That formed the genesis of the Corum Bubble All Black Replica Watch, one of the most recognizable wristwatches of its time.The Bubble was the brainchild of the late Severin Wunderman, a relentlessly creative entrepreneur who acquired Corum that very same year. Wunderman, who survived both the Holocaust and cancer, had a roving, creative mind. In one instance, he was inspired by an experimental deep-sea dive watch from the 1960s, which was fitted with an enormous domed crystal to withstand the pressure of the ocean.

Corum’s designers took advantage of this by designing a dial with a clever, op art (short for “optical art”) motif. Taking inspiration from Hungarian-born French artist Victor Vasarely, founder of the op art movement, the dial is decorated with squares in graduated sizes that grow larger toward the center of the dial.Because the sapphire crystal is so tall, it acts as a lens, both magnifying and distorting the dial.

The Bubble has now been revived as part of the Corum Heritage collection, putting it alongside other landmark timepieces like the extra-thin Coin Corum Bubble Replica Watch.Despite being a mere 15 years old, the Bubble is major part of the brand’s heritage, deserving of elevation into a hall of fame.

But, as always, practicality was high on the mind of the development team, which paired the oversized case with short, curved lugs, allowing it to hug the wrist snugly.But it has been enlarged to 47 mm, lending it impressively striking proportions, especially as it stands some 18.8 mm high, crystal included.

Fitted with a rubber-ringed, spherical crown, the case is a collection of smooth, rounded lines, just like the original.While retaining all the design codes of the original, the 2015 Bubble is not a mere replica of its predecessor.

While the Bubble was unquestionably unique, its unorthodox design was merely an extension of Corum’s long-established philosophy. Since its founding in 1955, Corum consistently excelled at designing totally original timepieces, ranging from the Rolls-Royce, shaped like the luxury automobile’s front grille, to the Golden Bridge, distinguished by its remarkably tiny, baguette-shaped movement.

A remarkable 8 mm high, this sapphire crystal is one of the largest of any Corum Replica Watch. Crafting the mountainous crystal of the Bubble requires exponentially more work. This in itself is challenging enough that even when machining ordinary, flat watch crystals the job can take hours. The task starts with cutting a block of crystal, then grinding it into a bubble-like shape, and finally polishing the crystal to flawless clarity with absolutely no optical imperfections. Sapphire is a material so extraordinarily hard it has to be cut with a diamond-tipped tool.