Watch companies like to get creative with the use of synthetic sapphire crystals, but it is difficult given the fact that the material can be very fragile. The problem isn't so much in risk of it breaking once it is made, but rather that the fabrication of synthetic sapphire crystal into all sorts of organic shapes requires a lot of stress of the material. So pieces can break with relative ease. That is why the finished result is not always as impressive as possible without knowing what a pain in the ass the watch was to make. This is probably the fact with this limited edition of just 5 pieces Corum Golden Tourbillon Panoramique Grey Sapphire watch.

What is interesting here is the application of gray PVD on the sapphire giving it that special look. The movement is a manually wound tourbillon based movement with a long 90 hours of power reserve. As you can see, the movement mainplate and bridges are all in sapphire! Something truly remarkable from a practical and aesthetic standpoint. The rest of the watch case is in 18k white gold with 309 diamonds decorating most every surface. Plus, the watch case has four sapphire crystals to help appreciate the movement from any angle. It is really a nice combination of luxury indulgence and mechanical intrigue. Expect prices to make your skin as light as the gray sapphire of the watch.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Watch store owner and "personality" at large Laurent Picciotto is very particular about the watch brands his store Chronopassion in Paris carries. He is known to deeply invest his time and effort into expanding the brands the store carries. Why? Because it seems to be his goal that the shop only carry highly exclusive brands that are also highly original. Not a bad motive.

In the second such photo shoot that I've seen him participate in (first was for Richard Mille watches), Picciotto hangs with Corum's CEO Antonio Calce, with each wearing one of the new Corum Ti-Bridge watches. The images are meant to be sort of silly in a "I really want to be a celebrity" manner. Though the man does a good job of establishing hype, and I certainly appreciate the departure from all the stuffy pomp and circumstance of luxury watch retail. If you find yourself in Paris looking for one of the world's finest (i.e. most expensive) timepieces. Look no further than Chronopassion - where you will now also find select Corum timepieces.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

A sure compromise between fancy and fun, the new Corum Admiral's Cup Challenge 44 Black & Gold is a suave new character in the Admiral's Cup watch lineup. No, it isn't a radical new design in the Admiral's Cup line of timepieces, but rather another installment in Corum's ongoing quest to promote the Admiral's Cup collection as the premiere non-regatta timer yacht racing themed watch around! I am pretty sure it has succeeded in that endeavor.

The "44" in the Corum Admiral's Cup Challenge 44 Black & Gold watch refers to the black PVD steel case's size of 44mm wide. The name of the watch is more or less "primarily descriptive" of the watch without much character in the title. The bezel is 18k rose gold, and so are the applications on the dial such as the hands and hour markers. The style is fittingly bold, but not necessarily more so than other Admiral's Cup timepieces. Inside the watch is Corum's calibre 753 automatic mechanical chronograph movement that has been Chronometer certified. The true black and gold version of the watch is limited to just 188 pieces while a brushed gray dial version (matched to a gray PVD case) is also available and limited to just 128 pieces. There is no way of knowing why there is a difference in availability. It is also hard to tell if there is lume applied to the dial of the watch. It could be the "dark" style lume - but I hope it is there. Sport watches such as this suffer a loss of credibility without having any type of darkness visibility. If not, at least plenty of other Corum Admiral's Cup watches have lume applied to the large stylish hands. The Admiral's Cup Challenge 44 Black & Gold watch should be available soon.

Ariel Adams publishes the luxury watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Some of you will no doubt recognize Corum's new Golden Bridge Lady Diamond Watch as a derivative of an existing style they have, to others this unique watch will be all new. Years ago Corum was able to develop a mechanical movement that was shaped like a bar (more or less linear as opposed to square or circular). They placed it in a horizontal fashion in watches. It was incredible to look at as they cased in an traditionally sized squarish case with the movement placed in the middle being showcased through the sapphire crystals. This concept has been adopted here and is now placed horizontally instead of vertically with the new Corum Gold Bridge Lady Diamond watch. The new position of the movement is more flattering to the wrist in the rectangular 41mm x 34mm sized case that comes in either red gold or white gold.

Aside from the 180 diamonds on the case and face, and the unique placement of the dial, the real show here is in the mechanical C0113 movement and in watching its ongoing operations. Despite its tiny size, it still has 40 hours of power reserve. While you can't truly appreciate the movement in still images, just try to imagine it with all the gears turning as the movement operates. The movement is suspended in the case between two sapphire crystals meaning you can see straight through to the other side of the case - quite cool. In addition to white or red gold, the watch comes with a black or white (pictured) alligator strap. Only 175 of these limited edition watches will ever be made, with just a few pieces produced each year. It is an incredible piece of micro mechanics for the woman who can appreciate the beauty of mechanical watches.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

In 1976 after much persuasion and a lot of factory visits (on both sides I'm sure), Corum finally convinced Rolls-Royce to provide them with a license to make a Rolls-Royce themed watch. The result was one of the best automotive styled watches ever. The problem with most car themed watches is that the watch often does not look anything like the car it is modeled after, or any car for that matter. Think of the Breitling Bentley watches. If you didn't know that Breitling was producing them as an homage to Bentley, would you ever guess at the automotive theme of the watch? When I look at the Corum Rolls-Royce I think car, and I think Rolls-Royce.

