Like all good sleights of hand, the illusion is both perfect and intriguing. A movement floats in the middle of a watch case that is generously transparent so as to heighten the sense of mystery. Magic is generally about tricks, cables, professional deftness, whether in watchmaking or on stage. Conjurers capable of these incredible tricks devote their technical and sometimes historical expertise to making their mechanisms appear to levitate.

Not just back, but back with decent prices. Actually, besides some minor changes and a case size that has been increased to 47mm wide from 45mm wide, the 2015 Corum Bubble is very similar to how it was when Corum decided to discontinue it. Additionally, though the case is larger (and seems really big) that the Corum Bubble wears smaller than it is with snub lugs along with a case that wraps around your wrist well. With that said, I am quite sure you can imagine that with a title such as the “Bubble,” this watch is thick. The sapphire crystal is 8mm thick and the total Corum Bubble watch is 18.8mm thick – but in a trendy way.Corum got the first idea for the Corum Bubble from a prototype dive watch intended for extreme depths. It may just happen to be a Rolex. The thick crystal acted to distort the dial, and Corum just sort of played with this and created “bubble-style” hands and hour markers which appear interesting with a little bit of distortion. The rounded edges make that possible, but also offer the timepiece a pleasure, almost cartoonish appearance that’s appeal to many men and women. The dial and event shape together have made the Corum Bubble one of the very distinctive “enjoyable” high-end watches round, and I am very glad to see that Corum realized quitting it was a mistake. It is totally possible that the Corum Bubble watch collection had a break, and I am happy to see it return for the 15-year anniversary.

Illusion

Magicians use secret panels, trap doors and diversions to muddle spectators’ senses. The watchmaker’s basic material in this domain is sapphire. Not the blue or pink gemstone used in jewelry, but rather a perfectly transparent man-made form of sapphire. Generally used to make scratch-resistant watch glasses, it has found its way into watches as a mainplate, as bridges – meaning a virtually invisible structure playing the same role as steel or brass. Blancpain used it to create the chassis of its L-Evolution Flying Sapphire Carrousel, but renounced total transparency by metallizing the watch glass in order to enhance legibility. While Corum Watch With Flags Replica went a step further with its Panoramic Tourbillon fitted with an invisible mainplate and bridges, they were still distinguish- able because they were juxtaposed. It was not until the historical specialist of this illusion reentered the scene that the magic truly worked its spell.

Mystery

This providential Houdini is of course Cartier. In the 1920s, the brand had introduced the “mystery” clocks whose hands appeared to be floating in thin air. They were in fact perched on rock crystal rings guided by a mechanism hidden in the body of these clocks. Cartier revived this concept in 2013. Now adapted to the wristwatch format, the intensity of the illusion has been heightened ever since. The latest model is called Rotonde de Cartier Astromystérieux. Its entire movement appears to be placed between two layers of air, at the very heart of the watch. Even those in the know still scratch their heads and wonder how it really works.

A fakir’s favorite piece of equipment is a wire, a principle that inspired Richard Mille. While the main purpose of the RM 27-01 was to achieve extreme lightness and shock-resistance, it has also explored a whole new avenue. Its movement is secured to the case by a set of cables (just 0.35mm in diameter), pulleys and tensioners. Merely hiding them would have been enough to make the caliber seem to float.

Trompe-l’oeil

There is another method that is apparently simple, yet difficult to implement : it involves giving pride of place to emptiness and calls for movements with distinctive structures. The baguette- type caliber of Corum’s Golden Bridge models is so narrow that it can be held to either end of the case, within which it looks amazingly free. The alternative is an ultra-skeletonized movement, such as that of the Tourbillon Volant Poinçon de Genève by Louis Vuitton. The structure of the caliber is slender and concealed beneath a dial and a tourbillon. The floating effect is achieved by clever means that are traditional yet mesmerizing.