Corum Admiral's Cup Legend Diamond Mother of Pearl Dial Automatic Ladies Stainless Steel Watch 082.101.47/V200 PK11

One of the key journalistic elements needed to write a good story is experience. We at Worldtempus find it pretty incredulous that so many stories are so often written about products that the reviewers never actually wear. Therefore, we decided to begin "test driving" some of the haute horlogerie we introduce.
At 1:30 on press day in Basel, Louis Nardin—editor-in-chief of Worldtempus—and I picked up two versions of the Ti-Bridge Tourbillon, one of the new products Corum introduced at Basel 2010. I wore a polished titanium version, while his was crafted in PVD-coated titanium, making it a very noticeable dark black. The goal of the week was to note interesting observations regarding this unusual timepiece, but not to test accuracy or technical functions.

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The modernly designed Ti-Bridge Tourbillon sports a manually wound movement created by La Joux-Perret with double barrels for 72 hours of power reserve (a very user-friendly touch) in new materials including ARCAP and titanium making it nice and light. In fact, despite its generous dimensions, this 42.5 x 41.5 mm wristwatch wears almost as lightly as air.
The striking design of the titanium case immediately draws the eye, and everywhere I went during Baselworld, people asked me about it. In fact, its unusual and aesthetic appearance actually drew it right off my wrist many times, leading watchmakers and other prominent industry figures to play with it, try it on, and discuss it with me in detail. Leading independent watchmaker Kari Voutilainen even traded his personal watch with me for 24 hours in order to test drive it himself.
The ergonomics of this watch are excellent: despite its size, it felt almost like wearing nothing. This is in great part due to the chosen case material—titanium—and the splendid curvature of the case. Its perfectly balanced rubber strap also had it sitting famously perched on my undersized wrist, which usually requires a short strap.

The design of the watch and its movement are outstanding. One drawback, however, was the dimness of the hands against the backdrop of the titanium: in the dark Baselworld hallways, the hands were nearly invisible. This, however, is nothing a splash of black Super-LumiNova wouldn't correct.
The elegant baguette movement created by La Joux-Perret mimics the unique look of the legendary Golden Bridge movement; Corum Caliber Co 022 looks almost like the original movement created in 1980 by Vincent Calabrese turned on its side. However, it seems imbalanced by the relative clumsiness of the tourbillon at its left end. Due to the use of modern materials and the standard Nivarox escapement with its standard gold-colored balance wheel, the finishing and decoration remains unremarkable, and indeed less elegant than would generally befit such a high example of horology. The steel Corum key logo acting as a balance cock is secured by two large screws. Not only does it enhance this impression, but it actually covers the tourbillon, thereby negating one of the main reasons to make the tourbillon a flying one: transparency.
For the target consumer of this aggressively priced piece of interesting micro mechanics that would not be a deciding factor—which brings us to one of the most remarkable points of this wristwatch. Last year, at Baselworld 2009, I marveled at the 12,000 Swiss franc price tag of the fabulous time-only Ti-Bridge in titanium. This year's complicated anniversary edition carries an almost better price of 59,000 Swiss francs. Most of the admirers of my test watch guessed the price as two or even three times and more higher—and were often genuinely astounded when I revealed its retail cost.
What this timepiece lacks in horological elegance, it more than makes up for in modern innovative design and ergonomic aesthetics. Already a modern classic, the Ti-Bridge will remain fondly imprinted in my own memory for the exciting week I was allowed to wear it. More than a talking piece, it is a true discussion piece.