Casquette 2.0 - Electric Boogaloo!

nos·tal·gia

/näˈstaljə,nəˈstaljə/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.

   "I was overcome with acute nostalgia for my days in college"

   courtesy of Oxford Languages 

As a tow headed Northern Youth my grandfather, in his wisdom, gave me a Texas Instruments digital watch. It easily weighed a pound, and died three times in less than 4 months before being dutifully consigned to the dustbin the week after Halloween. My July birthday present did not live to see Christmas. 

Courtesy of Girard-Perregaux

I don't claim to know how good or bad sales are for GP. I can say that apart from some pieces finding their way onto the wrists of a few journalists, you don't tend to see them "in the wild" on an even remotely regular basis. There are a lot of reasons for this, but chief among them is a fairly significant identity crisis. In fairness to the former managers / new owners, this is not a new development. Without consistent and comprehensive communication, it is quite hard to understand just what GP is trying to do or to be.

 With that said, I had to scratch my head when I clapped eyes on the newly released Casquette 2.0...

Courtesy of Girard-Perregaux

Like pretty much everyone else who writes about watches, I am nostalgic. I sincerely appreciate whimsy, and those who try to do something different.  With that said, $4,700 is a bit further and deeper than I am willing to go to scratch that particular itch. More to the point, it is yet another odd choice made by GP in recent times. 

Should you be aching to put on your leisure suit and splash on some Hai Karate and take a deep dive back to that simpler time, here are the pertinents, straight from the source -

LIMITED EDITION OF 820 TIMEPIECES

CASQUETTE 2.0

39800-32-001-32A

• WATCH
  • CASE
    • Case material :
      black ceramic and titanium, titanium pushers
    • Diameter :
      42.40 x 33.60 mm
    • Thickness :
      14.64 mm
    • Case-back :
      titanium, secured by 4 screws
    • Dial :
      Tubular LED display
    • Water resistance :
      50 m
  • STRAP
    • Strap material :
      ceramic with rubber interior
    • Buckle :
      titanium folding buckle
• MOVEMENT
  • CALIBRE
    • Number :
      GP3980-1474
    • Mechanism :
      quartz
    • Total Diameter :
      26.24 x 25.65 mm (-)
    • Height :
      6.40 mm
    • Frequency :
      32'768 Hz
    • Number of Parts :
      50
    • Number of Jewels :
      0
    • Oscillating weight :
      -
    • Power Reserve :
      -

GP's neighbors up the hill floated a similar idea at a past BaselWorld when Corum came out with an LED Bubble. How well or poorly that particular anomaly sold is a question only Corum will ever be able to answer. 

Now in fairness, for all I know all 820 pieces of the Casquette 2.0 have been sold. I am clearly not part of that demographic ; )

Nostalgia is a beguiling force. But ultimately, I will leave it with that other great commentator on the watch business, Anwan Glover as Slim Charles in The Wire -

Courtesy of HBO / The Wire

Still Searching For Severin

I was reminded by a reader that yesterday, June 25, marked 13 years since Severin Wunderman passed away and left a gap in the watch industry that has yet to be filled (though many have tried). As mentioned frequently here before, I never got the chance to meet Mr. Wunderman, as I was still on the other side of the booth working for DOXA in the US when I learned of his passing. I reached out to my boss and asked if we should send a condolence message, and he freaked out and said "No, and never contact anyone in other brands!" Needless to say he was, and continues to be, a wee bit paranoid ; )

I sent a card anyway.

In the years since I left DOXA, I joined first the Fifth, then the Fourth Estate getting to meet many luminaries in Watch Town, and began to consult behind the scenes with brands both mighty and modest. And what I found fascinating was the number of people I encountered who had worked for Severin Wunderman during his Gucci and later Corum days, a group of men and women who still sometimes refer to themselves as "Severin's Children". 

I remember asking one friend who referred to himself as one of "Severin's Children"- 

"You're Severin Wunderman's son?" (I was a little green back then and easily impressed).

"No, but he was the person who really launched my career in the watch business".

I've met more people with similar stories than I've had hot meals in a given December. And I have borrowed some of the strategies that these folks have shared with me, and pay them forward to brands that I consult with, and have put them to work with my little project, the Oberlin Watch Company.

