In recent years, Corum has succeeded in redefining a set of strong and distinctive collections that endow the brand with a more powerful identity than ever more. Conducting such an exercise is no easy task, and many brands have run out of steam in attempting to do so. Ti-Bridge, the latest technical collection, features an innovative design that admirably complements the classic Golden Bridge collection and the Admiral's Cup sports range that has forged the brand's reputation since 1966.

The latter collection has been accompanying the fastest sailors in various nautical competitions for many years. Loïck Peyron and is team have indeed entrusted Corum with timing their round-the-world voyage in the Trophée Jules Vernes, which is due to start at the time of writing.

Presented for the first time in 2009, the Admiral's Cup 45 Minute Repeater Tourbillon, the star model in the collection, is presented this year in a grade 5 titanium case, the only metal alloy enabling a truly impeccable polish. The idea of a minute repeater model destined for maritime use might at first seem incongruous – doubtless because only a handful of timepieces had thus far associated this particular horological complication with the world of sailing. Nor is a tourbillon the complication one most expects within such a rigorous and even hostile environment.

However, a closer look reveals that the choice of these two complications is highly appropriate. First, the tourbillon. The art of high-precision time measurement or chronometry was instigated in England in order to equip the all-conquering navigators of the time with reliable instruments. The (marine) chronometer was thus born and initially fixed to a gyroscopic system enabling it to remain in a constant horizontal position whatever the state of the sea – the idea being to avoid vertical positions and the detrimental effects of gravity when the regulator organ finds itself in this position. The tourbillon plays the same role in portable timepieces. Meanwhile, the minute repeater was invented before the invention of electric lighting so that people could tell the time in the dark or when the dial of a timepiece is not visible or not readable – exactly the kind of conditions often found on a boat. The main problem of watches equipped with this complication lies in the watertightness of the repeater slide. Corum has solved this problem by opting for a system that actually disappears with the slide – and the mechanism is instead activated and controlled by rotating the twelve-sided bezel.

This 45 mm-diameter watch with its two complications is perfectly sized to be equally at home in the cosy lounge of a luxury yacht and on the action-packed deck of a racing boat. Indeed, the starting signal has now been fired in the race to acquire this refined sporting model, and only the first 15 topranked competitors will be able to strap it to their wrist.