Corum, the boundary-pushing Swiss brand that faltered under foreign ownership, recently unveiled new models and a strategic plan to reposition at elevated levels of watchmaking, design, and price. Known for its Golden Bridge, Admiral, and Coin watch models, among others, Corum was acquired last year in a management buyout with a three-person Swiss investor group led by new CEO and Chairman, Haso Mehmedovic, a trained watchmaker who was previously the brand’s international sales director.
At a relaunch event at the company’s headquarters in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Corum executives outlined the brand’s new strategy and unveiled a new Admiral design that included early input and drawing from Emmanuel Gueit (Royal Oak Offshore, Dennison etc.), featuring an integrated bracelet and a new caliber produced by Swiss movement specialist Concepto Watch Factory. Corum will begin by making about 1,500 watches per year, with plans to ramp up production incrementally as it adds new models and designs of the Golden Bridge, coin watches, and Golden Book models.
Shifting away from third-party, off-the-shelf movements, and choosing instead to use in-house-designed calibers, as well as fewer models and a focused portfolio with a retail network reduced from about 300 to just 70, Mehmedovic says he’s aiming to return Corum to its glory days in the 1990s when the brand was known for creating unique, shaped watches with irreverent designs that fit the attitude of the era.
“Because Corum has such a huge heritage, we will work with our storytelling, and we will bring the brand back to the time in the 1990s when Corum was so powerful in the industry,” Mehmedovic, who is 34, says in the interview.
A new Corum Admiral model in 36 millimeters.
The number of SKUs will drop from about 250 previously to just 21 this year, according to the CEO. There will be 11 new Admiral models in two sizes, five in 36 millimeters and six in 39 millimeters, using case materials from steel to titanium and gold. The Admiral watches will start at about CHF 10,000 up to about CHF 33,000.
Mehmedovic says the new Corum is focusing primarily on redesigned premium versions of its top-selling models, the Admiral and Golden Bridge, which together have accounted for about 80% of sales, with the Admiral being the top seller, historically accounting for more than 60% of sales. Corum will also launch six new Golden Bridge Sapphire case models in gold, as well as limited edition coin watch and Golden Book models this year.
“It’s evolution and not revolution. This is the key for me. This is the key to stability and the key to success,” Mehmedovic says.
Corum CEO and Chairman, Haso Mehmedovic at the brand relaunch event at company headquarters in La Chaux-de-Fonds.
The company currently has about 15 employees at its slick and spacious headquarters in La Chaux-de-Fonds, but plans to bring more elements of actual assembly and production back in-house. Orders from retailers for the new models have already reached “eight figures” or more than CHF 10,000,000, the CEO told the media at the event.
The new Corum Admiral in 39 mm with a 5N 18k gold case and rubber strap is priced at CHF 33,000.
The relaunched Corum will also join Watches and Wonders, the premier annual trade fair that will also signal the brand’s ambitions to rejoin the top ranks of the industry.
“I cannot launch a brand like Coum in a hotel room at the Beau Rivage,” the CEO says, referring to the bevy of smaller brands that rent suites at Geneva hotels to show their wares outside the main Watches and Wonders venue.
“It’s impossible for me. Corum is a big name. It’s a big brand. We have to be next to the big players,” Mehmedovic says.
Photo Credit: Tim Vaux
Next year, the brand expects to add a newly designed movement conceived and produced with Concepto for the Golden Bridge, which will allow for complications to be added to the iconic, minimalist, and transparent design that the company says was the first watch produced with a sapphire case.
The current Golden Bridge movement produced by Vaucher will be redesigned and replaced with a new caliber from Concepto next year, Corum’s CEO says.
Current and recent Golden Bridge models, known for their vertical in-line baguette layout that represented highly innovative watchmaking with their debut at the Basel Watch Fair in 1980, were produced by Vaucher.
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