When the automotive company Lamborghini was sold to Volkswagen Group, the Lamborghini family retained the rights to their name. One family member, Tonino Lamborghini, has been a prolific designer since the early 1980s, starting with wearables like sunglasses, wallets, and watches. Today, he and his eponymous brand continue to produce a wide range of Italian-designed luxury watches and other items. Over the years, I've seen them at watch exhibitions like Baselworld, but I never had the opportunity to examine their watches, which didn't always seem aimed at watch enthusiasts as much as the broader consumer market. However, a new generation of Tonino Lamborghini watches has recently emerged, targeting watch enthusiasts. One of them, the Cuscinetto R ('R' for 'racing'), is the watch I will review today.
Like many Italian instruments, Tonino Lamborghini is a very expressive machine. The design and its features are meant to catch your attention and evoke emotions. It's not a product that can quietly remain just a wristwatch. Instead, the Cuscinetto (meaning 'ball bearing') R watch features a case with skeletonized lugs, a see-through dial, and an authentically rotating bezel with a ball-bearing theme, serving as a cathartic spinner. Tonino Lamborghini states that the Cuscinetto R is inspired by racing motorcycles overall.
The original Tonino Lamborghini Cuscinetto watches didn't have such a fanciful lug design and featured a simpler dial. The Cuscinetto R model improves on the design with an interesting 'bridge' style lug construction, which, like the case, is made of titanium. The titanium case is 42 mm wide (and 12 mm thick with a lug-to-lug distance of about 52 mm), and it wears large yet comfortably. In fact, the comfort of the case is one of the product's main assets. Such a case design is not exclusive to Tonino Lamborghini but is rare in the watch industry. Elite brands like De Bethune have popularized this design, and it draws the eye. The rotating bezel design is fun: polished steel balls (representing ball bearings) are placed on the bezel and the case with black PVD coating.
Despite the originality and interesting design of the case, the watch actually has a sporty character. The titanium case of the Cuscinetto R is water-resistant to 100 meters, and a flat sapphire crystal with AR coating is installed over the dial. Another crystal is placed over the movement, offering a view of it. The movement is a simple three-hand automatic one with a Swiss Made Selitta SW200-1 date, roughly equivalent to the ETA 2824-2 automatic movement. The SW200 operates at a 4 Hz frequency with a power reserve of about two days. In this version, the movement is simple but satisfactory, although I would have liked a little more decoration on the back of the movement. On the dial side, a small part of the movement is polished with mother-of-pearl. In my opinion, it looks so beautiful that I would prefer all the bridge surfaces of the movement to be polished with mother-of-pearl for maximum positive aesthetic effect. As it stands, the transparent dial of the Cuscinetto R is still very cool and well-executed for the price of this piece.
The watch's dial itself may not appeal to everyone, but it features an exquisite level of detail that is easy to appreciate. Around the dial is an inclined flange ring that adds even greater depth and helps perceive the dial as a true instrument. The dial is slightly smoky-colored, with white Arabic numeral hour indices and robust hands made of matte steel. Although, as always, I feel that brands go too far when they skeletonize hands in most cases. I understand why they do it (to create a more unified skeletonized theme), but I believe that in most cases, skeletonizing hands harms legibility without offering any aesthetic improvements.
The case is attached to a very beautiful strap, a design that exemplifies what the Tonino Lamborghini brand is about. The tapering shape with a bright orange rubber insert suggests elegant lines and vibrant colors. Tonino Lamborghini also supplies a rubber strap with the Cuscinetto R watch, which is probably best suited for sporting activities, for which these watches can well be used (as well as for stylish cocktail watches).
Tonino Lamborghini mechanical watches aesthetically differ greatly from many quartz models that have long been part of the brand's heritage. These automatic-winding mechanical models are clearly intended for seasoned watch collectors; their design and theme align more with the world of traditional watch collecting than, say, Italian fashion. Nevertheless, the Cuscinetto R watches are unapologetically Italian in concept and form, which one can either love or hate. Personally, the overall design of the watch seemed a bit odd to me in photos, but after I put it on my wrist, I really liked the watch. These are not watches I would wear every day, but like a loud pair of shoes or a jacket, everyone should have at least a few pieces in their collection. The price for the Reference TLF-T02-3 Cuscinetto R watch in black with orange accents is 3,120 USD. To learn more or to order, visit the Tonino Lamborghini website.
Necessary Data
>Brand: Tonino Lamborghini
>Model: Cuscinetto R reference TLF-T02-3
>Price: 3,120 USD
>Size: 42 mm wide, 12 mm thick, lug-to-lug distance ~52 mm.
>When personally I’d wear it: When I want to attract public attention while wearing expressive sports watches that are fun to tinker with.
>Friend we’d recommend them first: An enthusiast of Italian fashion and the world of motorsports, especially those who love the Lamborghini name and heritage.
>Best characteristic of the watch: Well-conceived original concept. Unique ball-bearing-inspired design. Very expressive composition with a readable dial and overall integrity.
>Worst characteristic of the watch: Design not for everyone. The movement could have been more decorated.