Carlo Cracco — watch collection

About Carlo Cracco’s watch collection

Carlo Cracco is one of Italy's most recognizable chefs, holding Michelin stars and building a reputation that extends well beyond the kitchen. Born in Vicenza in 1965, he trained under Gualtiero Marchesi and later worked with Alain Ducasse before forging his own path. His flagship restaurant, Cracco, located inside Milan's historic Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, represents the pinnacle of his culinary career — a bold move that drew both admiration and scrutiny when it opened in 2018. Alongside his restaurant work, Cracco has become a familiar face on Italian television through his appearances on MasterChef Italia, bringing fine-dining culture to a mainstream audience.

The Carlo Cracco watch collection, as captured in our sightings database, reflects a taste for technically ambitious Swiss watchmaking with a clear Italian sensibility. He has been photographed wearing a Richard Mille RM 11-01 Roberto Mancini Flyback Chronograph, a reference that carries particular cultural weight given its connection to Italian football and its Swiss engineering credentials. The RM 11-01 runs on the calibre RACS3, a skeletonized automatic movement that combines a flyback chronograph, GMT second time zone, and annual calendar — a dense complication stack housed in Richard Mille's characteristically lightweight, tonneau-shaped case. Cracco has also been spotted wearing pieces from Omega, a brand that occupies a very different register but shares the same commitment to mechanical precision.

What the collection suggests, even with just two confirmed sightings in our database, is a collector who gravitates toward watches with a functional backbone rather than purely decorative appeal. The RM 11-01 is not the most understated choice — it is an expensive, visually complex piece — but it is also genuinely useful as a travel and timing instrument, which fits the schedule of someone running a high-profile restaurant while maintaining a media presence. Cracco appears to treat watches as tools with character, not simply as accessories.