Corum Explore Flying Tourbillons in Space with New Haute Horology Concept Watch

In recent years it could be said that Corum have fallen from their previous heights as an haute horological powerhouse. Now though they’re having a bit of a return to form. Specifically, they’re exploring fresh concepts with the fittingly named the Corum Concept Watch that features a hyper-skeletonised display that appears to float in a void of stars.

Let’s start with the case as that’s the simplest part of the Concept Watch. It’s 39.5mm in diameter and made from recycled titanium, making it lightweight, durable and sustainable. Although as a one-off concept watch it’s more a commitment to sustainability in the future rather than an example of sustainability in practice. Style-wise it looks somewhat like a spaceship, which suits the astral theme of the piece, featuring pronounced, Nautilus-esque flanks and an oversize crown.

What makes this watch visually spectacular is without a doubt the dial, consisting of a series of clear sapphire plates that support the movement and an aventurine glass base that gives it the appearance of floating in stars. It’s impressively dynamic with an exposed gear train operating the central hour and minute hands and a flying tourbillon at 6 o’clock.

My favourite part of the watch is quite possibly the caseback, which has a small exhibition window revealing the movement from the back while around the edges are a complete set of annotations. The annotations point out useful information like the position of the tourbillon, the 90-hour power reserve and the functions of the crown. It reminds me of the H. Moser & Cie. Perpetual Calendar for Dummies that used a similar style of annotations. It falls on just about the right side of irreverent to be fun and charming.

I will say that the strap it’s presented on seems a little out of place: a textile number with Velcro fastening. It doesn’t have the luxury high end feel of the watch itself and I’m not a fan of the way the lugs attach to the fabric. However, putting my initial reaction to the strap aside, I do understand the concept behind its use and as this is a Concept Watch, that’s half the battle. Velcro was invented by a Swiss scientist and was famously used in the space suits of the Apollo missions, which means it connects with the space theme of the watch as well as the fact Corum are Swiss.

Of course, as a Concept Watch this is not really a production model so talking about value is irrelevant. What’s more interesting is speculating where these concepts will show up in future. I could imagine an aventurine glass Golden Bridge for example or an update to the case shape of the Lab or Bubble. Although if I had my way, they’d just put the Concept Watch into production because it is really cool.