 o’clock position, minutes, hours and seconds display are located at 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions.

Classima Executives Magnum XXL Black PVD Steel Chronograph (8853)Classima Executives Magnum XXL Black PVD Steel Chronograph (8853)
For this unique watch, Baume & Mercier designs a different style on case through black satin and sand blast PVD steel treatment. In addition, it strengthened the details of outline, highlighting the superb watchmaking skills. This watch is matched with mechanical self-winding movement. Screw-back ensures it can be water resistant to the depth of 200 meters.

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