Michael Wunderman, the son of SÉverin, the charismatic President of Corum, who has been managing Corum in La Chaux-de-Fonds, has recently moved back to his native California in the United States. His goal is to boost the brand’s distribution in this highly important market whose potential is seen as still ‘enormous’ (approximately one-third of its sales are in the USA, on par with Asia and Europe). Wunderman has been replaced by Antonio Calce, who has been named CEO of the brand. Calce is joined by Michel Ferracani who was designated as Vice-President in charge of marketing. Ferracani was formerly with Piaget where he was in charge of the product division.

Four genetic pillars
For 2008, Antonio Calce has tightened up Corum’s offer and reorganized it into what he calls the ‘four genetic pillars’ of the brand. They are the Admiral’s Cup, the Romulus, the Golden Bridge, and the Specialties, a segment where Corum can let its creativity shine (and we know that, during its history, Corum has shown dazzling creativity).
According to Antonio Calce, this strategy responds to a triple necessity: perpetuate the brand’s strongest lines, avoid the cannibalization of the products among themselves and continue to enrich the ‘watchmaking content’ of the products for a clientele that has become increasingly knowledgeable and demanding in the domain.




ADMIRAL’S CUP LEAP SECONDS 48MM and ADMIRAL’S CUP SPLIT SECOND CHRONOGRAPH 40MM


Impressive Admiral’s Cup
Concretely, this resolve to have a clear segmentation of the offer is found in the Admiral’s Cup collection. This year, Corum is enriching the line by proposing two additional chronographs, with two different functions: a leap seconds chronograph with a 48mm case and a split-seconds chronograph with a 44mm case. Each watch has a different movement and incorporates a mix of different materials. The 48mm Leap Sec-onds Chronograph (as a reminder, this type of chronograph has a hand that rotates in one second and can stop four, five, and even eight times to indicate the quarter, fifth, or eighth of a second; in this case, the hand measures the eighth of a second) is equipped with a movement developed in collaboration with Lajoux-Perret. It is placed in an impressive case made of titanium or rose gold and rubber, and features a caseback of vulcanized rubber and a rubber bezel, mounted on a rubber strap with titanium or rose gold. With its pushbuttons that are lockable using a system of levers on the horns, the piece is quite remarkable.
The 44mm split-seconds chronograph is available in steel or rose gold and features carbon inserts on the bezel and on the strap. Its movement was also developed with Lajoux-Perret. It is composed of an integrated chronograph and not an additional plate.
For the ladies, the Admiral’s Cup line is adding a 40mm timepiece, without a chronograph, in steel and gold, with a stone-set rubber bezel, which gives the piece a very feminine aura of glamour.

Tightening up distribution
The brand’s offer of chronographs, whose production will be limited in 2008 to approximately a thousand pieces, is the beginning of the rise up-market for the Admiral’s Cup range. This move upwards is happening at the same time as the tightening up of the brand’s distribution, which will be selective and limited to a voluntarily reduced number of sales points.
Strategically, Corum envisions a temporary decrease in its global turnover during the phase of reorganizing its distribution, but sees an increase in turnover for each chosen sales point.




ROMULUS GRANDE DATE, ROMULUS CHRONOGRAPH and GOLDEN TOURBILLON PANORAMIQUE


Relationship with Vaucher
In the classic Romulus collection, Corum intends to create a complete range of timekeepers. This will include the very lovely Romulus Grande Date with a small seconds hand, available either in steel or in gold and steel, as well as a new steel Romulus Chronograph, which will be much less sporty than the chronographs in the Admiral’s Cup line but which will possess a rare elegance.
Corum’s strategy is clearly seen in the Romulus Annual Calendar, available in white or yellow gold. The watch’s annual calendar movement with a retrograde date—the Calibre 11’’’1/2—inaugurates a new relationship with the Vaucher manufacturing entity, with which the movement was developed (on a base that Corum shares with Parmigiani and HermÈs). The brand’s special relationship with Vaucher should, over time, lead to the development of a movement specific to Corum. As Calce states, “the mastery over one’s supplies has become a strategic element; we intend to gradually integrate the various skills and mÉtiers involved.”
In the near future, Corum intends to develop its production on five different axes: the integration of the various mÉtiers, the development of product lines, training, distribution and a major effort in marketing and advertising.
With nearly 20,000 pieces produced and a turnover exceeding 100 million Swiss francs (with an “exceptional profitability,” says Calce, “without even having an integrated distri-bution network”), Corum had “the best year in its history” in 2007. The brand’s intentions are to rapidly go beyond this threshold.


Source: Europa Star April-May 2008 Magazine Issue