Unbreakable union: watches and cigars

Wrist Watch

Watches and cigars - what do they have in common? If you judge directly, then nothing! Except that both are created by skilled and talented people. We mean, of course, really good cigars and watches.

And if you dig deeper, then there is very much in common. A really good watch is needed not only to know the time by it! Such a watch is a delight to the heart, a true work of art. Here are really good cigars - they are also not in order to satisfy the physiological need for inhalation of smoke with nicotine and other chemicals. No, they are delight too, also a work of art!
And there is nothing surprising in the frequent collaborations of watch and cigar manufacturers. Let's talk about some of them.

You need to start, of course, with a watch company. Cuervo y Sobrinos... The birthplace of the brand is Havana, the capital of Cuba, for which cigars are almost the main symbol! Well, of course, not only cigars: but, for example, the image of the legendary Comandante Fidel is inextricably linked with a Havana cigar, and with a pair of Rolex on the wrist ...

In 1862, Don Ramon Fernandez y Cuervo, a Spaniard by birth, opened a small jewelry store in Havana, on the fashionable Fifth Avenida. The business turned out to be successful, because Havana in the 1882th century was a large city, one of the cultural centers of the entire Western Hemisphere. And besides, it grew rapidly. The Cuervo business grew along with this beautiful city, expansion required new investments, new partners. These were the relatives of don Ramon. They were collectively called nephews, in Spanish - sobrinos. And in XNUMX the Cuervo y Sobrinos company was registered. This year is considered the year of foundation of the company.

Everything went well, the demand for jewelry grew both in Havana, where more and more Cuervo y Sobrinos stores were opening, and outside Cuba - even in Europe, where in 1920 the company established branches in Paris and in Pforzheim, Germany. And in 1928, a significant event took place: the first watch factory Cuervo y Sobrinos appeared in the Swiss La Chaux-de-Fonds, one of the world watchmaking capitals.

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However, jewelry and Havana remained the main ones for some time. Albert Einstein, Ernest Hemingway, Winston Churchill, Enrique Caruso, Clark Gable and many others left vivid memories of the local salons Cuervo y Sobrinos. All of them noted the unique spirit of Havana, fully reflected in the atmosphere of the brand, the spirit of external relaxation (the so-called "slow time" - Tempo Lento) and the internal energy of incredible intensity. This is manifested in everything - in nature, and in music, and in tobacco aromas, and in the glitter of gold and stones ...

Cuervo y Sobrinos perfectly survived both the Spanish-American war of the early XNUMXth century and both world wars, but the Cuban revolution dealt an almost mortal blow to the brand. Sales markets were lost, production ceased, and only sophisticated collectors continued to chase after the few surviving rarities - the historic Cuervo y Sobrinos watches.

But in 1997, enterprising Italian businessmen Luca Muzumeki and Mazio Villa revived the brand, first creating several dealerships, and then a full-fledged watch factory - in Switzerland, on the shores of Lake Lugano, in the exceptional beauty of Capolago. It is characteristic that the building of the factory was built in a specific Caribbean style. Yes, Swiss Made, but originally from Havana!

By the way, the brand's connection with the historical homeland has now been fully restored: in 2009, the brand's mono-boutique and its museum were opened in Havana. And this is not only the aforementioned connection: the designers of Cuervo y Sobrinos continue to put the same spirit of Tempo Lento in their creations, combined with boiling energy. And almost all the inscriptions on Cuervo y Sobrinos watches are made in Spanish.

Finally, the connection with the world of cigars - it has become truly organic! Not only does Cuervo y Sobrinos collaborate with cigar brands such as Partagas, Arturo Fuente, Montecristo, and is the official timekeeper of the world cigar smoking championships.

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Moreover, every piece of Cuervo y Sobrinos watches is packed in a real humidor (cigar box)! These boxes for storing cigars have very strict requirements, and the Cuervo y Sobrinos humidors are fully consistent with them: the cigars in them will not lose quality.

Nowadays, Cuervo y Sobrinos watches are produced in seven collections: Historiador (Historian), Vuelo (Flight), Prominente (Prominent), Robusto (Strong), Pirata (Pirate), Esplendidos (Magnificent) and Señora (Senora, this is a women's watch). All of them, no doubt, belong to the "luxury" class. The assortment of the company also includes humidors, souvenir rollers and notepads.

To illustrate the "tandem" of watches / cigars, we will show the Cuervo y Sobrinos Historiador Tradition watch, released for the 135th anniversary of the brand in an edition of 882 copies. 40-mm steel three-pointer in vintage style, typically Latin American, with lattice engraving frappage on the dial, equipped with an automatic movement CYS 5102, decorated with brand symbols and made in the main "tobacco" color. In 2017, this model, along with several others, took part in the world premiere of the new Montecristo 1935 cigar line, held in Madrid.

Other Swiss watch brands belonging to the “major league” of haute horlogerie also turn to the cigar theme. So, in the brand catalog Zenith the fruits of the partnership with the Cuban company Habanos occupy a prominent place. Among them are the dedications of the Cohiba, Cohiba-Maduro, Trinidad line, and we should especially note the “duet” Romeo Y Julieta Elite Moonphase released in 2020: 40,5-mm Romeo in blue tones and 36-mm Juliet in red and with diamonds. Both models are equipped with a moon phase function in both hemispheres.

Another watch company from the LVMH group is not far behind, namely Hublot... Since 2012, this brand has been collaborating on an ongoing basis with Arturo Fuente, an elite cigar manufacturer, originally Cuban and now Dominican. The first result of the collaboration was the Classic Fusion Fuente Opus X model, released in several limited editions, including masterly decorated with a pattern in the form of tobacco leaves. It was followed by several more tributes to the cigar brand, and in addition, Hublot is actively involved in the work of the Fuente family charitable foundation.

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Watch brand Panerai regularly participates in the Cigar World Tour. The Tourbillons & Cigars event held at the Churchill Club of the luxury Four Seasons hotel in Dubai was a very successful tour. Cigar tasting is accompanied by a presentation of new watches and jazz music.

Let's conclude the review with a few masterpieces of the legendary watch company Jaeger-LeCoultre, spawned by her collaboration with the equally celebrated tobacco brand Dunhill. The rectangular Dunhill Facet watches and the round Dunhill Classic watches were released, each in rose and white gold versions. Dunhill Facet is powered by JLC Caliber 822 automatic movement, Dunhill Classic is powered by JLC Caliber 896.

And the most exotic (and most expensive) example of partnership is the Jaeger-LeCoultre Atmos Clock For Dunhill table clock, powered by minimal temperature extremes. This know-how belongs to the watch brand, and the design of these watches is from tobacco. It reproduces the style of the iconic Dunhill lighters and cigarette cases from the 1930s.

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