Fine Watchmaking meets High Jewelry
Authentic watchmaking icons, the Golden Bridge and Miss Golden Bridge appear decked out in dazzling gemset interpretations playing on the hypnotic power of precious stones. Admirably enhancing the linear mechanics of the baguette movement, sapphires and diamonds highlight fascinating graded shades of color.
The Golden Bridge has chosen to play this harmonious score in various shades of blue sapphires and white diamonds. The stones shimmer and sparkle across the dial, bezel, lugs and case middle, designing an undulating motif that extends around the wrist in the version featuring a full-pavé bracelet. A truly captivating sight, this interpretation stages no less than 546 blue baguette-cut sapphires (approx. 20.63 cts) and 478 baguette-cut diamonds (approx. 14.01 cts), or else 360 sapphires (approx. 15.18 cts) and 10 diamonds (approx. 0.29 cts) for the version with a blue crocodile leather strap secured by a buckle set with 26 round diamonds (0.31 cts).
Meanwhile, the entrancingly feminine Miss Golden Bridge plays with the pink color palette by offering a range of seven subtle shades. As if bursting out from the linear movement, the pink baguette-cut sapphires melt into the dial (84 sapphires totaling approx. 1.56 cts), sparkle on the bezel (53 sapphires totaling approx. 3.1 cts), shimmer across the case middle (84 sapphires totaling approx. 3.1 cts) and then cascade down the bracelet in a shower of 233 pink baguette-cut sapphires (approx. 6.83 cts) and 176 baguette-cut diamonds (5.16 cts). Punctuating this work featuring striking subtly graded shades of pink, 10 baguette-cut diamonds (approx. 0.32 cts) are sprinkled across the dial and case. Also available with a white crocodile leather strap fitted an 18K white gold folding clasp set with 20 diamonds (approx. 0.23 cts), this model that is both a watch and a piece of jewelry is as fascinating as it is seductive.
True to its playful nature, Miss Golden Bridge is also capable of breaking free from the color pink to adopt a cloak of cognac-toned sapphires and white diamonds, set in subtly graded shimmering amber shades associating 456 baguette-cut sapphires (approx. 14.59 cts) with 186 diamonds (approx. 5.48 cts), or instead 223 sapphires (approx. 7.76 cts) and 10 diamonds (approx. 0.32 cts) for the version with a white crocodile leather strap. And since diamonds are forever, Miss Golden Bridge also appears in a version exclusively paved with white baguette-cut diamonds, featuring either 642 gems (approx. 18.2 cts) in the full-set version, or 233 diamonds (approx. 7.62 cts) in the version with a white crocodile leather strap secured by a buckle set with 20 round diamonds (0.23 cts).
While the case and bracelet are set according to the classic invisible setting technique, Corum had to reinterpret this demanding art when it came time to pave the dial, in order to avoid the smallest gems getting broken in the course of this delicate exercise. Thus, rather than the classic method that involves cutting grooves in the gems designed to accommodate the metal seatings, Corum decided to adopt a different approach. The dial was first mounted upside down on a transparent plate, before meticulously pouring a silver-based alloy over the structure. By seeping into the tiny gaps between the stones, the matter thereby solidly holds together the stones. The latter, having thus fused to become a plate, could then be removed from the transparent backing, before being fitted on the white gold dial. It is at this precise moment that the magic of the invisible setting exerts the full force of its fascination, since the underlying metal structure completely vanishes to unleash the spectacular radiance of the sapphires and diamonds.
Embodying the relentless quest for linearity pursued by the brand from La Chaux-de- Fonds, Caliber CO 113 is extended by the 6 o’clock crown perfectly aligned with its vertical axis. An ingenious slipping-spring winding system serves to prevent any risk of forcing the mechanism, while a coupling clutch has been specially developed to dissociate winding from time-setting by means of an ingenious construction featuring wheels and pinions mounted between the mainplate and bridge.
The ultra-precise Caliber CO 113 is equipped with a variable-inertia balance ensuring impressive long-term regularity, rather than a classic index system. Further strengthening its performance, it is fitted with two visible bridge pillars that enhance its resistance and rigidity. Despite its extreme mechanical complexity, Caliber CO 113 remains a true aesthetic work of art. Its 18K gold upper bridge bears the hand-engraved Corum signature, along with slender undulating motifs representing the three types of fern growing in the forests around La Chaux-de-Fonds, where Corum was born. Ensuring optimal visibility, the four sapphire crystals forming the watch glass, back and middle provide 360° views of the intricate choreography performed by this fine mechanism beating at a frequency of 4 Hz (28,800 vibrations/hour) and endowed with a 40-hour power reserve.