What continues to fascinate me, these many years later, is really how simple Mr. Wunderman's formulas were. But that's a topic for another day. Today I want to share a story that one of "Severin's Children" shared with me last December -

"It was back in 1997 when I was decorating the booth windows of our Baselworld stand. The windows had a big iconic GUCCI-G inside with one high heel shoe in the middle of this big G. We only displayed one watch in the entire window! It was around 10pm that I was flirting with an employee of our neighboring booth from Bucherer (not yet Carl F. Bucherer at that time). Her name was Beatrice. That's when she told me that I was a bit mean to let this "old" decorator work so late, and she told me that I should be ashamed of myself. Severin was wearing this four /five day beard and wasn‘t dressed in one of his suits, with the type of class that only he or Cary Grant had! There is no way that she could believe that this creative, fine, small, thin man and "great decorator" getting the booth ready was the boss of GUCCI timepieces! Then I told her that this old decorator was Severin. I asked her to try to imagine that Mr. Bucherer would be there decorating the booth with her right now, or Mr. Hayek Sr. was decorating the OMEGA booth. She didn‘t believe me at first and so I called Severin over and introduced him to Beatrice, who as it happened was probably the one of the most successful people at selling GUCCI timepieces in the Bucherer flagship store in Lucerne. And he immediately started to flirt with her in his own elegant way and invited us all for dinner. But remember; it was already after 10pm and this was 1997 in Switzerland. Usually restaurants at this time even in Basel closed their kitchens at 9:30/10:00pm, at that time especially one day before the official opening of the show. So he asked me to call Jeoffrey. Only insiders know that this was the preferred Indian restaurant of Severin in Basel which was run by the famous Jeoffrey, a wonderful gentlemen from Malaysia. And of course we not only got our table, but had dinner long after midnight. The next day Severin walked into the hall and to our booth in a suit with a class and elegance with his beautiful butterfly brooch, cigar at the ready. Yes, at that time cigars we‘re still allowed inside the holy halls of Basel... and then we started the the press presentation of the G-300 club, as well as a group of "only" 300 selected jewelers worldwide who were allowed to order and sell the G-Watch in gold! The press conference was such a huge success that so many journalists and attendees attended to our conference that they nearly had to cue up all the way to the Bucherer booth, where Beatrice was standing and waving over to Severin, who greeted her with a wonderful and beautiful smile that only he could have. We all miss this wonderful smile. I only recently saw it again in the face and eyes of his grandson. The spirit of Severin will always live on in all of us. And of course the G-300 collection was also sold by Bucherer in Lucerne. And guess which point of sale sold most of them in the whole world, and more specifically I mean which salesperson? Yes, that would be Beatrice! And that was part of the magic he had, Severin made all of us feel like part of his wonderful family!"

21 Years Later, The Bubble Hasn't Burst

This is the Bubble X-Ray -

Courtesy of Corum

It is hard for me to look back to 2000 and not remember all of the buzz and excitement that the Corum Bubble created. In fairness, there were plenty of doubters and more than a few haters.

I can honestly say that for my part, I was on team Severin with this one, but I appreciate that it clearly wasn't everyone's baby.

Well, 21 years later and the Bubble clearly has a whole new raft of fans, and the skull is back!

Limited to 88 pieces, the case measures a robust 47 mm in diameter, and is of PVD treated stainless steel. The movement is the CO 082, which is self-winding/automatic.

Not So Much A Review - A Meditation on the Corum Bubble and Severin Wunderman

So this review marks a bit of an ending, but also a beginning of sorts. And it has raised one crucial question - either I've been doing this too long, or I have finally gotten to the place that I wanted to be.

So here it is, the last review at Tempus Fugit -

The Bubble is a watch that has, in truth, haunted me for YEARS. And to that extent, this VERY long review has actually been more of a meditation on the Bubble and what it meant and what it still means.

It is safe to say that without Severin Wunderman there would be no Bubble. But that is short sighted, because in truth? Without Severin Wunderman there would likely not be a Corum today. And to put it more plainly, I still find it funny that when the "noted watch journalists" roll out their lists of innovators who changed the watch business with their designs, or their business acumen, Severin Wunderman is really almost an after thought, and that is simply nuts. 

At the time he took over Corum, he took over what was, if we are all honest about it, a shell of what it had been. And prevailing wisdom would have held that you simply air out and play your greatest hits. But Mr. Wunderman had a different idea. And when the Bubble hit, it came out around the same time as the Trapeze and a few other ideas that are maybe best left in the past. But the Bubble, though maligned by some as sacrilegious, planted the flag for what Corum would become.

