Corum Admiral's Cup "Tides / Marees"

Mick Tator

As a lifelong sailor I always fancied the Corum Admiral’s Cup Tides/Marees.

I know it’s quirky and not easily flippable. I’ve just landed one, with sleeve & papers, all exes paid, just below €2,500, (Case diameter: 40 mm, thickness: 12mm, lug end to end: 45mm, lug width: 20mm.) The original bracelet is small at ~190mm.

I need links or a replacement to bring it to ~210mm. Adding links probably is not a runner (availability/cost) so it’s got to be a new strap or  bracelet. My preference is for a bracelet. If strap, navy. Huge variations of price on Ali.  I’ve seen some leather on Hirsch, Watchandstrap, etc., that I like, but as a newbie I’m lost (but I know the state of the tide!).  Advice welcome please .

H_Lime

I see the oe leather strap is navy Croc. There are a few Vietnamese bespoke crocodile strap makers on etsy who are pretty well regarded as making top tier straps for what others sell for multiples of what they charge. For about 150 euro plus taxes and shipping you can get something pretty special. I used one in the past for a sharkskin strap and it was so well made.

How about a decent quality fkm rubber navy tropical strap, it's in keeping watersports wise

https://fluco-online.de/en/product/genuine-fkm-rubber-watch-strap/

If that's not reassuringly expensive enough you can find other examples with chunkier buckles. Absolutely no reason why you wouldn't wear that on a tropical imo.

As your watch appears to accept straight end links why not fit a good quality strap code or watch gecko bracelet?

https://www.watchgecko.com/products/seabrook-solid-stainless-steel-diver-watch-strap

The one above emulates the one in your pic.

Interesting watch, well wear, just spent some time reading about the company history.

Mick Tator

Thanks H_L. Lots of views and nobody has challenged your perspicacity! I’ll leave the rubber to the fetishists; I’ve ordered the Seabrook from Watchgecko (an interesting company, hopefully they will be wise enough to open an EU outlet soon). That bracelet is ~ exactly what I was looking for.. Thanks again.

banie01

Really nice watch Mick! Love the tide complication and the dial itself is lovely. I'd need to spend a bit of time on the manual to figure out just how best to use the bezel and sub-dials.

Wear it in good health!

Mick Tator

Thanks Banie, it’s actually quite easy to set (pushers) and to read. The bezel is fixed - the 'flags' are numeral pennants, each representing an internationally recognised number (eg 11 is 1 twice). They date back centuries when flags were used at sea to signal messages. Even today alphabet flag letter ‘A’ (blue and white) means that there is a diver down in close proximity so keep clear.

The sub dials are easy to figure out and are a separate movement, developed by Dubois Depraz in conjunction with the French Navy (SHOM - Service Hydrolique et Oceanique Maretime) and the Swiss Observatory.

The DD movement is  based on a moonphase, an interesting complication. Tides are caused by the alignment of the sun, earth, and moon. The moon, orbiting the earth every 28 days, has the most dominant force as it is nearest earth. If the sun and the moon align you get a stronger pull so a stronger current & higher tide. Fourteen days later when the moon is again nearest earth the same happens  If the moon and sun are at right angles (when the moon looks like a crescent) there is a ‘confused’ pull so the height of the water is lower and its  flow much weaker (Neap Tides.) The hand in the 12 o’c dial indicates a waxing or waning moon.

The dial at 9 o’c is a tide indicator and shows the state of the tide – it takes 6hrs 12 minutes to rise and same to fall, (the lunar day is 24 hrs 50 minutes), so vertical means full tide, at ‘6’ the tide is out/low tide. Speedwise the flow over the six hours is about 0,1,2.2,1.0

The dial at 6 o’c indicates the ‘circular wave’ which is +/- a global indicator. In simple terms, if I'm going Dublin to Wicklow at 10 mph and the tide is coming in at 3 mph, I'm covering ground at 7mph. If the tide is going out, I'm doing 13mph. It's the same as headwinds on an aircraft.

The Corum is a lot easier to adjust than my Frederique Constant moonphase which is a nightmare because that also has day, date, month, and week. (I’ve not touched it since last February!)

(I know tides, but very little about watches!)

mik_da_man

Very interesting information, thanks!

H_Lime

I've read your post three times now, a lot to take in. It's something I was loosely aware of but the neap Tides and sun/moon alignments were finer details I hadn't understood fully. Great that you have a specific interest that reflects the actual usefulness of the complications.

I notice the chapter ring appears to have some markings that perhaps came off when the movement was being serviced. (I had this happen once when I used a cleaning agent on the inside of the crystal) I can't seem to find any examples online for sale. I think your dial is 33mm so that rules out replacement with most oe/afm seiko which is 28.5. If I knew what diameter (inside/outside and height I should be able to find one.

