The admirable Corum Admiral’s Cup collection has delighted countless marine and sea enthusiasts for half a century. To mark the fiftieth anniversary of this legendary collection, Corum has created the Admiral’s Cup Minute Repeater Tourbillon 45, an exceptional watch housing an exceptional movement combining two of the most prestigious horological complications: The tourbillon and the minute repeater.

About one month ago, I only had some sketches of this long-awaited watch, and at that time I even didn’t know its exact name. But I was impressive about the unique design it featured – a no-dial watch. As seen in the picture, there is no dial in this ingenious model, or maybe we can view the sapphire crystal, which used to be applied to protect the dial, as the dial of the Admiral’s Cup Minute Repeater Tourbillon 45 timepiece. Engraved on the sapphire crystal are golden index chevrons and minute numbers, as well as inscription “Corum”, “Minute Repeater”, and “Tourbillon”.

As one of the iconic collection, the new watch features a 45mm case in 18K red gold, which is extremely recognizable thanks to its legendary polished and satin finished twelve-sided bezel. For a sporty watch like this, it is unquestionably too risky to have the minute repeater’s push-piece extending out which may get caught and potentially damage the mechanism. So the new Corum watch has been manufactured with a pecific bezel which winds the minute repeater function
by rotating the bezel 27 degrees clockwise. This ingenious system keeps the pureness of the case line and the integrity of the ringing mechanism, and offers water-resistance up to 30 meters.

It is not common-seen that a minute repeater has been featured in a watch with the marine connotation. However, in my view, that function is really a good match to such a watch. As is well-known, a sailor’s life is punctuated by different ringing tones, from ‘action stations’ in the morning to the evening ring. Associating a minute repeater with the new function is therefore a good way for Corum to pay tribute to the universal connection to the acclaimed Admiral’s Cup collection.

The new Admiral’s Cup watch is powered by an innovative Corum movement: the CO 010 caliber, of which the development and adjustment of this exceptional movement took two entire years’ work of a dozen of Corum’s best watch-making craftsmen. The result of these intense years of craftsmanship is a micromechanical masterpiece of 14¼”’ – with a diameter of 32 mm, and a thickness of only 5.35 mm, which ensures a hand-wound power reserve of 72 hours.

Through the sapphire crystal, we are allowed to appreciate the visible complexity of the revolutionary movement: each surface has been finished by hand; circular-grained components, black polished steels – in particular the strike-hammers and Tourbillon Bridge – circular-grained decoration of the plate and Côtes de Genève finish of the bottom bridges. It is said that more than 140 hours are necessary for a Master Watch-Maker to assemble the movement’s 319 components, with an additional 10 hours to ensure perfect sound and notes. So there is no doubt that the Admiral’s Cup Minute Repeater Tourbillon 45 will be extremely limited: only ten pieces will be produced through the end of 2010.