I recently wrote about chef Mario Batali and the special Ernst Benz Chronoscope for in his honor/image. A lot of people felt very strongly about it. Some people liked it, some people didn’t, but most sorta voiced a general dissent of Mario Batali himself. Well, the man does use lots of butter and oil in his cooking, but the orange watch done for him by Ernst Benz wasn’t half bad. Mario Batali isn’t the only celebrity chef to wear an Ernst Benz watch. One of my favorite TV chefs also has one, and can be seen wearing it his show on the Travel Channel, “No Reservations.” I am of course talking about New Yorker Anthony Bourdain.

He looks cool and eats just about anything. That is basically his shtick. Others have come after him to do the same, but no one is as suave about it, or seems to actually enjoy what they are eating quite like Tony. In addition to cooking, traveling, writing, and being on TV, Mr. Bourdain might also be one of us – a watch lover. Hard to say how he came to own his Ernst Benz watch, but it does fit with the world travel theme of his Emmy-nominated show.

He has a black dialed Ernst Benz ChronoFlite Word Timer watch on the steel bracelet. Ernst Benz watches on a metal bracelet are the most rare it seems. The ChronoFlite World Timer is 47mm wide in steel and has a Swiss automatic mechanical GMT movement – likely an ETA 2893-2. The watch also comes with a white dial and a legion of leather strap options. I think it looks pretty handsome with the bracelet. Plus, Tony likes it that way.

The watch has a world timer complication which is a city ring that is operated with the crown at 10 o’clock. You then use the GMT hand (which is well designed by the way) to read the time in that other timezone. The ETA 2893-2 movement makes it easy to set the GMT hand as it can be adjusted in perfect one hour increments. Ernst Benz is further quick to point out that using the special indicators on the rotating inner ring, one can see take into consideration daylight savings time when reading the time in a given city. Since Anthony has been wearing his ChronoFlite World Timer watch throughout the show, he most likely enjoys it. A good sign from a well-regarded food personality. Then again, he is the guy that will eat just about anything. Food for thought.

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