Born out of a shared passion for the worlds of watchmaking and premium cigars, the Lonsdale watch and its presentation case are the brainchildren of two seasoned cigar smokers: Scaramanga, co-founder of CronotempVs Collectors international watch collectors club, and Marco Gabella, chairman and publisher of leading online watch magazine Watchonista, and its luxury lifestyle sub-platform The Lounge.

These two watch collectors and “brothers of the leaf” were savoring a couple of Cuban vitolas as part of a virtual cigar “herf” on Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic when they came up with an idea to merge the two worlds that brought them together in a unique manner: collaborating with a watch brand to create a timepiece and presentation case that took cues from the realm of fine cigars. Two years later, the Lonsdale is born.

Made by Cuervo y Sobrinos – the only luxury Swiss watchmaker with Cuban heritage – the Lonsdale is an understated time-only watch oozing vintage appeal thanks to its old-school design, inspired by classic Cuervo y Sobrinos references spawned during Havana’s mid-20th century heyday.

The result is an entirely new design that revisits the Swiss brand’s Cuban legacy from an alternate vantage point: A distinctively shaped 40mm case with prominent lugs in polished stainless steel, paired with textured metallic dials with Alpha hands and period typeface. The Lonsdale comprises three 82-piece, small-batch limited editions, each named after shades of traditional cigar wrapper leaves: Candela, with a silvered and green dial; Claro, with a champagne dial; and Oscuro, with a brown dial. “Uno de 82” is engraved on each caseback.

The Lonsdale is delivered in a versatile presentation case which, like a high-end cigar box, is crafted from Spanish cedar. On the outside, its leatherette cover features a gilded and embossed smoke swirl motif created by acclaimed watch designer Eric Giroud as part of his personal design side project, Somewhere.

Inside, a presentation tray houses the Lonsdale watch and three accessories fit for cigar lovers: a black cigar rest, a black and gilded cigar tube, and a NATO strap that resembles the silk ribbon used to bundle a wheel of quality cigars. The tray can also be removed, allowing the presentation case to be repurposed as a portable vide-poche (or travel case) for storing and transporting watch and cigar accessories, collectibles, or other personal effects.

The Lonsdale watches and the box are limited to 246 examples – 82 pieces for each of the three dials.

Today, Cuervo y Sobrinos operates out of its watchmaking atelier in Capolago, Switzerland. But its story began in 1882 when Don Ramón Fernández Cuervo, having emigrated from Spain to Cuba, established a jewelry boutique in Havana along with his six nephews, or sobrinos in Spanish.

Offering a mix of its own-branded, Swiss-made watches as well as dual-branded watches – made by the likes of Patek Philippe, Rolex, and Longines – Cuervo y Sobrinos went on to enjoy huge success, especially during Havana’s roaring 1950s.

Nowadays, the modern-day brand expresses its “Swiss manufacture, Latin heritage” tagline through its Art Nouveau and Art Deco-styled timepieces. Plus, with their tobacco tones, champagne hues, and flamboyant flashes of color, Cuervo y Sobrinos’ pieces are delivered in watch boxes that can be repurposed as humidors.


Distinctively Shaped Case
One of the first things you notice about the Lonsdale is the distinctive shape of its stainless-steel case, freshly developed for this project. The lugs’ lateral lines are straight and fan out along the caseband, lending the case a slight tonneau profile. However, the case is visually slimmed thanks to step-like grooves cut into the sides at 3 and 9 o’clock – just like on the Tradition back in the day.

While the Tradition’s diameter was around 34mm, the Lonsdale’s is 40mm, that contemporary sweet spot that wears well on most wrists. Lug pin to lug pin, it measures 44.6mm. Apart from these updated dimensions, there are plenty of period details to admire, each a throwback to the mid-20th century.

The case surfaces, for example, have been entirely polished, while the sapphire crystal is double domed in a protruding box style, accounting for 1.9mm of the watch’s overall 10.5mm height. On the caseback, an engraved “coin slot” acts as a nod to the erstwhile system for opening up the back eight decades ago. The Lonsdale’s caseback is actually screwed down, but the screws are concealed in order to remain aesthetically faithful to the original.

Clean, Retro-Styled Dial
The eye-catching case serves as a superb frame for the Lonsdale’s clean, elegant dial, available in three colorways, each named after different shades of capa, i.e., cigar wrapper leaf: Candela, with a silvered dial and green numerals and hour-minute hands; Claro, with a champagne dial and cream numerals and hour-minute hands; and, finally, Oscuro with a brown dial and gilt numerals and hour-minute hands.

Nearly every detail of the visually-balanced dial is in keeping with the historical reference on which it is modeled: The dial plate features a smart vertical brushing, the central hours and minutes are indicated via Alpha hands, and the hour numerals are in a retro, sans serif typeface. Even the Cuervo y Sobrinos Habana logo is presented as it would have been back in the day. Next to the recessed, concentrically decorated small seconds are the words “Unicos Importadores” in reference to Cuervo y Sobrinos’ former status as sole importers of luxury watches in Cuba.

Completing the indications is a printed railroad track around the dial periphery for displaying minutes. And, in a rare touch of modernity, the hour-minute hands, numerals, and dots at 6 and 12 o’clock all feature a colored Super-LumiNova that glows green in the dark for enhanced legibility.

Tried-and-Tested Automatic Movement
Powering the time-only indications is the automatic CYS 5159 calibre which, at its base, is a Sellita SW 261. This Swiss-made workhorse of a movement, with its 38-hour power reserve, guarantees owners tried-and-tested reliability.

Adaptable Calfskin Strap
The Lonsdale is delivered on a hand-stitched brown calfskin strap with a quick-release spring bar and polished stainless-steel pin buckle. Owners will receive two long and two short strap pieces that can be combined to make an overall strap that matches large, medium, or small wrist sizes.

The Lonsdale Name
The Lonsdale watch is named after the premium cigar type of the same name – and with good reason. Like the Lonsdale watch, the Lonsdale cigar is quite slim, typically six to seven inches long and with a ring gauge of 42 to 44. And like the Lonsdale watch, the Lonsdale cigar is evocative of a bygone era, for it was at the height of its popularity among smokers many decades ago.

Presentation Case: Like a Cigar Box, and Bearing the Touch of a Design Master
When owners receive their Lonsdale watch, the experience will be akin to that of receiving a box of limited-edition, premium smokes. That’s because the watch’s presentation case is fashioned in the style of a high-end cigar box.

Crafted from Spanish cedar – known for its ability to lock in moisture, thus helping cigars to age – the case has a leatherette cover decorated with a smoke swirl pattern conceived by none other than Eric Giroud. This celebrated watch designer has started a personal side project – Somewhere – dedicated to his designs for non-watch-related objects. His sinuous, modernist motif for the case of the Lonsdale is Somewhere’s first design commission.

Inside the case, owners will find not only the Lonsdale watch but also three accessories sure to delight cigar fans: a cigar rest, a cigar case, and a NATO watch strap to fit the Lonsdale. Connoisseurs will note the strap’s resemblance to the silk ribbon used to bundle high-end cigars. The case contents are presented on a tray that can be taken out, allowing the case to transform into an attractive vide-poche (or travel case) for storing, protecting, and carrying around accessories, collectibles, and other personal effects.