Hamptons, New York in the summer. Wealthy socialites languish until the next high-society event beckons their attendance with promises of culinary delights and an excuse to dress up. This was the scene on July 25th at the Chefs & Champagne event as organized by the James Beard Foundation. The annual gala celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Four Seasons Restaurant with over 30 chefs from around the nation cooking up American delicacies for the attendees.
The goal of the event is to promote American cuisine as well as raise money for culinary education financial aid. The gala included a silent auction to which Bell & Ross donated a BRS watch, in addition to being a sponsor of the event. I know watch companies Blancpain often co-mingle with culinary events and now Bell & Ross is taking part of the action. Being associated with events such as these which tend to draw upon high net worth participants makes for choice marketing grounds allowing potential customers to check out what is new from the brand in person. The ceramic unisex BRS watch was the main attraction for Bell & Ross being a more formal (and “pretty”) version of the BR01 watch line. The BRS comes in a very thin and square white or black ceramic case with a quartz movement. I believe that Bell & Ross initially had planned to use a manually wound mechanical movement but opted for the more practical quartz movement instead. As you can see, the watch is available with diamond decor around the bezel.
To show off the timepieces, Bell & Ross apparently hired a few people to stroll around in olive green flight suits - recalling the instrumental nature of most of the brand’s timepieces. The people certainly stood out, but likely confused many of the Chef & Champagne gala guests who probably assumed that watch trays they were carrying around actually had some type of military themed hors d’oeuvres. Watches are nice, but you can’t eat them, even at a culinary event.
Tags: Bell & Ross, James Beard —