Hope the bracelet isn't a let down!

covey123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102875#Comment_121102875

Great read Mick Tator, thanks for the time taken to write that up.

I recently purchased a surf board so in the process of developing my knowledge of tides/swells and all thing related. That post has put me on track to dig further into it,thanks again.

Mick Tator

Thanks H_L. Yes, well spotted, a few of the chapter ring markings are gone. The case diameter is 40mm and thickness is 12mm. I’ve no idea of dial size. However, I’m a ‘user’ rather than a ‘museum curator’ – I like nice things and enjoy using them for the purpose they were intended (like my pens and shotguns). I don’t hack stuff but I don’t cotton-wool it either. I was not looking for perfection, I ignored the missing markings, and the price I paid was good. I defo would consider a replacement ring if available at a service. This earlier ‘Tides’ version is quite scarce, I think my one is mid 1990’s, I bought it in the US - it was a reasonable deal even after taxes.  It’s keeping almost perfect time, losing about 3 seconds a day. This is a busy work-month for me but once I get over that hump I’m going to give Corum a shout and see if they can tell me anything.

The bracelet is arriving tomorrow evening (!) and I’d be surprised to be disappointed – to date watchgecko appears to be an impressive operation. I’ll post an update when I get a chance.

H_Lime

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121107159#Comment_121107159

Sorry, I'm a hopeless pedant and often assume everyone else is too lol. It would be nice to replace it, fingers crossed Corum still stock parts for it.

Three sec's a day is brill, it's clearly well serviced. Post up some pics on bracelet!

Mick Tator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121107483#Comment_121107483

Thanks again H_L for the recommendations. The bracelet arrived in record time – so fast I had to have delivery diverted to a local pick-up point. The vendor, Watchgecko, is an impressive operation, great comms and service, with all fees due included in the PP and collected up front. The bracelet was ‘celophaned, then wrapped in tissue paper, then in a cardboard sleeve, then in an outer sleeve and placed in the shipping envelope, along with a polishing cloth and a beermat! The VAT is a stinger, I’d guess it’s a matter of time before they open an EU link/facility.

The bracelet wears very comfortably, is very solid and nicely engineered. Several links on each side can be removed (screws).

Photos of watch attached, one of the recessed pushers can be seen at 4 o’c.

H_Lime

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121124683#Comment_121124683

Bracelet looks great on Mick, suits it and just the right debth of link.

What's the recessed pusher for can I ask?

Love the book, unfortunately I haven't really got sea legs (B+I ferry to Holllyhead as a kid was a vomit comet for me) but spent many a happy lunchtime at work in Cobh and Whitegate looking out at sailing yachts and ships, very relaxing.

Mick Tator

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121125114#Comment_121125114

To each his own H_L, Although I'm mechanical I'd be terrified to remove the caseback of a watch. The Irish Sea actually can bea lot worse than the Atlantic due to wave height/frequency.

There are 3 recessed pushers and the crown can be pulled out to a second stop. The recessed pushers are at 4, 8 and 10. They’re used to set the DD movement.  Easiest to past the instructions below to explain their use/sequence. When adjusting you need to know the time of High Tide locally and the date of the last Full Moon.

When work calms down a bit I'll write to Corum and see about a chapter ring.

1.   Pull crown to second stop. Turn anticlockwise to set time. Push back in.

2.   Set the date - pull crown to first stop and turn anticlockwise to correct date & push in.

3.   Move the ‘Moon’ hand (@12dial) to ‘full’ by using the pusher @ 10 o’c.

4.   Then, to set correct phase of moon press the same pusher twice for each day since the last full moon. e.g. if last full moon was 10 days ago, press 20 times.

5.   To set the time of the last high tide , pull out crown to second stop and turn hands to tide time, then return crown.

6.   Move the ‘Tides’ dial (@6 o’clock) using the pusher @ 4 o’clock until a yellow triangle is exactly under the small red hand.

7.   Move the rising/falling Tide (dial @ 9 o’c) by pressing pusher @ 8 o’c until it reaches ‘High Tide’

8.   Reset the time by pulling crown out to set to desired time, then push in and ‘lock’.

 

H_Lime

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121125320#Comment_121125320

I like playing with all things mechanical, these days I even occasionally put them back together lol.

Fascinating that all these naturally occurring phenomenon have been reduced to gear trains and reduction ratios and expressed on your wrist, kind of reminds me of this...

https://youtu.be/qqlJ50zDgeA?feature=shared