Oh you want a journey do you?
I’m going to skip to adulthood here…
I bought an Apple Watch as the first thing to regularly adorn my wrist (a common refrain) around 2015 I guess. I was working as a chef in a great French bistro in San Francisco. I eventually tired of the Apple Watch as it tired of me. The one I had went through problems and repair and more problems and pandemic happened and I just didn’t need it much more. I was gifted a Shinola Runwell that I was totally in love with but couldn’t wear it to work as it’s surely going to get destroyed banging into something or getting burned or some crap… kitchen are violent spaces. It is a cool looking watch but I just didn’t know much about watches.
In early 2022 I took a job at a very well known San Francisco restaurant but not as a cook or chef or sous chef, as the expeditor. Most restaurants have the chef or a sous chef expedite (expo) in my experience so it’s a task I had a lot of experience with and knew I’d be good at. It would also mark my first time as a member of the treacherous Front of House Staff, typically a criminal syndicate (cooks aren’t angels but tend to be more honest ‘salt of the earth’ types) in most restaurants. Being a part of this staff I had to now wear a suit to work. I work in the kitchen but wasn’t cooking so I could wear my lovely shinola, and tracking times in a kitchen is quite important for an expo so the Shinola was immediately a necessary tool. The gentleman who was training me was a bit of a douche and wore a big ass Hublot Big Bang. I didn’t feel too strongly about wanting a Hublot but between that and my Shinola I thought maybe I’d like a mechanical watch.
That’s when the internet got involved. That’s when I started looking online at videos of microbrands and pricing out stuff I’d never buy and all the nonsense we do. The first mechanical (automatic) watch was my Brew Retromatic, and like a lot of collectors it was followed by a lot of watches real quick. Very shortly after that Brew was on my wrist I got to go to SF Windup and see all sorts of cool stuff! Saw my CW Aquitaine unveiled at Windup and ordered one, and that was my first watch eeking into ‘real money.’
The day after my 40th birthday Tudor rolled out the Ranger and I was smitten. By November I was ready to buy one, had to get on a wait list (wtf?!) and on New Year’s Eve the AD called me in to grab it (which seemed more about hitting yearly sales numbers but if it was a day later it would cost a couple hundred more so whatever). I have come to have about 20 watches. A couple are super cheap digitals, the obligatory CasiOak, a handful of gifts/inherited pieces, the five or so I’ve bought for deals on eBay, and of course the five or six I truly chose and hunted down. In full honesty this Ranger really may be the one for me. I don’t need a dive bezel, I don’t love all the super high polish stuff. I have little use for a stopwatch, I dont want to get mugged on the train (I still ride daily) because my fluted bezel is obviously worth a lot of money, I just want an accurate mechanical watch on a perfect bracelet that I can wear with anything.
Tudor Ranger, the un-black bay. I think Lady Gaga has one.
Ok, I can’t believe anyone would read this drivel, @foghorn is right, this is dumb and I’m dumber for having done it. I’m tagging @thorhodes with his little calculator guy! Your turn kid. It is 8:50am Pacific standard time when I post this.
Restaurant folk. Exploring the realms.
Great journey…why is it Hublots are always worn by D-bags without fail? For me, one of my bosses wears a Panerai Luminor and I swear I will never wear one of those even if I can afford it.
Addendum,
@Aurelian I’m kidding on the dumb part, better yet, it’s a bit dumb but I still enjoy it and appreciate all the nonsense of it all.
Addendum,
@Aurelian I’m kidding on the dumb part, better yet, it’s a bit dumb but I still enjoy it and appreciate all the nonsense of it all.
It is all stuff and nonsense.
Why are you on Standard Time?
Why are you on Standard Time?
Ha… right, y’all know what I mean. The time currently in California.
Our watch collecting journey…
So many comments.
Back of the house are clearly the criminals. At least in the low end restaurants where I worked. And I mean that literally, the main chef at the first restaurant where I worked actually had spiderwebs tattooed on his elbows from his time in the clink.
What fancy pants restaurant are you working in now?!?! The only one I know on SF is Harris’ (I think that is the name of the famous steakhouse that has its own bourbon).
