If you haven't binged season three of The Bear yet, you should probably do that ASAP – especially if you're into watches. There are multiple scenes across the last ten episodes where the camera is so close to the dials of some watches, you can't help but check them out. And all that was done on purpose.
“The reason for the watches and the close-ups is because the entire show is based on time: every second counts,” says Laura Roeper, the Chicago-based prop master who has worked on the series since the beginning. “It's all about the crunch that the chefs in the kitchen feel, especially with fine dining.”
If you watch The Bear frame-by-frame, you'll notice the many clocks in and around Carmy's space. Whether it's in the kitchen or in a restaurant or even in someone's home, you'll find one or two (or three) secured firmly to the wall. But in the latest season, that's changed a little.
“In fine dining culture and in chef culture, watches are actually a huge thing,” says Roeper over Zoom. “They're a status symbol. First of all, a lot of chefs have watches that kind of say, 'I've arrived, I've done it, look what I've got.' The second thing is time. They're looking at it all-day, everyday. Literally every second counts, so their watch is also a tool.”
In most high-end fine dining establishments, you're not going to have 15 kitchen timers going off when you have eight chefs preparing a dish. So, for a professional, their watch is not really an accessory—it's something they wear to time things. It's part of their functionality.”
But watches are also used to mark a particular character's professional trajectory. The Bear's pastry chef Marcus Brooks (played by Lionel Boyce), wears a vintage G-Shock at the start of the series. But in later episodes, when he's starting to take the whole thing more seriously, he upgrades to the Tissot Gentleman Powermatic 80.
“That was him stepping up a little bit and kind of refining his style and his taste,” says Roeper. “The way he goes about things, there's a lot of elegance to him. But we wanted to get him something that was aspirational but not ridiculous. We really wanted color for him because he's got style, so that's why we settled on the green face. We were going to do a blue face, but that's so common. Also, the price point is under $1,000. It's something that people would get and it's something that would maybe catch his eye after he retired his G-Shock.”
Luca, the pastry chef that Marcus aspires to (played by Will Poulter), also makes a brief cameo. While he never wore a watch in the past, he had the Omega Seamaster Aqua Terra on for the latest episodes. “So now his game has changed too, because he wears it when all the chefs reunite at Ever, so that was really exciting.”
Speaking of Ever, something happens to the restaurant of chef Andrea Terry (played by Olivia Colman) in the season. In one shot, she clinks her glass against her Rolex Submariner to get everyone's attention. “[Showrunner] Chris [Storer] and I talked about it a lot, and the interesting behind-the-scenes on that is that it's actually a men's Submariner,” says Roeper. “Olivia's wrists are so small that we actually had to have it fitted three times, and it's really hard to fit a Rolex to somebody.”
But it just had to fit perfectly, because Chef Terry's Rolex was more than just a status symbol or a plot device; it was a very deliberate choice that was inspired by the actual industry itself. In season three, plenty of real-life, legendary chefs make an appearance. They're all world-famous in their own right, and all of them have a Rolex.
Look to the first episode of this season. We're treated to a lovely montage of Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller mentoring Carmy during his sapling years. It's surprisingly calm and candid. But look closer, and there's Boulud's GMT Master and Keller's Daytona. “They're two of the biggest chefs internationally, and they both have those watches on everyday. Those are their own watches.”
And that's where the watch language of The Bear speaks universally. No matter the industry, the profession, or the trajectory, a Rolex is often a self-gifted trophy—code for “you've made it” no matter how many pounds, friends, or G-Shocks you've sacrificed along the way.
This story originally appeared on British GQ with the title ‘In ‘The Bear’ season 3, the chefs' watches are silent symbols of stress and status’