This self-winding Corum Admiral’s Cup Legend 42 Gunmetal Limited Edition (ref. 395.111.30/V705 AB10) comes as a tribute to the first “modern” Admiral’s Cup version. The original featured all the design cues that later became signature elements of the current Admiral’s Cup line: the inevitable nautical pennants serving as hour markers and the signature dodecagonal (twelve-sided) bezel.
Since the 1983 model was released in a sexy gunmetal-colored body, the new limited edition features the same PVD coating applied to its body, lugs, crown guards, and, of course, the bracelet. To make the watch look even more entertaining, the rest of the parts (like the bezel, crown folding clasp, and center links of the bracelet) are offered either in polished stainless steel or in much more expensive rose gold.
The main elements of the vertically guilloched gunmetal PVD dial are, too, crafted in highly contrasting steel or gold.
Unlike many “sporty” watches of the past few years, the new Legend arrives in a compact body 42 mm in width, which is almost identical in design to the elegant Legend 42 Chrono that the Swiss watchmaker has introduced earlier this year.
The Corum caliber CO 395 automatic movement that powers the timekeeper, too, comes from the gorgeous 2011 Legend 42 model.
Based on a well-known for its robustness ETA 2895-2 blank caliber, the movement is decorated solely in-house. Featuring the same dial layout with a small seconds indicator at 6 hours and a small date aperture staying at 3 o’clock, the dial is still legible enough, although the stylized nautical pennants that are expected to count from “1” to “12”, serve here purely decorative purpose.
Since the small seconds pointer is driven, colloquially speaking, by the minute hand (via an extra set of gears, of course) the mechanism sometimes may produce an effect known as “small seconds stuttering,” but it’s a rare occurrence that is not as easy to observe as on some other movements like, say, Miyota 8215 that can drive an OCD person absolutely bonkers.
There is still no word on the model’s availability and price, but it is already known that the watch will be limited to a total of 400 individually numbered pieces with only a hundred offered in rose gold / gunmetal PVD version.
See also: SIHH 2010: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Tourbillon Chronograph
WWR Verdict
Originality 5/5
Build Quality: 5/5
Usability: 5/5
Overall Legibility: 4.5/5
Nighttime Legibility: 4/5
Value for Money: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4.5/5
Photos: Corum
Corum Admiral’s Cup Legend 42 Gunmetal specification
Price: $5900 (MSRP)
Movement: Automatic, Corum caliber CO 395 (base ETA 2895-2), 25.60 mm in diameter, Swiss Made
Number of jewels: 27
Movement frequency: 28,800 vph
Power reserve: 42 hours
Movement decoration: Decorated in-house, circular graining, branded rotor
Functions: Hours, minutes, small seconds, date
Case: Stainless steel (also in rose gold) / Gunmetal PVD
Bezel and Crown: Stainless steel (also in rose gold)
Shape: Dodecagonal
Size: 42.00 mm
Dial: Gunmetal blue
Numerals: Arabic
Hour markers: Applied
Hands: Luminous
Water resistance: 50 meters
Strap: Bracelet in Gunmetal PVD steel with polished steel or rose gold elements
Crystal: Sapphire, antireflective
Back: Sapphire