Corum presents a concept watch made from recycled titanium that frames a flying tourbillon and an aventurine stone dial set, quite unusually, beneath the movement.
The new Corum Concept Watch, a flying tourbillon set with sapphire bridges and an aventurine dial.
The technical showcase, which Corum will produce in ‘extremely limited quantities,’ abounds in organic shapes with its rounded openings and gently curved case edges. Its movement appears to float amid sapphire bridges, which expose the aventurine dial below as well as all the movement’s gearing.
Corum powers the watch with a finely wrought flying tourbillon movement beating at 3 Hz (21,600 vph) offering a superior ninety-hourpower reserve. The rare vertical gear alignment for the manually wound flying tourbillon here somewhat echoes the layout of the Corum Golden Bridge collection, one of the watchmaker’s best-known designs.
Corum also provides an eye-catch caseback design that again highlights the unusual gear layout. Corum designers have etched pop-art descriptions of the movement’s components adjacent to the caseback opening.
The window whimsically highlights the tourbillon, mainspring and gear train with brief descriptions of the primary functions of each component.
The new watch only measures 39.5mm in diameter, which is unusually small for a complicated Swiss-made concept watch. Corum notes that the moderate size opens up the field of customers for the piece, which will fit on any size wrist.
The bracelet here echoes the case and is crafted from recycled textiles and can be additionally adjusted using Corum’s own specialized bracelet adjustment system.
Parmigiani Fleurier launches two slate-dialed complicated watches as part of its Watches & Wonders 2020 debut lineup. Each model includes a thin tourbillon and each is also being made as part of a very limited edition.
The new Parmigiani Fleurier Toric Tourbillon Slate.
On the new Toric Tourbillon Slate, Parmigiani Fleurier integrates its extra-thin flying tourbillon into the movement’s main plate, which helps to maintain the watch’s thinness. Parmigiani Fleurier places the tourbillon here at the 7 o’clock position as a nod to the brand’s founder, Michel Parmigiani, who was born at 7:08 am on December 2, 1950.
That tourbillon, the focus of the brand’s ultra-thin PF517 movement, is powered by a platinum micro-rotor. Its bridges have been decorated with côtes de Genève.
The Parmigiani Fleurier ultra-thin PF517 inside the Toric Tourbillon Slate features a platinum micro-rotor.
And while the tourbillon itself is a focus, so is the handcrafted barley grain guilloché pattern on the slate-colored dial.
The Toric collection is possibly Parmigiani Fleurier’s most classically styled collection, and this model underscores that history with its rose gold case inspired by Greek Doric columns. You might recall that the Toric was Michel Parmigiani’s first case, which debuted in 1996 when the master watchmaker launched his watch brand following many years restoring watches and clocks.
Parmigiani Fleurier will make the watch, which comes with a Hermès Havane leather strap, as a limited edition of twenty-five pieces. Price: $130,000.
Tondagraph Tourbillon
Parmigiani Fleurier also debuted this Tondagraph Rose Gold Slate as part of its Watches & Wonders 2020 collection.
The Tondagraph Rose Gold Slate
The Tondagraph represents a more contemporary styling within the brand’s multi-complication collections, though this model is a bit more classical (with its rich guilloché dial) than earlier examples within the collection.The Tondagraph’s teardrop lugs, round case and prominent displays are slightly muted when compared to earlier examples thanks to the addition this year of the rich guilloché dial, which here echoes the watchmaker’s now-characteristic slate hue.
The 43mm watch shows its thin tourbillon and prominent bridge at the bottom of the dial while the counter at 3 o’clock shows chronograph minutes. Nicely balancing those displays you’ll see the small seconds at 9 o’clock and the power reserve at the top of the dial.
This display also differs from previous incarnations with its fully skeletonized delta-shaped hour and minute hands and its switch from large Arabic hour markers to more subtle minutes track with two gold appliques at 3 and 9.
Parmigiani Fleurier’s handsome PF354 manually wound mechanical caliber is a treat to view through the clear sapphire caseback.
Inside Parmigiani Fleurier’s beautifully designed PF354 manually wound mechanical caliber is a treat to view through the clear sapphire caseback. It offers a power reserve of 65 hours. Price: $199,000, with limited production.
