It’s really about time Corum returned the most favorite Bubble opinion – a timepiece collection that originally came out in the year 2000 and served a significant contemporary function in the new history. Finally, the Corum Bubble watch set was stopped, probably because Corum started to go a bit nuts with a few silly limited edition versions – which, looking back now, are pretty damn cool. For Baselworld 2015, the Corum Bubble is back, and that I finally have reason to look closely at the brand again.I recall a few years back meeting with Corum at Baselworld and inquiring about the Bubble and if we could see one again. Someone sneered in my remarking that “we do not think that is ideal for the brand anymore. We have moved beyond that.” “Okay…” is all I could react with, and we proceeded on to watching more new variations of the Admirals Cup and Golden Bridge collection. I’ve always enjoyed Corum, but within the past couple of years, the fun side of the brand appeared to be diminishing and being replaced with a great deal of ill-conceived high-end watches which did nothing to function the image of their brand. Afterwards, the brand chose to stick double tourbillons into an Admiral’s Cup watch, and with their new ownership by China Haidian Holdings, I more or less assumed that the brand’s allure for watch enthusiasts was (at least temporarily) over. So you can imagine my delighted surprise to hear that the Corum Bubble is back.Not only back, but back with decent rates. In fact, besides some minor alterations along with a case size that’s been increased to 47mm wide from 45mm wide, the 2015 Corum Bubble is quite much like how it was when Corum chose to discontinue it. Also, even though the instance is bigger (and seems really big) the Corum Bubble wears smaller than it is with snub lugs and a situation that wraps round your wrist well. That said, I am quite sure that you can imagine that using a name such as the “Bubble,” this opinion is thick. The sapphire crystal alone is 8mm thick and the total Corum Bubble watch is 18.8mm thick – but in a cool way.

We love the ONLY WATCH auction that takes place every other year in Monaco for the support of charity. Why do we love it? Well a range of participating watch brands produce totally unique watches that are auctioned off for charity (Monegasque Association against Muscular Dystrophy). The pieces are sometimes mere color variations on existing models, and sometimes they are radically new models that are production concepts or signs of things to come. In any event, they are all one-off pieces (with the exception of models that are “#1” in a limited edition). The brands do it for the massive media exposure and marketing opportunity.

UPDATE: See the aBlogtoWatch full list of Only Watch 2013 Watches.

2013 is the 5th edition of the Only Watch (administered and operated by auctioneer Antiquorum) auction and it will take place later in 2013 on September 28th. The participating brands will slowly release their Only Watch pieces until then. While more brands may be added later, here are the companies that we expect to see interesting timepieces from over the next several months:

• Backes & Strauss
• Bell & Ross
• Blancpain
• Breguet
• Chanel
• Chopard
• ChronoSwiss
• Christophe Claret
• Corum
• Cyrus
• deLaCour
• De Bethune
• DeWitt
• Franck Muller
• Frédérique Constant
• Girard Perregaux
• Glasshütte Original
• Harry Winston
• Heritage Watch Manufactory
• Hublot, Ikepod
• Jaquet Droz
• Ladoire
• Laurent Ferrier
• Louis Vuitton
• Manufacture Royale
• Maurice Lacroix
• Montblanc
• Patek Philippe
• Piaget
• Richard Mille
• Roger Dubuis
• Armin Strom
• Ulysse Nardin
• Vacheron Constantin
• Van Cleef & Arpels
• Vulcain
• Zenith

That is a huge number of brands and you can compare them to the all the pieces from the Only Watch 2011 auction. We look forward to sharing with you the auction pieces as they trickle out leading up to the event in September of 2013. onlywatch.com