Corum was founded in what could be considered a late period of time for the emergence of watch companies. The two founders, Rene Bannwart and Simone Ries, established the company in 1955 and the company quickly earned a reputation for imaginative and exciting watches. While they made a name for themselves due to their unique design, the birth of many watch production companies took place one hundred years prior to the creation of Corum. Bannwart and Ries were cousins and Bannwart’s uncle, Gaston Ries, was the first to expose the two to the field of watches as he himself had worked at a small watch company in Switzerland since 1924. Together, Bannwart and the Messers Ries were able to blend their skills of watch making and creative design to produce some of the most intriguing watches on the market. Over time, they turned their watch business from a small, private watch company into a mass manufacturing success known as Corum.

The first Corum watches were released to the general public in 1956. From the start, the watches received critical acclaim from reviewers and the general consumer market. They unarguably were off to a great success. On all Corum watches, a unique symbol is used. The tell-tale logo is a key. This key symbol may be particularly interesting to note since the company has been able to expertly open the door to commercial success and private appeal. Nonetheless, the company decided it needed a bit of rejuvenation in the year 2000, forty years into the company’s success. At this time, Corum was taken over by Severin Wunderman, with whom it was hoped that the company would be able to explode with a new period of creativity and innovation. On his own, Wunderman had established himself as a watch visionary and Corum was lucky that he has brought this experience and insight to their company. Wunderman’s son, Michael, took over as the President of the company in 2004 and together the two men, who are known to back each other up, have been working diligently to explore new watch horizons. Appointed as the CEO of Corum in 2007, Antoine Calce is bringing professionalism and business experience to the company. Corum’s motto with regard to Calce is “Unlock and Conquer” making reference not only to the skills of Calce, but also the key logo of Corum.

Collections featured by Corum include Admiral’s Cup, Golden Bridge, Coin Watch, Corum Classical, Artisan Timepieces, Corum Bubble and the Corum Debutante. Possibly the most prestigious watch created by Corum would be the Meteorite watches that have been created. Only 999 dials have been created, forged from the largest meteorite that has ever landed on Earth, which fell to the Earth in the territory Greenland. Corum purchased the 34 ton meteorite deemed the “Cape York” and subsequently created these dials for only a limited number of watches. Another of the impressive watches that have been created by Corum is the $20 Liberty Eagle watch. This watch is highly coveted because it features a genuine $20 coin from the United States as the background/face of the watch. To make this watch, a $20 Liberty Eagle coin needs to be delicately split in half. Between the pieces, the watch parts are created and the halves are placed together to create the face and mechanized portion of the watch. While the use of a coin in a watch was nothing new, prior to Corum’s creation the process had only been used for pocket watches. Thanks to Corum, the coin watches were now available in wristwatch form.

Due to their progressive designs, Corum watches are easily distinguished from other watches. Corum prides itself on offering cutting-edge watch design to their consumers. The company understands that it is not realistic or impressive to base success on the creation of already existing watches. Mass manufacturing of already produced watches would not inherently lead to a watch company’s long term success since they would not be offering consumers anything new or exciting. In light of this, Corum works to completely redesign watches and turn their creation on its head.