Daniel Humm — watch collection

About Daniel Humm’s watch collection

Daniel Humm is the Swiss-born chef and restaurateur widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in contemporary fine dining. He serves as the executive chef and co-owner of Eleven Madison Park in New York City, a restaurant that has held three Michelin stars for over a decade and ranked number one on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list in 2017. Born in Zurich and trained in Switzerland before making his name in the United States, Humm built his reputation on technically precise, produce-driven cooking that draws as much from classical European tradition as it does from his adopted city. In 2021, he made international headlines when he relaunched Eleven Madison Park as a fully plant-based restaurant — a decision that cemented his reputation as someone willing to sacrifice commercial safety for a clearly defined point of view.

That same clarity of vision appears to carry over into the Daniel Humm watch collection. With one confirmed sighting on record, the picture is focused rather than broad, but what the sighting reveals is telling. Humm was photographed at the kitchen pass wearing an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Extra-Thin Tourbillon in stainless steel, reference 26510ST.OO.1220ST.01. The watch is powered by Calibre 2924, AP's manually wound ultra-thin tourbillon movement, and retails well into six figures. Choosing stainless steel over precious metal keeps the watch grounded in the Royal Oak's original Gerald Genta-designed, sports-watch DNA, even as the tourbillon complication places it firmly at the top of the manufacture's technical hierarchy.

Wearing a reference 26510ST at the pass rather than saving it for a red carpet says something concrete about how Humm relates to his possessions. This is not a watch kept in a box for the right occasion — it is worn in one of the most demanding physical environments imaginable, which is either a mark of genuine attachment or a very deliberate lack of preciousness about objects. Either interpretation fits the profile of a chef who has consistently made decisions based on conviction rather than expectation.