Cuervo y Sobrinos

Cuervo y Sobrinos carries one of the most romantically layered histories in watchmaking — a story that begins not in Switzerland but in colonial Havana. In 1862, Ramón Fernández Cuervo, an immigrant from Asturias in northern Spain, opened a jewellery store on the Calle de la Amistad. Twenty years later, in 1882, six nephews — Don Baldomero, Don Teodomiro, Don José María, Don Armando, Don Plácido, and Don Lisardo — joined him to form the firm officially known as Cuervo y Sobrinos ('Cuervo and Nephews'), operating from the Calle del Teniente Rey. The business prospered across the early twentieth century, moving to larger premises as Havana grew into one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the hemisphere. By 1920 the firm had opened a purchasing office in Pforzheim, Germany, for exclusive stones, and a jewellery trading office in Paris. In the 1940s its reputation had spread across the American continent, and by the 1950s its boutique had become a required stop for some of the most distinguished visitors in the world: Enrico Caruso, Winston Churchill, Albert Einstein, Clark Gable, Ernest Hemingway, and Pablo Neruda were among those recorded as clients. That era ended abruptly in 1965, when the boutique was nationalised by the Cuban government; the brand continued producing military watches for the Cuban army during its involvement in Angola, then went dormant.

In 1997, Luca Musumeci and Marzio Villa revived the Cuervo y Sobrinos name and launched a new era from Switzerland, exhibiting at Baselworld for the first time in 2002 and unveiling the Espléndidos, Prominente, and Torpedo collections. In 2005, the brand introduced its first in-house chronograph, the CYS 2450. In 2008, Cuervo y Sobrinos established its permanent headquarters and atelier on the shore of Lake Lugano in Capolago, in the Swiss canton of Ticino — where the brand's designers and watchmakers draw inspiration from the brand's Art Deco heritage and the aesthetic richness of the Havana era. In 2009, a museum and boutique opened in central Havana's historic district, reconnecting the brand with its origins. The company was acquired by a team of watchmaking-industry investors in 2018; in 2025, Marco Longhi and Mario Girardi became Owners and Partners.

The Capolago atelier operates with the complete process under one roof: design, watchmaking, assembly, and quality control carried out by a single team working with both modern CNC precision and traditional artisanal techniques, with quality controls applied from receipt of raw materials through to the moment a finished watch is boxed. Each collection draws on the brand's dual identity — Swiss watchmaking rigour, Cuban soul. The current range spans ten lines: the Historiador, Hemingway Collection, Prominente, Robusto, Esplendidos, Churchill, Buceador, Chronograph, Primera Dama (the ladies' line), and Exclusive Selected Pieces. One of Cuervo y Sobrinos' most distinctive practices is its packaging: every watch is delivered not in a conventional box but in a handcrafted cedar humidor — the same wood used for fine Havana cigars — complete with a hygrometer to monitor humidity. Three humidor formats exist, scaled by watch value, with no adhesives used anywhere in the construction so as not to affect the scent or taste of any cigars stored alongside the timepiece.