challenge

Corum Admiral's Cup Challenge 44 Black & Gold Watch

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.

Tags: 44, admirals cup, AdmiralsCup, black, challenge, corum, gold, watch

CVSTOS Challenge-R High Fidelity Chrono Watch

by Ariel Adams (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Timepieces / Watches

Cvstos is one of those low flying luxury watch brands that quietly releases interesting timepieces. While not wholly original in execution, the Challenge-R High Fidelity Chrono watch is based on some well received trends set by brands such as Audemars Piguet, Zenith, and Richard Mille. Cvstos picks and chooses from key models in these and other brands and imbues its own character into the Challenge-R watch. The technical aspects of the watch resemble novelties we have recently seen in Tag Heuer watches. The case itself is a large 50mm wide and done in grade 5 titanium with some rubber accents. The dial also uses titanium but uses tungsten as well for the dark gray skeletonized areas.

While the layout of the chronograph looks familiar, it uses dial discs that themselves spin to indicate the recorded time rather than hands. A date and power reserve indicator balance out the dial with the time telling hands themselves being strong looking. The colors on the dial are all customizable by the owners, as is much of the watch. With the technical features being interesting to observe, this is a graceful yet bold watch if there was every such a thing. The idea being that although it makes a bold statement, it will age more gracefully than many of the "interesting today, garish tomorrow" watches that are often released. The movement is the Cvstos Calibre 577 automatic mechanical movement. Most things about the watch are quite nice, but it is obvious the name was not chosen for US audiences as it sounds like a racing video game title - not a luxury sport watch.

Ariel Adams publishes the watch review site aBlogtoRead.com.

Tags: challenge, challenge-r, challenger, chrono, custos, cvstos, high fidelity, HighFidelity, watch