Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

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Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

I had heard of this brand and knew of its Cuban heritage, but I had never really looked too hard. Since seeing a post in the "Daydream" thread showing their "Buceador" (Spanish for Diver) I have been perusing their website and I have to say that I really like some of the designs.

Dating back to Havana in the 1860s, the company now manufactures in Switzerland and uses the phrase "Swiss manufacture, Latin heritage" - where have we heard something similar? To my mind the designs really do have a Latin American quality about them - quite exciting really.

Here's a link to the website

The Buceador, Vuelo (flight), Robusto and Pirata collections are all a bit on the large side for me. The Espléndidos collection honours Cuban cigars and doesn't really interest me, the Prominente collection is Tank-like with a touch of Franck Muller in some of the models.

I'm most interested in the 40mm Historiador collection, and a couple of pieces in particular:

The 1591 GMT:

Image

The Historiador GMT:

Image

And the rather lovely Retrógrado:

Image

Doble Luna - shows moon phase in Northern and Southern Hemispheres + triple date, though the day and month look a bit small:

Image

Not everyone's C-o-T maybe, but these designs do arouse my interest in the left-field qualities...and they get good reviews.

What do we think?
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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by scooter »

I came across them about 10 years ago and not for me.

I remember that Michael Matthews in Bournemouth were selling them then at a mighty 50%-70% discount.

Remember the packaging was in a HUGE cigar box.

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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by 0uatiOW »

That was my post in the Dreaming thread, after seeing an article about the Buceador Caribe on the Fratello website. Since then I’ve searched everywhere for information - the brand has attracted very close to zero attention on this forum in the past, with only a sprinkling of mentions. Perhaps reflecting the tiny, even niche, representation out in the greater watch community.

Jura is the UK AD (Steve - the Historiador GMT was available for 40% until a few days ago, now apparently sold. I had a sort of first refusal on it but declined, for reasons I expand below). ApexLuxury has recently been appointed as the UK agent, and they’ve offered to meet me, in person, with some of the watches.

There aren’t many articles around, but the greatest concentration can be found below:

https://escapementmagazine.com/categori ... rinos.html
https://www.ablogtowatch.com/watch-bran ... -sobrinos/
https://monochrome-watches.com/category ... -sobrinos/

I like what I see - not all, but many of them - but the unusual styling, historical references, and what can only be described as flamboyant panache. They aren’t like the usual suspects and that in itself attracts me. They use real Louisiana alligator leather straps on a lot of their models, and that alone tells you something about the quality of the materials used. The cedar humidor-cum-presentation box is eye-catching, though somewhat wasted on me, but I think they are cool AF, and non-smoking buyers may select a leather bound travel winder as an alternative.

In the ABTW review of the Historiador Tradicòn (that word itself is misspelled… 🤷), the print on the minute track looks a little poor, and the cornes de vache-style lugs are awfully long, protruding well past the spring bars. Despite that, their ranges are intriguing (Prominente Solo Tiempo, Pirata Chronograph anyone?) and worthy of further investigation.

Prices are set at the $2-8K level (though I don’t think I’ve seen any less than $3K), and at that price point there’s a huge amount of quality competition, & as a relatively unknown brand I was reluctant to take chance watch-unseen.

I suspect that these watches, like many others, can’t really be appreciated without seeing them for real. How many times have we heard someone say “I don’t see what’s so great about brand XYZ” without ever having put one on their wrist? CyS has some affiliation with the Mille Miglia (the race, not the Chopard line) and seem to spend a sackful on marketing, so take that how you like, but I infer that to reflect a level of quality over the norm. Once I’ve seen some of these watches in the m***l (I despise that phrase, but i can’t think of a better one), I’m hopeful, even confident, the quality will be there.

I do like a buyer’s journey like this - so much to learn, with the chance of a treasure chest at the end of it (figuratively with their Pirata range)…
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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

Thanks for the links, Wyatt. I certainly enjoyed looking at those.

¿¿TRADICIÒN?? :shock:

After 50 years of studying and speaking Spanish I have never once seen a grave accent. I wondered whether it might be a Caribbean variant, but can find no example of it. It’s not a watch I’m particularly attracted to, but that would be a deal breaker for me – I could never unsee it.

I’m just looking quite idly at the moment, but as you say they are so different from the Usual Suspects, and that definitely makes them attractive to me. And I love those blue Clous de Paris dials and Breguet hands, not to mention the star-spangled blue rotor on the Doble Luna.
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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by nbg »

I also remember when MM in Bournemouth used to stock them. That was the first time I had heard of the brand.

Of the ones posted by AVO the only one that I would put anywhere near my wrist is the Retrógrado.

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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

^^^ I suspect they will have something of a marmite effect, Neil. Not for everyone.
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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by Thegreyman »

When I saw the title of the thread, the first and only thing Cuervo means to me is Tequila :ka:

Having said that and looking at their collections, some very interesting pieces - that diver looks pretty good in blue although not sure about the crown/pusher arrangement with seemingly three for a watch with only a centre seconds and date function :? The pirate chrono, cigar themed Esplendidos all quite fascinating.

Overall the watches do look slightly on the large side, and as has been said, pricey enough that you would want to try before you buy. Definitely interesting though.
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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by scooter »

Here are 2 old threads about them.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=41739&p=609176&hili ... os#p609176

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=5961&p=70114&hilit= ... nos#p70114

Interestingly Chris Ward himself likes them a lot.

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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

^^^ Thanks for the links, scooter.

Certainly not a paean of unanimous adoration. That’s fine as I’ve become good at following downer’s rule #3…avoid the herd instinct. I buy for my own pleasure, and I could certainly see some pleasure to be had in a couple of those.
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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by scooter »

'Nuff Said!

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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by ajax87 »

I discovered them a few months ago when someone posted a picture of their “Flameante” in a thread about dial texture. I really like it. I wish there was somewhere nearby I could try one on. It’d probably wear really nice at 40mm with a 6.2mm case depth.

C0B286B7-34AD-4544-B363-2EC7EBE4275B.jpeg
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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

^^^ I love everything about that except the dial colour. The blue Flameante dial is stunning, but is only available in a rose gold watch at £12k+.

If the blue dial was in a steel case I would be very interested.
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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by StrappedUp »

Amor Vincit Omnia wrote: Mon Jul 12, 2021 8:50 am ^^^ I love everything about that except the dial colour. The blue Flameante dial is stunning, but is only available in a rose gold watch at £12k+.

If the blue dial was in a steel case I would be very interested.
This one?

https://www.cwsellors.co.uk/products/cu ... psEALw_wcB

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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

Nice one…thank you, Ryan!

Time to do a bit more research.
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Re: Cuervo y Sobrinos - cool, Cuban and left field!

Post by watchaholic »

I like the lugs on these a lot. Seems they are the same across most of the line.
What are they using for a movement?
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