Corum Romvlvs Tourbillon Watch

Back in November of 2008, I shared a few thoughts on the Corum Romvlvs Perpetual Calendar watch, praising its elegant design and fine complication.  I concluded the blog by opining that it would be an excellent platform for other prestigious complications at a later date.  Happily, nearly a year later Corum has done just that and revealed a stunning new Romvlvs watch starring that most famous complication of all: the tourbillon.

The Corum Romvlvs Tourbillon watch is exceptionally beautiful in every way.  It’s particularly impressive to me how seamlessly this watch combines elements of classical elegance with an appealing contemporary size and general “feel”.  The hand-wound tourbillon movement with a 130-hour power reserve is equally impressive; it too, suggests the best of the old and the new.  “Old” is the elongated, hand-beveled red gold bridge supporting the intricate rotating tourbillon cage; “New” is the way in which the PVD-treated bridges of the movement replace a conventional dial, allowing finishing details and movement function to create a fascinating voyeuristic experience into the heart of exceptional haute horlogerie.  

As with all the new generation Corum Romvlvs watches, the Romvlvs Tourbillon has the stately wide bezel featuring an exquisite brushed finish and deeply engraved Roman numeral hour figures.  The effect is particularly handsome on this red gold wristwatch, where it allows the lovely Corum tourbillon movement to take center stage; gone is any distracting clutter (i.e. hour markers or inscriptions) that might otherwise take away from the delightful view provided by the mechanism.

With such a high degree of perfection, you know there can’t be many available.  With just 10 pieces planned, the Corum Romvlvs Tourbillon promises to be an even more coveted prize than is the Romvlvs Perpetual Calendar watch.  A Romvlvs minute repeater watch, or possibly a minute repeater combined with tourbillon (a wonderful combination the house has used in the past)–would be the next logical step, and a fitting pyrotechnical finale in Corum’s horological tribute to the mythical founder of Rome.  

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