And then just as suddenly as it arrived, it disappeared. Corum had shifted again, and all thoughts of the Bubble appeared to have been effectively banished. 

I started Tempus Fugit going on 11 years ago, and at that time the Bubble had, well, burst. Mr. Wunderman passed away in 2008, 2 years before Tempus Fugit began so I never had the opportunity to meet him. But the thing about icons, is that they are, well, iconic. There are a lot of cool designs out there, but a cool design, on its own, is like an orphan.  It needs a champion to introduce it to the world and help it reach its potential. 

Then BaselWorld 2015 rolled around. I remember seeing 3 Bubbles lurking under a small drop cloth in the booth during a group presentation. And my hunch about the identity of the shrouded Corum proved to be correct, the Bubble had come back again. Which nearly brings us up to today.

I have seen a lot happen in the world of watches over the past 10 (PLUS) years. I have reviewed a fair amount of timekeepers, and through that process I have come to realize that ultimately there is really no such thing as a truly objective review, and more often than not, a review isn't really even that. Titles like "Hands On" only really tell you that the "reviewer" has seen and held a given watch, but most likely not worn it beyond the "showroom". Add to that the money changing hands (sometimes subtly, sometimes not so much), and it occurs to me that the watch review has grown into more of a marketing effort than an attempt to gain much factual insight.

As I said at the beginning of this post, I have either been doing this too long, or I have finally arrived at the place I want to be.

I once went on a job interview where I was asked -

"What's your favorite ice cream flavor?"

For the record - it's pistachio. And in many ways I would say that if TODAY'S Corum Bubble had a demographic of sorts, it would be the pistachio crowd.  If you think about it, pistachio is a bit broader in scope than the big three - chocolate, vanilla or strawberry (Rolex, Patek and Omega). But it is also not so "off the rails" and pleading for attention and shock value like Rocky Road, or Bubblegum (HYT). It's a (now) standard size and shape (albeit its own unique one), and can now act as a canvas that can be used to paint a lot of different stories. My all-time favorite Bubble illustrates the Ying and Yang or duality of the Bubble -

Courtesy of Prestige Time

Truly the world on your wrist, with the (very) domed sapphire crystal emphasizing that the world is, indeed, round.

All good things inevitably must come to an end, and my time with this particular Bubble is now up.

So for those tuning in late, this is the Bubble Baron Samedi/Voodoo 47MM. The Baron Samedi has come in a few iterations, and if my sources are correct, this was part of a later series (2016) with the original debuting in 2006 (if memory serves).

So let's talk about size. The current Bubble collection has definitely increased in size. But curious to relate, what would normally be oppressively huge on my wrist was actually not so bad -

In large part, this is due to a lovely curving of the lugs. They almost hug the wearer's wrist.

The movement is self-winding (Automatic)-

The strap is rubber and very, very comfortable.

The case is of stainless steel, and even with a non-screw down crown the watch is rated to 100 meters of water resistance.

The timekeeping was beyond reproach, and I have to admit, I truly enjoyed the double takes that my companion, the Baron Samedi drew from passers by, even during these days of COVID thinned crowds.

So is the Corum Bubble for you? If it were 2000 - 2003 I think the answer would be a resounding "Hells Yeah!".  That's the thing about being an "it" watch. At that time it was a pretty easy sell, and when I was working at Tourneau I was frustrated that we didn't have the Bubble (they were reserved for Neiman Marcus, just down the street from us), because I could have sold the heck out of them.

But the beauty of the Bubble today is that in many ways, it has now transcended that time and place - the turn of the century. It is not trying to please everyone, and like pistachio ice cream is not going to  be such an obvious choice. 

But then again, if you are reading Tempus Fugit, chances are that you don't necessarily bob along in the water with all the other floaters, drifting from trend to trend ; )

As for me? Well, if these past months have done anything, they have confirmed my love for the Bubble. And for me, that love is not a really something that can be proven empirically. To a large extent, you either get today's Bubble, or you don't. And I get it.  Or to quote that other great commentator on watches - Chaka Khan:

"I feel for you."

So from the review bureau at Tempus Fugit, this is your old pal Henki signing off.

Enjoy your watches!

