Every so often, in the flurry of writing up pre-Baselworld news updates on new watches, I come across one that makes me pause and wonder, hmmm, what would this baby look like and feel like on my wrist" Most of the time, I am content to wait for Baselworld itself, where I am likely to have an opportunity to see the watch up close and try it on. Occasionally, however, I am moved to find out if I can spend some quality time with a watch before the fair. This is the case with the new Corum Golden Bridge Rectangle, the latest execution of that brand?s iconic timepiece with the linear, baguette-shaped movement. To my pleasant surprise, Corum was actually able to send me one ahead of its release, meaning I would not only not have to wait for Basel to try it on; I would be wearing it throughout the fair. Here are impressions from a week at Baselworld with the Corum Golden Bridge Rectangle. The Corum Golden Bridge Rectangle is the newest iteration of the linear-movement classic from 1980.

The Golden Bridge Rectangle is the latest iteration of the genre-busting original Golden Bridge from 1980, which introduced the world?s first linear-oriented, manual-winding movement in a distinctive tonneau-shaped case. Since then, Corum has over the years produced many offspring from that original model, among them versions with a self-winding movement; the ?Ti-Bridge? models, in which the classical gold cases are replaced with titanium; and last year?s Golden Bridge Round.
The Rectangle is...