Corum has revisited its Golden Bridge and plans to deliver six new blackened versions of the architecturally sublime watch design we first saw from Corum in 1980 (though Vincent Calabrese devised it three years earlier). Two of the six new models debut this week, while the remaining four will appear in upcoming months, Corum adds.
Both of the newest Golden Bridge watches are darkened as a result of a black DLC treatment on the 43mm titanium case, the bezel, and the buckle. The Golden Bridge’s signature, its baguette-shaped movement, was re-engineered by Corum in 2011 and has been variously offered with manual winding or automatic winding over the years. While Corum usually places the in-line movement in a rectangular or tonneau case, Corum began offering the movement within round cases for the first time in 2016 with precious metal and gem-settings.
Here Corum reprises that same round-cased design with a dark twist. The movement is manually wound and made with white gold or pink gold, with the matching gold extended to the hands, the flange, the crown and the screws. Everything else on these new models is black–even the strap. For the first time, Corum has placed a black rubber bracelet (engraved with the brand’s name) on the Golden Bridge.
The visible baguette-shaped movement, built around a classically engraved central bridge, performs its timekeeping functions framed by dark bridges Corum says are devised to explicitly recall suspension bridges.
As engineering triumphs writ large, these bridges have long symbolized our earliest industrial era. Here they effectively counterpoint the micro-engineered watchmaking that was experiencing a burst of development at roughly the same time as the oldest suspension bridges. All told, it’s a presentation that Corum has a particularly strong license to create, given its decades of experience with the Golden Bridge movement. I look forward to seeing the remaining four examples in upcoming months. Prices: 23,800 CHF (rose gold) and 23,500 CHF (white gold).
Specifications: Corum Golden Bridge Titane DLC
Movement: CO 113, hand-wound with 40 hours power-reserve, showing hour and minute, 28,800 vph
Case: 43.00mm by 8.80mm titanium (grade 5) with black DLC treatment. Reference B113/03831 with crown in 18kt rose gold; Reference B113/03832 with crown in white gold, sapphire case back, water-resistance to 30 meters
Dial: Microstructure in black lacquered silver. Ref. B113/03831 with 5N gold-toned flange in brass; Ref. B113/03832 with rhodium-plated flange in brass.
Hands: Baton-type, faceted, diamond-polished, 5N gold-toned or rhodium-plated
Strap: Vulcanized rubber, triple folding clasp in titanium grade 5 with black DLC treatment