Ben Ainslie and Corum

The 31 year-old English sailor already has three Olympic medals to his credit. At the height of his career, Ben Ainslie becomes a Corum ambassador and is determined to continue his success winning his fourth medal.

The 31 year-old English sailor already has three Olympic medals to his credit. At the height of his career, Ben Ainslie becomes a Corum ambassador and is determined to continue his success winning his fourth medal.

Immersed in the world of sailing since his childhood years, Ben Ainslie began sailing at the age of 8, winning his first World Championship at 16. The sailor and the Swiss watch brand Corum go back quite a way; the company were his first ever sponsor making him the proud owner of a Corum watch when he began his professional sailing career at the age 17.

In Beijing, Ben will be defending his national colours racing the Men’s single-handed heavy weight Finn dinghy a boat he is well acquainted with, having already won five World Championship titles in the Finn. He has also been closely involved with the America’s Cup. After an initial campaign with One World in 2000, he joined Team New Zealand as helmsman in 2004. In 2007, Ben was appointed skipper of Team Origin.

A passionate devotee of sailing and the sea in general, Ben is also a watch connoisseur and collector. He was won over by the Admiral’s Cup Tides from Corum because this model combines both a world-exclusive complication and an indispensable sailing instrument.

For coastal regions with a twice-daily lunar cycle (in which the sea rises and falls every 12 hours and 25 minutes on average), the Admiral’s Cup Tides 48 provides all the key information on tides: the lunar cycles and the strength of the tide, an estimation of water levels, the strength of the currents, and the time of the tides.

The three different mechanisms composing the tides movement called for around three years of development between 1988 and 1991. In cooperation with the Geneva Astronomical Observatory and the SHOM (Hydrographic and Oceanographic Department of the French Navy) in Brest, which confirmed its remarkable precision.

The CORUM CO-277 Tides movement is an exclusive complicated movement endowed with several functions that are visible on the watch dial through three separate counters.

The counter at 12 o’clock indicates the various states of the moon, thereby reproducing its position in relation to the earth and the sun and defining the strengths of the tides that are expressed by coefficients 95-120 and 20-45. When the moon, the earth and the sun are perfectly aligned, the attraction exercised by the earth and the strength of the tides are at their peak. Tides are weaker in other situations.

The counter at 6 o’clock indicates the times of low and high tides over a 24-hour period (meaning 2 low tides and 2 high tides per day).

The rising and falling tide indications are displayed at 9 o’clock, as well as the intensity of the current. The intensity of the tide is strongest when the hand is lined up with the red line.
As one of the major complications mastered by Corum, the exclusive Admiral’s Cup Tides movement puts the brand right up among the finest names in the watchmaking world.

Corum is supporting Ben Ainslie and wishes him the best of luck in winning his fourth Olympic medal in the 29th Olympic Games in Beijing, and a chance to distinguish himself in his discipline by going for gold !

Enclosures:
- Picture of Ben Ainslie aboard his boat wearing a watch of the emblematic Admiral’s Cup collection
- Picture of the Admiral’s Cup Tides 48 watch in titanium with rubber strap