Corum’s New Admiral Models Put Ceramic at the Center of Design

Date: 11 Nov 2026

Karen Jones

Byline: Karen Jones, founder of Citywealth, has more than 20 years’ experience in global private wealth.

When the Corum Admiral first appeared in 1960, its square case and an engraved sailboat on the caseback marked the collection’s maritime identity from the start.

That identity evolved further in 1983, when the Admiral adopted the dodecagonal case and twelve colorful nautical pennants, inspired by the International Code of Signals, that have defined it ever since.

For Geneva Watch Days 2026, Corum turns to ceramic as the foundation for three new 39mm interpretations of the Admiral. The material suits the demands of marine environments particularly well, resisting corrosion, retaining color over time, and offering significant scratch resistance while remaining lighter than steel, though its hardness comes paired with vulnerability to strong impacts and requires specialized expertise to shape into complex forms such as the Admiral’s integrated bracelet.

The first model, Titanium Blue, pairs blue ceramic with Grade 5 titanium, two lightweight, corrosion-resistant materials whose alternating polished and satin finishes highlight the five-link integrated bracelet’s construction, while the dial reinterprets the collection’s signature pennants within trapezoidal hour markers.

The Bicolor version introduces gold alongside ceramic, applied to the bezel and bracelet, lending warmth and reflective contrast to the ceramic surfaces while preserving the watch’s sporty proportions, a combination suited to the more polished side of marina life.

The Admiral Skeleton takes a different direction entirely, using anthracite ceramic and an openworked dial to expose the automatic CO232 caliber, developed by Concepto, stripping the display down to essential functions so the mechanism itself becomes the focal point. Alongside the CO231 caliber used in the other two models, both movements run at 4Hz with a 72-hour power reserve.

Across all three references, Corum continues a long pattern of pairing steel, titanium, and gold within the Admiral line, now extending that exploration to ceramic while keeping the collection firmly rooted in its nautical origins.

Van Cleef & Arpels Reveals the Mechanics Behind Its Poetic Complications

Inside Van Cleef & Arpels’ Geneva workshops, artisans walked through the engineering behind two of the Maison’s most intricate Poetic Complications: the Lady Arpels Papillon Automate and the Lady Arpels Brise d’Été, both built around the idea of translating natural movement into mechanical form.

Unveiled in 2017 and honored at the GPHG, the Papillon Automate houses a butterfly within a 40mm white gold case decorated in champlevé, paillonné, and plique-à-jour enamel. Rather than beating constantly, the butterfly’s wings move intermittently, governed by an unevenly toothed wheel that produces roughly 20 random wingbeats per hour at rest, a pattern that accelerates toward the oscillating weight’s motion once the watch is worn, reaching up to 120 beats per hour. The number of beats also tracks a kind of energy cycle inspired by nectar consumption, rising from one beat to four across a full day of wear, while winding itself causes the butterfly to flap until its barrel is full. A patented differential distributes energy from a single oscillating weight across two barrels, one for timekeeping and one for animation, prioritizing the movement barrel until balance is reached. The butterfly sits at 8 o’clock, animated through a connecting-rod and crank mechanism resembling steam locomotive engineering, powered by a ValFleurier-based automatic movement with a 34-hour power reserve. The 2024 GPHG-winning Lady Arpels Brise d’Été pushes the concept further, animating three enamel flowers and accompanying butterflies within a 38mm case. Since moving the slender stems directly risked breakage, each flower instead conceals a sturdy mechanical arm beneath its head, supporting its weight independently while hiding the shaft opening at every position. Observation of real wind patterns led engineers to desynchronize each flower’s movement cycle. A reversed differential, combining two energy inputs into one output, lets the butterflies briefly circle the dial on demand without disrupting timekeeping, a principle the designer compared to a passenger looping around a moving train while still correctly pointing to the minutes. On the caseback, an engraved oscillating weight gives visible form to the wind driving the entire composition.

Karen Jones is the founder of Citywealth and a wealth management commentator with more than 20 years’ experience across global private wealth, family offices and succession. Before founding Citywealth in 2005, she held publishing roles at The Times and The Sunday Times, London; Legal Business magazine; and worked on the Asia Pacific Legal 500.

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