The Corum Rolls-Royce received an unprecedented demand, but never enjoyed wide scale production, though examples still loom in the collector's world. The 18k white or yellow gold case was modeled after the trademark Roman temple styled Rolls-Royce automobile radiator grill, complete with the flying lady hood ornament. The watch face itself was placed inside the grill visible though the vertical column bars. Powering the watch was a skeletonized mechanical movement. With Corum making a market comeback, I wouldn't be surprised if they struck up a new deal with Rolls-Royce for licensed watches as no one else has been seemingly been able to do so yet.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

People often miss the point of watches like this when they comment, "it's not worth that price!" No, it's probably not worth the retail cost (which is certainly $100,000 plus), but you aren't paying only for the value of the materials, you are paying for image and exclusivity. The Corum Admiral's Cup Tourbillon 48 is a status symbol on your wrist, and the cost of ownership will keep the watch out of most people's hands.

Corum's Admiral's Cup line has recently evolved into a show-off watch. Progressively getting larger, the watch that began as a celebration of a yacht race now seeks to be a timepiece 'measure of a man.' This 48mm wide version covered with diamonds has shed the characteristic flag hour indexes and replaced them with black diamonds (48 black diamonds make up the hour markers). The rest of the 18k red gold case is covered with 1,389 diamonds of various cuts for a total of 10.5 carats. The watch is no longer much of a submersible with a water resistance of only 30 meters. Overall look of the Admiral's Cup Tourbillon is extremely decadent.

Powering the watch is a manually wound Corum caliber 372 with a tourbillon complication. Interestingly enough, the power reserve is about 90 hours, which leads me to believe that the movement has at least two barrels. While tough to notice, the tourbillon cage is shaped like the iconic Admiral's Cup key logo that is typically present on the end of the seconds hand on the non-diamond version of the watch. The dial isn't the easiest to read, but no one who acquires a Corum Admiral's Cup Tourbillon 48 is doing so for practical time-keeping purposes.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Sometimes a house is just where someone lives. Other times a person's home becomes an extension of personality. Today's home in London, England belonged to Severin Wunderman, a man well-known to those with a love of watches. Wunderman, who died this past summer at the age of 69, built the Gucci watch franchise and then later went on to buy the Swiss brand Corum. Ever wonder about the origin of Corum skull designs? A peek into Wunderman's library might hold the answer, skulls are proudly displayed on the shelves. The eight-bedroom home in the Chelsea area is deliciously quirky, full of both grandeur and eccentricity and decorated with art that reflects Wunderman's varied interests. The home also includes a gothic "hobbit house" in the garden. It was originally listed at £15.5million and now the asking price is £10.5million.

[via This is London]

Experience more lush living in luxury homes and mansions or see the stars living large with celebrity homes galleries at AOL Real Estate.

The cause of global warming has been good to Al Gore. The latest honor for the former vice president turned environmental rock star is being named as the first "Brand Icon of the Year" by Global Brand Forum 2007 and Corum Timepieces. To celebrate the achievement Gore was given a Corum Romvlvs watch at the 2007 Global Brand Forum, held Aug. 6 and 7 in Singapore.

The latest version of Corum's classic Golden Bridge watch is the Golden Bridge Artisan. This amazingly detailed watch is tonneau-shaped with a rose gold case, four sapphire crystals and a handpainted dial that takes 36 hours to create. The watch has a mechanical movement with 18k black gold open-work hands and a black crocodile strap. Just 50 pieces of this watch are being made.

This beautiful watch is the Corum Skylight Skeleton. Sandwiched between a sapphire crystal there is a mechanical 18kt gold movement with skeletonized and hand-engraved components. The elegantly curved watch is available in a limited edition of 100 pieces of white gold and 40 pieces of rose gold both with and without diamonds. What I like best about this watch is that it lets you see the movement at work and yet the ability to quickly read what time it is has not been compromised.

[via Time Zone]

Unfortunately just looking at this watch only gives us half of its true beauty. For Baselworld 2006, Corum is introducing the Tourbillon Minute Repeater Cathedral. The watch is a manual-wind Corum tourbillon with a minute repeater that features a Cathedral chime that can ring on the hours, quarter hours or minutes. The watch is 42mm and comes in a limited edition of 25 pieces in platinum and 25 in 18K rose or white gold. The watch has double sapphire crystals and is water resistant to 30 meters.

The these two models from Corum are both named the Antika but they form a striking picture of how numerals make a big difference in watch design. The left watch features Art Deco numerals and diamonds, the right uses Roman numerals and diamonds. Both are classic but the Art Deco design has a much more unique and funky look. The case measures 28 x 35mm and the watches are available in 18K yellow, rose or white gold with a crocodile leather strap. Another picture of the Art Deco Antika can be found on Time Zone.

Corum always does such beautiful work with the skull motif. Time Zone has pictures of the Corum Classical Vanitas watch which uses marquetry of precious stones and marble to painstakingly create the intricate skull and flower design shown here. The watch comes in 18K rose, white or yellow gold and the case measures 42mm. It has double sapphire crystals and a diamond version is available with 109 carats (2.89 carats).  There are five versions, each in a limited edition of 50. After the jump two more versions of this unique watch.

A little bit watch, a little bit jewelry, Corum’s Debutante is a small 16.5mm white mother-of-pearl dial and diamond watch that comes with three bangle bracelets set with green peridot, pink topaz and sky blue topaz stones. These interchangeable bracelets have a mechanism to attach the watch to the bangle of your choice. There are also additional bracelets including one set with citrines, one with amethysts and another with diamonds that can be purchased separately. The retail price is $6201.