The chefs' watches

Text Britta Rossander

That guys like watches is no secret, nor that many chefs are particularly fond of their timekeepers. During the thirty-five years I have written about watches the use has changed. The quality of the watches you see on wrists has gone up and the willingness to show it off has increased. Eqotime’s Britta Rossander has taken a look at what some of our best chefs have on their wrists.

To know a lot about watches as a woman has sometimes been double-edged. It is a wonderful way of being able to break a dull barrier with a dinner companion by praising the watch he is wearing. Usually it then just bubbles out of his mouth about why that one in particular, what is cool about it and what is next on the wish list. If I can also spice it up with a bit of storytelling about the brands that are on his particular list, the rest of the dinner sitting is a sheer pleasure. On the other hand, in certain contexts it can produce reactions like: what does she think she is, does she think she knows something… and in the worst case I do know just that and at the same time can catch the other party out with incorrect information.

Then I am in a tricky spot and in those particular contexts it has not got any better from me getting older – is the old lady now going to come here and come with a comment again…

But if you are as professionally deformed as I am and have the bad habit of, instead of looking the person in the eye when shaking hands, staring at what is sitting on the wrist, funny situations can arise. And you remember what you have seen.

That Erik Lallerstedt is fond of watches and happily wears Jaeger-LeCoultre is no secret. Surely nobody forgets when, in the food programme for TV3, in the very early 1990s, he cooks together with the journalist and author Torsten Jungstedt and on camera stands a lobster on its head, with the watch on his wrist.

Rikard Nilsson's Breitling

There is surely nobody either who could miss that one of the first TV chefs Rikard Nilsson wore his Breitling with pride. I remember so well when he turned up on the screen. He was big, good-looking, cooked good food and wore a substantial chronograph in steel and gold (which very often was in shot) with a leather strap on his wrist.

I called Rikard a few years ago to ask if he still wears the same watch.

– Yes the favourite is always along, he reports happily and wonders how I can remember it in such detail. The professional deformation had struck again…

I have also seen that it has changed over the years. Among other things it has been upgraded with UTC, a metal bracelet and a new case ring. I also happen to know that it was bought at Krons in 1989 and I ask Margareta Rydbeck, former shop manager but still responsible for Breitling, if she remembers the watch.

– Is it that one with the wine-red dial. Who bought it I don't quite remember but I remember the watch so well.

I Rikard to photograph the watch and send pictures (which he was kind enough to do) so that I – and you – can see what it looks like today.

Rikard started a trend and after him came many chefs with a clearly visible watch on TV. Leif Mannerström too went for a Breitling, one in gold with a leather strap that we have seen in many contexts. However I have also spotted a Corum on his wrist. Not so strange since Bergströms Ur in Gothenburg for a time had a really good range of Corum's new watches, now the brand is only in their range for ”pre owned watches”.

The watch lover Johan Jureskog

Johan Jureskog at AG too has a clearly visible and quite hot relationship with watches. At a presentation for White Guide many years ago I was introduced by Electrolux's PR person at the time to a tall man. I stared fixedly at his wrist and saw a Franck Müller. At the time that was a very different choice for a young Swedish guy. As usual I commented on the choice of watch and we ended up in a pleasant conversation which later resulted in an interview for 00/24 Watchworld. On his wish list at the time was an IWC Pilot (a brand that Björn Franzén has also been seen wearing).

An IWC it became and it was then seen in many TV programmes. Johan's collection has grown since then and one eye-catching purchase is an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore.

Johan describes his interest in watches in the following way:

– It is sort of love at first sight, then I just have to strike! Always big rascals though. I don't sell off or buy vintage, I want to make my own patina, it is a lifelong marriage once I have struck.

SVT

In recent years not so many watches have been seen on the TV screen. So I ask SVT if they have any rule to do with hygiene or similar and this is the answer I got:

”As far as we know there is no such rule that a chef should or should not have a watch. However SVT has strict rules about what is visible on camera since we are not allowed to expose brands. It may also be that watches are no longer as common since many people nowadays use their phone as a time indicator”.

That is not how I think it is! The expensive watches are selling more than ever and the truth probably lies closer to what Johan says. Namely that: ”The productions don't usually like it!”

Perhaps because the chefs' personal watch choices can compete with possible advertising sales for the programmes…