Watchmaking and gastronomy have many things in common. They are both artisanal professions. Both demand extreme precision and work to the highest standard. And both bring nothing but pleasure. This explains why so many chefs are swelling the ranks of ambassadors representing the most prestigious Manufactures. We got the inside gen on this connection by asking nine leading chefs and pastry chefs the same question: “In your opinion, why are so many watchmakers forging a connection with the culinary world and choosing chefs as their partners and ambassadors?”
Here’s what they had to say…
Jaeger-LeCoultre - Nina Métayer
“We both want to create an experience for our customers. Gastronomy is a pleasant end to a quiet moment spent discovering a world. Together we tell stories bound by a love of detail. Patiently, carefully, we create something beautiful. When artisans are driven by the same desire to awaken the emotions, it’s natural that they should gravitate one towards the other.”
Nina Métayer was named Pastry Chef of the Year in 2016 by Le Chef magazine and in 2017 by Gault et Millau. She is renowned for the originality, artistry and exceptional flavours of her pastry creations. By exploring new territories, she has transformed pâtisserie into an art form.
She wears a manual-winding Reverso Classic Medium Thin in steel, CHF 8,600.
Zenith - Matthieu Dupuis-Baumal
“I find the relationship between gastronomy and watchmaking extremely coherent. Chefs have never been more in the spotlight, showing what their profession involves, the demands it makes and the many stages that precede the ultimate goal of excellence. The values they represent are the values of watchmaking: working with meticulosity and an eye for detail to reach one’s goal, one’s star.”
Matthieu Dupuis-Baumal has the physique of a rugby player, a personality of his own and a Michelin star. He heads the kitchen at Château de la Gaude near Aix-en-Provence. Taking inspiration from his many travels, particularly in Asia, he revisits classic French dishes. His creativity takes diners on a subtle and refined culinary voyage.
He wears an automatic Defy Extreme chronograph in carbon and titanium on a rubber strap, CHF 24,900.
Omega – Thierry Marx
“Cooking and watchmaking are both a symbiosis of excellence and the highest expectations. Chefs are impacted by time. A chef must master techniques and know how to control temperature and time. The time it takes to produce something, which is what makes him a professional, but also seasonal time. A chef cannot work without a clock or a watch, and so it makes sense that cookery should resonate with watchmaking.”
Thierry Marx, a top-level judoka, Gault & Millau Chef of the Year 2006, two Michelin stars, is known for his molecular gastronomy. A media personality, he was a judge for several seasons of the French cookery show Top Chef.
He wears a manual-winding Speedmaster chronograph in steel, CHF 7,500.
Cartier - Cédric Grolet
“I feel very proud that watchmakers are making this choice and choosing this positioning. A watchmaker’s work is about precision and perfectionism. The job of a pastry chef also demands precision and creativity. I think there are many similarities, a lot of common ground, between the two.”
Cédric Grolet, head pastry chef at Le Meurice in Paris, was named World’s Best Pastry Chef in 2018 and has the most social media followers of his profession. He is famous for his trompe-l’œil cakes in the form of fruit.
He wears an automatic skeleton Pasha in DLC steel, CHF 27,900.
Bell & Ross - Julien Dugourd
“Watchmaking and pâtisserie have many commonalities. Both require a particular skillset, technique and creativity. Also, chefs rely on precision timekeeping when making their culinary creations. Time is central to gastronomy and pâtisserie. Certain watch brands have forged a partnership with chefs as both sectors demand care, attention to detail and manual expertise.”
Julien Dugourd is one of the highest-profile pastry chefs of his generation. His pastry is elegant, contemporary and colourful, while his desserts are light and sweet but never sugary, with multiple textures. This summer he is opening two new pastry shops, in Paris and in Nice.
He wears a manual-winding BR01 Cyber Skull in bronze, CHF 11,100.
Hublot – Anne-Sophie Pic
“I think watchmaking and cookery have many common denominators. Careful selection of materials, a legacy of artisanal skills and the passion to create beauty that will spark emotion. Both are worlds of innovation where men and women take their creativity to new levels through exploration and daring. Chefs and artisan watchmakers work to achieve the perfect balance between past, present and future materials, to find harmony between traditional techniques and innovation. Chefs and watchmakers represent a heritage. In our own way, we are writing a page in the history of gastronomy, in the history of watchmaking, with humility and a great deal of passion.”
Instinctive and intuitive, Anne-Sophie Pic is a self-taught chef who favours unconventional flavours and unloved or forgotten ingredients. She has cookery in her blood and creativity in her heart. With three Michelin stars to her credit since 1997, she has the most stars of any female chef in the world: a total of ten for her restaurants in Valence***, London**, Lausanne**, Mégève*, Singapore* and Paris*.
She wears an automatic Big Bang in steel and diamonds, CHF 14,900.
Blancpain - Glen Viel
“Chefs have been getting significantly more media exposure in recent years. There are now celebrity chefs, a phenomenon amplified by the popularity of TV cookery shows. I understand that brands should have seized the opportunity to associate their image with the positive image chefs enjoy. I personally appreciate the authenticity of an approach built on common values of precision, excellence, attention to detail, respect for raw materials and a terroir, and passing skills on for the future.”
Glen Viel, chef at L'Oustau de Baumanière in Les Baux-de-Provence, three Michelin stars, is an advocate for sustainable cuisine. His restaurant has its own hives, an educational farm and grows its own organic vegetables using compost produced from kitchen waste. He has also introduced an innovative technique that replaces salt with seasoning sticks.
He wears an automatic Fifty Fathoms in titanium, CHF 15,900.
Audemars Piguet - Emmanuel Renaut
“Our professions come together on many levels. We produce beautiful things and precision is part of our every day. The watchmaker’s precision is measured in seconds, mine is measured in degrees. We are workmen and women. Before a chef is capable of presenting a gastronomic dish, they must have thousands of hours of practice behind them. The same is true of a watchmaker producing a complication.”
Emmanuel Renaut, three Michelin stars, learned his craft alongside such influential chefs as Yves Candeborde, Eric Frechon, Christian Constant and Yves Thuriès. Nicknamed the “King of Mégève” since opening Flocons de Sel, he now signs the cuisine served at Hôtel des Horlogers in Vallée de Joux. He is part of the new generation of chefs whose imaginative use of local produce is reinventing cuisine du terroir.
He wears an automatic Royal Oak Jumbo in steel, CHF 31,300.
Breitling – Juan Arbelaez
“I think it comes down to the similarity between cookery and watchmaking. Time is a key element when producing and serving a dish. You establish a certain rhythm in the kitchen so that every stage of preparation becomes perfectly synchronised. Precision is vital, exactly as it is in watchmaking. Also, like cookery, watchmaking is a profession that demands enormous attention to detail and the drive to produce painstaking work. As someone who is acutely aware of the importance of time and precision when cooking, these similarities explain why these two professions can complement each other harmoniously. For me, every dish is like a watch. It must be prepared with immense care and presented accordingly. I think watchmakers have realised this, which is why they want to partner with chefs, to promote their know-how and their passion for quality and perfection.”
Juan Arbelaez, a Paris-based Colombian chef who trained at the Cordon Bleu culinary school, opened his first restaurant in 2013. Projects have followed in quick succession, both on television, as a culinary commentator, and in the kitchen. Bazurto, one of his several restaurants in Paris, serves Colombian cuisine to share in laidback surroundings.
He wears an automatic Navitimer B01 chronograph in steel, CHF 8,750.
