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.

The Corum Dragon Watch Price Golden Bridge Rectangle case measures 29.5mm wide by 42.2mm tall and a mere 9.3mm thick. The detailed execution of this 18-karat golden Roman numeral structures and rivets that encircle the motion are very cool to look at it – it seems like something King Midas would approve of.The rhodium-plated, baton-shaped hands provide a nice contrast with the gold structures, and to keep matters simple, the movement only signifies the time with minutes and hours. There’s a sapphire crystal with anti-reflective treatment over the skeletonized dial and a screw-in sapphire case-back that can help maintain the watch’s water-resistance of 30 meters. The crown itself is a distinctive touch and something I will love for the sake of symmetry and equilibrium. Due to the movement’s orientation, it’s situated at 6 o’clock and features deep grooves for easy operation.The Corum Golden Bridge Rectangle is a wristwatch which will be catering to a very specific pair of watch fans, to say the least. An art-deco, gold watch with a skeletonized dial which still feels as strong as, well, a bridge combines together a real manly perspective of luxury with a refinement that is abundantly and obviously created clear.The Corum Golden Bridge Rectangle watch comes on a brown alligator leather strap with an 18k rose gold triple-folding clasp. When there are certainly a great deal of options in the way of timepieces in its price range, the Corum Golden Bridge Rectangle watch provides something special with its open dial and linear motion screen. In a way, it reveals the brand’s commitment to continuing the Golden Bridge heritage while exercising restraint that’s both tasteful and progressive. The Corum Golden Bridge Rectangle watch will probably be priced at $36,900. The first Corum Bubble watch came out in 2000, but for that reason, it was eventually discontinued. Then, the brand revived the Bubble watch in 2015. And today, it’s one of the main collections, so much so that they made a decision to make a exceptional piece working with the iconic Bubble layout. This is the Corum Bubble 47 Flying Tourbillon watch, including not only a tourbillon however a menacing skull to get a dial.

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 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.