Cuervo y Sobrinos was the only booth at Baselworld where Cuba Libre was served instead of the standard champagne. Where visitors strolled across lawns rather than wooden flooring. And also where animated conversations in Spanish took place alongside vintage American cars with curves as sweet and soft as the salsa music playing…
It was within this setting pervaded by a gentle way of life that the most Cuban of all Swiss watch companies announced the forthcoming Cuervo y Sobrinos Cup, to be held from June 27th to 30th 2013. Brand owner and CEO Marzio Villa, himself a keen classic car collector, thereby wishes to organise “a traditional car rally, a world apart from those where the only aim is to go as fast as possible and that stop abruptly”. It will feature 60 vintage cars built before 1969 and aiming to cover 500 km along a scenic route leading through the Italian, Swiss and Austrian Alps.
To mark the occasion, the brand has created a series of timepieces intended for the Racing collection. Several models are available, ranging from a split-second chronograph to a GMT model, and endowed with design characteristics unmistakably reminiscent of the radiator grilles on vintage cars. Cuervo y Sobrinos has nonetheless taken pains to use modern materials such as carbon fibre, thereby giving a contemporary look to these timepieces. Each participant will receive one of these models upon entering the competition.
“Our whole life is about races”, says Marzio Villa. “We could choose to take part in all of them, but I think the issue is not about competing in as many as possible, but about choosing the right ones.” This statement is a thinly veiled allusion to his own destiny, and notably to acquiring the rights to the brand and giving it a new lease on life – a race in which he has been engaged for over 15 years and that he continues to drive with the same contagious enthusiasm.
