With the Chinese New Year also around the corner, coming up in February 2024, a host of watch brands are beginning to unveil their newest zodiac watches that honor this holiday. Corum is no exception. This brand, though, is no stranger to creating dragon watches. It has done so for years – artfully carving gold and gemstones into dragons that grace the Golden Bridge and other watches. Now, though, in time for the Year of the Dragon, Corum releases two avant-garde versions of its iconic Bubble Watch.
The two different Corum Year of the Dragon Limited Edition Bubble watches offer an intriguing perspective of the famed dragon. A powerful symbol in Chinese culture, the dragon evokes a sense of awe, honor, luck and nobility. The dragon is the all-seeing creature that comes to life when it hears thunder (as the myth goes). As such, Corum has chosen a very interesting motif for the dial of the Bubble 47 Dragon Eye: depicting the dragon’s eye smack in the center, surrounded by dragon scales and skin.
The eye and surrounding dragon folds are created using hand-crafted metal casting, into which an artisan creates depth and texture via relief engraving. The center of the eye, with an almost sunburst effect is colored in orange/red hues by hand. The eyelid and surrounding eye is created in golden to brown hues to emulate the scales. The time markers are in red for the hours and white for the minutes along an outer track on the dial so as not to interfere with the meticulous craftsmanship.
For the other Bubble Year of the Dragon watch, Corum goes more classic, but still with a twist. On the midnight black sunray dial background, a hand-carved gold dragon is etched at 12:00, with its fiery tail coming into view on the lower half of the dial — moving off the dial and then back onto it for majestic appeal. In its paw, the dragon holds a mother-of-pearl globe (at 9:00 on the dial), which is designed to emulate the moon.
Both Year of the Dragon versions are powered by the CO 082 automatic movement, that offers 42 hours of power reserve and beats at a frequency of 28,800 vibrations per hour (4 Hz). The 47mm watch cases – for each of the versions – are crafted in black PVD stainless steel. Naturally, the front crystal is the raised dome indicative of the Bubble, treated with an anti-glare coating.
Corum launches two limited edition Bubble watches in celebration of the Chinese Year of the Dragon, which commences in 2024. One debut, the Bubble 47 Dragon, highlights a fanciful golden dragon hovering in a dark night sky.
Black lacquered clouds and a mother-of-pearl moon join the dragon, which is essentially depicted according to the Chinese legend that when dragons hear thunder, they rise to the clouds and “circulate in the sky.” The second watch, the Bubble 47 Dragon Eye, is a close-up of the year’s star character. The artisanal metal-cast eye on the dial is meant to represent the dragon’s strength and is fashioned in high-relief with hand-painted colors and gold scales.
On both watches, the magnifying effect of the sapphire bubble crystal enhances the multi-layer effect, allowing the viewer a close-up view of the precision artwork. The effect is particularly notable on the Dragon Eye model, which appears to stare directly at the viewer.
Corum explains that both new watches are powered by automatic CO 082 movement, a Soprod automatic caliber that offers a forty-two-hour power reserve. Both watches also sport steel cases darkened with a black PVD finish and a sapphire crystal caseback. Corum will attach a vulcanized rubber strap to each watch.