The Bubble Diablo

From Corum -

Courtesy of Corum

And no, gentle reader, it is not lost on me that I am still bezel deep in a review of another Corum Bubble ;  )

But this little buzzer was released earlier this month and it is, well, a bit special, and is limited to 88 pieces.

At 47 mm in diameter, it is not insignificant. But the weight will not be too oppressive owing to the fact that the case is of titanium (assuming that the DLC treatment doesn't add significantly - yes, I'm kidding).

But wait - there's more! Yes, Corum makes chronographs, and they have made Bubble Chronographs, but this appears to be a single button (crown) chronograph with a rather beguiling set of sub dials that serve as eyes of a sort, and the date window where the mouth might be.

The movement is the CO 771, a self-winding chronograph with hours, minutes, seconds and date with a power reserve of 55 hours.

The case, as previously mentioned is of DLC treated titanium measuring 47 mm in diameter, with a thickness of 20.45 mm. You can certainly paddle about in the pool with this one as the water resistance is rated to 100 meters.

A Few Minutes with Davide Traxler

With a new COO, the reintroduction of the Bubble, and a more focused approach, Corum is once again on the lips of many of us reporting on watches.  So it seemed appropriate to spend a little time with the man who has his hand on the wheel -

Courtesy of Corum

And now, a few minutes with Davide Traxler.

Tempus Fugit - What was your first watch?  Was it a gift?  Is there a story behind it?


Davide Traxler - My first watch was a Timex and I have always loved watches.  My father gave it to me.  I remember its sound, at night, like a lullaby.


TF - When you were a boy, what did you want to be when you "grew up"?

DT - I had no clear idea but I wanted to travel and to meet people from everywhere.


TF - Where did you go to school?  What did you study?

DT -  I grew up in a family of diplomats so we lived all over the world from South America to Africa, the USA and Europe, always studying in French schools.  I studied political science in the Catholic University of Milan.


TF - How did you get into the watch business in the first place?

DT - I was at Bulgari when I first met the owners of Chopard at a dinner.  We met again, I worked for Chopard for 13 years.


TF - After tenures with Bulgari and Chopard, what drew you to Corum?

DT - It's exciting to join a group with a brand with such amazing timepieces.  Forum is a different brand, I like to thing that it offers special watches for special people.  The mission is to get the word out about the brand and bring together the knowledge within the company.  The time is now to share and this is what I want to bring to Corum.


TF - What are some of the biggest opportunities for Corum?

DT - Corum is a beautiful brand that has its respected place within the industry and the market.  Since the company's beginning, Corum has taken pride in being a distinctive Swiss watch manufacturer by being very creative.  Our models are truly unique in the market with iconic designs and offer exclusivity in terms of quantities and of designs.


TF -  I realize it might be hard, but what is your favorite Corum model?

Courtesy of Corum

DT - The Golden Bridge is so incredibly unique, elegant and rare; it stands alone among all other watches.  i first discovered it about 15 years ago and have loved it since.  Any watch aficionado wants a Corum Golden Bridge!


TF - In a crowded market space, what is it that makes Corum special?

Courtesy of Corum

DT - Corum is a distinctive watchmaking brand.  The Golden Bridge, with its unique linear baguette movement, or the Bubble with its creative design are both so definitely different yet both so iconic.  We can define Corum as a brand of special timepieces for special people who want, understand, and seek something extraordinary and different.


TF - What do you like to do in your free time?

DT - Actually my time in general is spread in two pillars, home and work.  With three children and a brand to enjoy, I really don't look for anything else.  It's a bit of a 19th century vision, work and family, maybe a bit obsolete today, that is who I am.  I keep it simple.


TF - If you weren't doing this, what do you think you'd be doing?

DT - Probably I would be in another branch of fine manufacturing.  I love special products and the special people behind them.


TF - What advice do you have for the aspiring watch executives/brand leaders out there?

DT - I believe the whole trade has much to learn from basics:  listen, listen, respect, respect, decide, and simple business ethics.

A Trio of New Bubbles

From Corum -

Courtesy of Corum

As I reported earlier, Corum has brought back my personal favorite - the Bubble!

Courtesy of Corum

First introduced in 2000, the Bubble is BACK!  And not a moment too soon.

