He worked for Patek Philippe, created the Constellation and the Seamaster collections for Omega. René Bannwart, the artistic founder of Corum, continues to be remembered for what he brought to the world of luxury watchmaking.
René Bannwart
Chinese Hat, Admiral, Coin Watch, Romvlvs... Corum is one of the brands that earned the respect of true watch enthusiasts with multiple models that it introduced to luxury watchmaking. Of course, behind every respectable brand, there is at least one genius who brought it to these days. One of the geniuses behind Corum is René Bannwart, the founder of the brand.
René Bannwart was born on March 16, 1915, in Zurich. Spending his childhood in his birthplace before starting the business school in Geneva, he moved to Bienne with his wife in 1940, when the footsteps of World War II were heard. Bannwart, who started working for Omega there, created the Constellation and Seamaster collections, which are among the brand's most known product lines today. Not only that, Bannwart has created a department, the creative department, which no Swiss brand ever had at that time.
This first happened largely thanks to Adolphe Vallat, the innovative sales director of Omega. Before that period, there was no creative department, as well as people defined as 'a designer' like today. The pioneering steps of Vallat and 25-year-old Bannwart opened such a new path for the industry.
In 1948, the department was established and René Bannwart was the head of the department. Omega got one step ahead of the brands that outsourced their design motive by making the designs in-house. One of Bannwart's first major initiatives was to add some 'light' to wristwatches. The designer added recesses to the dials as markers and illuminated them by putting a radium dot. Omega's records show that Bannwart was the first to use this application.
This application may look very easy right now. However, if you think about how many of these lights are used today, branching out over time from the markers to the logos, you can easily realize the importance of this innovation. While shooting the #lumeshot of your watch, don't forget to mention René Bannwart.
Producing watches for the British Armed Forces, the brand has made its models more durable, reliable and robust. As we all know, these features made up the DNA of the Seamaster collection. Thus, Bannwart was accepted as the 'father' of the Seamaster collection, released in 1948.
After the war was over and Europe started to pick the pieces, there was a return to luxury. During this period, René Bannwart created one of Omega's most refined models. The designer celebrated the 100th anniversary of the brand in 1948 with the automatic Centenary model. Models produced in two sizes were limited to 2,000 and 4,000 pieces. The brand, which attracted great attention with this series, brought the Constellation, which was a brand new model, under the leadership of Bannwart in 1952. Two years later, René Bannwart took charge of all the collections of Omega and production.
In 1955, Bannwart turned 40. Knowing what he wanted and what he could do, the designer decided to establish his own brand and founded Corum. See you in our other article about Corum's story and its firsts...
