France, Italy, the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Switzerland are currently battling it out in Barcelona in the 37th edition of sailing’s most prestigious competition, the America’s Cup. Their boats embody the best in design and technology, honed by decades of expertise on the high seas, which is why the presence of Switzerland comes as a surprise to those not familiar with the world of sailing.
The only landlocked nation among the five competitors, a place better known for mountains and snow rather than the seafaring heritage of its people, Switzerland nevertheless has had some success in the world’s oldest international sporting contest. The Alinghi Red Bull Racing team – as it’s now known after the soft drink giant came on board as a backer in 2021 – won the 2003 and 2007 editions of the America’s Cup. This year’s competition will conclude after more than two months of fierce competition on October 27.
Alinghi is a joint partnership between Red Bull and Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli, who established the team in 1994. Legend has it that the name comes from a word Bertarelli used to say as a little boy when seeing boats on the sea, or else that the seven letters stand for the initials of the names of the boats he has owned – it seems we may never know which.
In 2022, the entire Alinghi team, mostly Swiss nationals, moved to Barcelona in order to be able to train throughout the year, given that doing so on their home turf was obviously not an option. It was also then that Swiss watchmaker Tudor came on board as Alinghi’s main sponsor.
Tudor’s objective with this partnership, however, was not necessarily to make a foray into the world of sailing – a niche sport that certainly attracts a wealthy demographic and has long been associated with the world of luxury watchmaking. Most relevant is Tudor’s motto, “Born to Dare”, a social media-friendly tagline that reflects what the brand has always been about.
“How is the Alinghi team daring?” says a member of the Tudor’s public relations team. “For starters, being a Swiss team, it’s the only team that comes from a country with no access to the sea. They were the first ones to arrive in Barcelona, before any other team. The team was assembled and started training in Barcelona as part of their bid to compete in the America’s Cup. Before that, the sailors had prior experience and had been part of crews and competed in races on the ocean, but the team had been assembled for this competition and they started racing in Barcelona.”
It’s that commitment and perseverance that first attracted Tudor to Alinghi. The brand also works with arguably the world’s most famous athlete – long-time ambassador David Beckham – and supports the All Blacks, New Zealand’s national rugby union team.
“We like the idea of being a small country in the middle of Europe with mountains and lakes and being in the most demanding competition in sailing,” adds the Tudor spokesperson. “So it’s not so much that Tudor wanted to go into sailing and find a team to sponsor but more the project that is very much aligned with the spirit of our brand.”
Although the partnership only began two years ago, it has already started to create synergies among Tudor’s different initiatives. Last year, for instance, the brand organised a workshop for the team with ambassador Morgan Bourc’his, a three-time world champion free diver, in order to give them an edge should they find themselves underwater by showing them how to breathe properly, and generally putting them under stressful situations that could arise in a competition or while training.
As a maker of timepieces meant for an active lifestyle, Tudor has also released two watches – the Pelagos FXD and Pelagos FXD Chrono models – that celebrate its partnership with the Alinghi Red Bull Racing team. Echoing the materials used to build the Alinghi boat, the watches are made of titanium, carbon fibre and stainless steel. The blue dials and straps are also nods to the nautical theme while the bezels are graduated from 60 to 0, in order to allow for easy tracking of countdowns, a crucial period ahead of the start of a regatta.
Prior to developing these two timepieces, Tudor had sent the Alinghi team a batch of their robust diving watches to wear while practising. That process led to the creations of the two Pelagos, which now are on the wrist on every team member, including engineer Jaume Triay, one of the brains behind the Alinghi boat.
Today’s America’s Cup boats are more akin to aircraft or spaceships than yachts, requiring wide expertise in aerodynamics and physics to design, not to mention a certain degree of flair since the sails will be filmed and photographed for the world to see.
“The way a writer never finishes a book, just abandons it, it’s the same with these machines,” says Triay. “They are research projects, so you’re constantly finding ways you can improve them. When you start designing, you think what is it you need and how you should do it, but then you test and realise maybe in certain conditions the boat will not be as competitive as you thought it would be, or maybe you’re pleasantly surprised and it’s more competitive than you expected, so you start thinking, what if I change this component to make it faster?”
While Triay professes not to know anything about watchmaking, he could easily be talking about the attention to detail and combination of technology and craftsmanship that go into the making of a Tudor watch. That marriage of form and function, human ingenuity and hard work, is as key to making a winning yacht as it is to creating the most precise and visually appealing timepiece.