The Ranger really is so freaking good! I wear this one most out of all my watches. Simple, comfortable. It’s the ish
Great post 🙂
I had to smile about your description about the Hublot douchebag! And the Tudor Ranger is really really really beautiful in (or because) its utmost simplicity.
I agree the Ranger is a great watch. I had one for a short while but ended up selling it. Eventually I would like to get one again.
Thank you for fanning the flames of desire — I want a Tudor so bad. Love them all.
So many comments.
Back of the house are clearly the criminals. At least in the low end restaurants where I worked. And I mean that literally, the main chef at the first restaurant where I worked actually had spiderwebs tattooed on his elbows from his time in the clink.
What fancy pants restaurant are you working in now?!?! The only one I know on SF is Harris’ (I think that is the name of the famous steakhouse that has its own bourbon).
The Ranger really is so freaking good! I wear this one most out of all my watches. Simple, comfortable. It’s the ish
Great post 🙂
So… we’re all fairly crooked I suppose but in fancier places the servers all feel like swindlers (selling anyone a $5000 bottle of wine just seems like a crime but what do I know?) whereas the cooks are from culinary schools or in the US on J1 visas to work at fancy restaurants (I don’t understand why but it’s happening). When I was a young cook, you’re right, most us cooks were not exactly model citizens. A lot of that kitchen culture gets pretty sanitized in Michelin starred places these days and you have a group of bright eyed and bushy tailed would be professionals (who lack a lot of basic skills but that’s a different story).
As to what restaurant I work in I’m going to keep that to myself for now but it’s been in the city for a while and we just got our Michelin star award from 2022 in the mail last week! It’s not Harris.’
Not exactly the coolest trophy but we earned it.
So… we’re all fairly crooked I suppose but in fancier places the servers all feel like swindlers (selling anyone a $5000 bottle of wine just seems like a crime but what do I know?) whereas the cooks are from culinary schools or in the US on J1 visas to work at fancy restaurants (I don’t understand why but it’s happening). When I was a young cook, you’re right, most us cooks were not exactly model citizens. A lot of that kitchen culture gets pretty sanitized in Michelin starred places these days and you have a group of bright eyed and bushy tailed would be professionals (who lack a lot of basic skills but that’s a different story).
As to what restaurant I work in I’m going to keep that to myself for now but it’s been in the city for a while and we just got our Michelin star award from 2022 in the mail last week! It’s not Harris.’
Not exactly the coolest trophy but we earned it.
Yeah, I only worked real fine dining once in my life back when I was in college in Charleston S.C. I was a back waiter (had never heard of such a position until then) at this tiny, but super swanky hotel restaurant right on the Charleston waterfront.
All the front of the house staff there were legit white collar criminals. It was a fun time but there was no way I was cut out for that industry.
And that’s a big deal, congrats! The Ranger is in good company there.
I’m torn about the Ranger. If there was a watch that might ever stop my cycle of fall out of interest with the SARB017 > buy new strap > commence new honeymoon period, it might be the Ranger.
Addiction can be a problem for workers in the restaurant industry. Yours seems better than most.
If You can do a croque Madame Royale You can do anything.
I also have a Christopher Ward C65 Aquitaine. I love it!
Awesome read. I feel like a dive bezel would be useful for someone who needs to control the tempo of things but maybe it's more about cadence rather than the precise timing of things.
With regards to fine dining in SF, my wife and I went to Lazy Bear a few years back, it was definitely an experience.
Wonderful write-up! I enjoyed th le read. Seems like a great watch for your job, style, and life. I wasn’t a big fan of this Ranger when it came out but it has really grown on me. I’m sticking with my blue 58, but I hope to see one in person soon!
Awesome read. I feel like a dive bezel would be useful for someone who needs to control the tempo of things but maybe it's more about cadence rather than the precise timing of things.
With regards to fine dining in SF, my wife and I went to Lazy Bear a few years back, it was definitely an experience.
I’ll wear my diver to work and it’ll come in handy from time to time for sure.