1977 Corum Japanese 50 Sen Coin Watch ref. 53.363.01

Up for grabs is a Corum Coin Watch

I have never seen this watch before being offered it this year. I couldn’t find it online or in any auction catalogs. Eventually a reached out to Corum in Switzerland and after about 2 weeks since an initial response, they informed me that this watch was made in very limited run for the Japanese market in 1977. Though they could not tell me how many were produced, they did mention the reference number was 53.363.01 for these.

The watch is made out of 800 grade silver. This is an uncommon alloy to use, as its only about 80% pure silver, but it was matched to the coin, which was minted in Japan using 800 grade silver with 80% silver and 20% copper.

The coin itself is based on a 50 Sen (half of Japanese yen) which was in circulation between 1906 and 1917 with this particular design.

The watch itself is small, about 28mm without the crown. Stamped with 800 grade silver hallmarks on coin-edge decorated sides. The crown is decorated with a blue cabochon sapphire.

The dial is marked “Corum” and swiss. The caseback has the 50 Sen design on outside and stamped with Corum and silver hallmarks inside, along with a case serial number.

The movement is a manual wind Corum based on Peseux 7000

The watch comes on an unworn and generic leather strap with its original Corum buckle.

No box or papers of any kind, but you are welcome to see the correspondence between Corum customer service and I through emails.