Corum Brings Back the Admiral, and This Time It Means Business

Corum has had a rough decade. Bought by a Chinese conglomerate, shuffled around, mostly forgotten by anyone who wasn’t already a fan of pointy bezels. Then last year a group of Swiss investors bought the brand back, put a watchmaker named Haso Mehmedovic in charge, and basically said “okay, let’s stop making 250 different watches nobody asked for and make some good ones instead.” We will see if something changes with the new Corum Admiral

Step one of the comeback: the Admiral. And they didn’t just slap a new dial on the old case and call it a day. They redid almost everything. I had the chance to play with a Corum Admiral, old one, not the new release and I must say I like it. Review will come soon.

Same Hat, New Head

The Admiral’s whole personality has always been that twelve-sided case (Corum calls it dodecagonal, we’ll just call it “the pointy one”) and the little flag-shaped hour markers, which are actually based on real maritime signal flags. That’s the part sailors and watch nerds both love, and Corum smartly left it alone. As a personal preference, I prefer without the flags, but that’s just me.

What’s new is everything around it. The case got reworked by Emmanuel Gueit, who you might know as the guy who designed the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore, so he knows a thing or two about turning an odd-shaped case into something people want strapped to their wrist. Corum’s own team finished the job in-house. I must say, in this case Emmanuel Gueit did a better job than he did with AP Royal Oak offshore. I’m subjective, but I don’t like that watch at all. 

The biggest physical change is the bracelet. For the first time ever, the Admiral ditches separate lugs and goes fully integrated, meaning the case and bracelet flow into each other instead of being bolted together. It’s a five-link design mixing brushed and polished sections, and you can swap straps yourself with a push-button system, no tools, no jeweler, no YouTube tutorial required.

So there we go, we have another integrated bracelet watch, soon after Raymond Weil entered the integrated bracelet game with their A.R.T collection. 

A Heart of Its Own

Here’s the part that actually matters long-term: Corum gave the Admiral its own movement. Calibre CO231, built together with the movement specialists at Concepto, replaces the off-the-shelf Sellita units the brand used to rely on. It runs at a standard 4Hz, holds 72 hours of power reserve, which I appreciate, and includes stop-seconds and a quick-set date, which is the bare minimum you’d want from a watch at this price but still nice to have confirmed.

The fun detail is the layout: the balance wheel sits at 12 o’clock instead of the usual spot, which is an unusual flex and a nod to Corum’s other weird-but-iconic model, the Golden Bridge. You can see all of this through the sapphire caseback, finished with brushed surfaces, polished edges, and a gold oscillating weight balanced out with a chunk of tungsten so it doesn’t wobble around like a cheap fan.

A step forward I might add, going from Sellita to in-house movement. 

Two Sizes, Eleven Watches, One Identity Crisis Solved

The new lineup splits into two case sizes, both a slim 8.9mm thick, which keeps either size from looking like a hockey puck.

Admiral 39 is the flagship, six references covering steel, titanium, and gold. Admiral 36 is the smaller, more wearable option, five references that lean into mother-of-pearl dials and gem-setting without losing the family look. Whether 36mm counts as “ladies’ size” or just “a sensible size for anyone who doesn’t want a manhole cover on their wrist” is between you and your wrist.

Here’s the full lineup, prices included, because nobody likes guessing:

(Corum hasn’t published exact prices for every 36mm reference yet, so we’re not making numbers up to fill the gaps.)

Technical Specifications

(Corum hasn’t published a water resistance figure for the 36mm yet, so that one stays blank rather than invented.)

So, Worth Caring About?

The meteorite dial is the one most collectors will talk about, since it’s a first for the Corum Admiral. The titanium skeleton is the one most nerds will actually want, since it shows off that funky 12 o’clock balance wheel. And the full gold version at CHF 33,000 is the one most of us will just admire from a respectful distance. Jesus, that price is insane!!!

What matters more than any single reference is the strategy behind it: fewer watches, a real in-house movement, and a design that respects the original 1983 Admiral instead of just borrowing its name. Corum’s been an underdog for a while. This is the first relaunch in years that actually looks like a plan instead of a panic.

It is a cool watch, but one for which I wouldn’t pay crazy amount of money to be honest. But good job, guys!

The new Admiral collection launched at Watches and Wonders Geneva 2026 and is available now through Corum boutiques and authorized dealers.

More info about the watch here

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