Courtesy of Corum

So let me turn it over to Corum for their own words on the matter -

Corum Heritage Bubble
In the year 2000 Corum introduced the Bubble, an oversized watch with an even larger crystal. It was so radical it became the must-have timepiece of the new millennium. Now, exactly 15 years later, the Bubble makes a triumphal return, sealing its place as a pillar of Corum’s watchmaking heritage.

At the turn of the century watchmaking was a universe away from what it is today. Big watches were scarce, unconventionally shaped watches almost unheard of. The tectonic shift began as the 21st century dawned, with Corum riding on the top of the wave that would soon sweep watchmaking.

At Baselworld 2000 the Bubble was unveiled, an unparalleled 44 mm in diameter with a towering sapphire crystal so tall it distorted the dial. With a size and shape totally unprecedented in watchmaking, the Bubble was an instant hit.

The Bubble was the brainchild of the late Severin Wunderman, a relentlessly creative entrepreneur who acquired Corum that very same year. Wunderman, who survived both the Holocaust and cancer, had a roving, creative mind. In one instance, he was inspired by an experimental deep-sea dive watch from the 1960s, which was fitted with an enormous domed crystal to withstand the pressure of the ocean. That formed the genesis of the Bubble, one of the most recognizable wristwatches of its time.

While the Bubble was unquestionably unique, its unorthodox design was merely an extension of Corum’s long-established philosophy. Since its founding in 1955, Corum consistently excelled at designing totally original timepieces, ranging from the Rolls-Royce, shaped like the luxury automobile’s front grille, to the Golden Bridge, distinguished by its remarkably tiny, baguette-shaped movement.

Despite being a mere 15 years old, the Bubble is major part of the brand’s heritage, deserving of elevation into a hall of fame. The Bubble has now been revived as part of the Corum Heritage collection, putting it alongside other landmark timepieces like the extra-thin Coin Watch.
While retaining all the design codes of the original, the 2015 Bubble is not a mere replica of its predecessor. Fitted with a rubber-ringed, spherical crown, the case is a collection of smooth, rounded lines, just like the original.

But it has been enlarged to 47 mm, lending it impressively striking proportions, especially as it stands some 18.8 mm high, crystal included. But, as always, practicality was high on the mind of the development team, which paired the oversized case with short, curved lugs, allowing it to hug the wrist snugly.

A remarkable 8 mm high, this sapphire crystal is one of the largest of any watch. Sapphire is a material so extraordinarily hard it has to be cut with a diamond-tipped tool. This in itself is challenging enough that even when machining ordinary, flat watch crystals the job can take hours. Crafting the mountainous crystal of the Bubble requires exponentially more work. The 

task starts with cutting a block of crystal, then grinding it into a bubble-like shape, and finally polishing the crystal to flawless clarity with absolutely no optical imperfections.
Because the sapphire crystal is so tall, it acts as a lens, both magnifying and distorting the dial. Corum’s designers took advantage of this by designing a dial with a clever, op art (short for “optical art”) motif. Taking inspiration from Hungarian-born French artist Victor Vasarely, founder of the op art movement, the dial is decorated with squares in graduated sizes that grow larger toward the center of the dial.

Op art desired to create static patterns that gave the impression of movement or surprising, contradictory perspectives. Likewise, the dial of the Bubble is perfectly flat, formed from a lacquered, brass disc stamped with the cube motif, but appears sharply domed. In fact, it looks so rounded it might pass for the top of a sphere.

This arresting op art dial will be fitted only to a pair of limited edition, PVD-coated versions of the Bubble, each made in an exclusive run of just 350 pieces. The first is the Bubble Vintage, housed in a bronze-tone, PVD-coated case paired with Super-LumiNova treated for a vintage effect. A modern watch made to look like an antique from an indistinct era, the Bubble Vintage is a nod to the original Bubble now 15 years old.

Taking another perspective is the Bubble All Black, clad entirely in a glossy black PVD coating, matched by a matte black dial, along with charcoal-colored indices and hands. The Bubble All Black removes all distraction, making a monochromatic statement that emphasizes the iconic shape of the Bubble.

Part of the regular collection of timepieces, the third model in the Bubble collection does away with the dial entirely. A skeletonized movement takes its place, with the domed sapphire crystal providing a magnified view of the exposed wheels of the CO0082 self- winding movement.
All of the Bubble timepieces are fitted with rubber straps topped with leather: calfskin for the op art editions and alligator skin in the case of the skeleton. And each is fitted with a buckle matching the case finish.