Corum Admiral’s Cup Challenge 44 Black chronograph

Just like the young Swiss watchmaker Hublot keeps exploiting its successful Big Bang design, Corum keeps digging its Admiral’s Cup vein of gold.

The new addition to the series is the 44mm Corum Admiral’s Cup Challenge 44 Black model that features a PVD-coated dodecagonal stainless steel case, which is adorned with a fixed red gold bezel and an oversized winding crowd.

The same noble metal is used to decorate the watch’s face, starting with all six hands –including the finely wrought central seconds hand with Corum’s trademark Key– and company’s logo at 12 o’clock and ending with the hour indices.

The dial looks just beautiful and its high-contrast display is just great, but Corum’s designers would rather produce the hour markers in color (like it was done in some other versions of the watch.)

You see, the 12 tiny marks on the timepiece’s bezel flange are not just funny pictograms, but are in fact international maritime signal flags that are meant to say “1, 2, 3, 4 … 12″ to those who understand the code.

The problem is that looking at this watch you can’t tell the “1″ from “2″, “4″ from “8″, “6″ from “7″ and “11″ from “12″. In reality, the “1″ looks like a white pennant with a red dot on it and the “2″ is a blue pennant with white dot; the “4″ is a red pennant with a white cross on it and the “8″ is vice-versa. You get the idea.

Besides this embarrassing design (or, rather, usability) mistake, the watch looks just great and will fit just about any wrist above 7.25 inches.

It will probably be quite accurate, too, because Corum’s CO753 automatic caliber, which is based on the robust and reliable ETA Valjoux 7753 top-grade ebauche, is COSC-certified, so the chronograph is also a chronometer.

Although Admiral Cup’s series design starts to leave a sour taste in one’s mouth, the watch still deserves to be considered as a worthy gift for the upcoming Labor Day.

Photos: Corum

Corum Admiral’s Cup Challenge 44 Black chronograph watch’s specification:

Price range: Around $10,000
Movement: Caliber CO753, based on ETA Valjoux 7753, automatic, 27 jewels, 28800 vph
Complications: Chronograph, date at 4 o’clock
Power reserve: 48 hours
Case material: Rose gold
Case size: 44 mm
Case height: N/A
Dial: Black
Water resistance: 100 m
Strap: Vulcanized black rubber with triple folding clasp in PVD steel
Crystal: Sapphire, dodecahedral, domed, antireflective coating