Antoni Porowski Is a Proper Omega Watch Fan
The world of “brand ambassadors” isn’t what it used to be. In years past, the formula was simple; get the product on the biggest name you can, take some splashy photos, and call it a day. These days the formula is vastly more complex. Yes, some brands still ascribe to the old model, but far more often luxury brands are looking for celebs of all shapes and sizes that are genuinely interested in and excited about its products. This exactly what Omega Watches found in its partnership with the famed Canadian cook, model, author, and Queer Eye host Antoni Porowski.
Catching up with Porowski virtually a couple of weeks back, we took a moment to discuss his fascination with watches, with Omega, and where it all started.
It wouldn’t be a watch world interview without asking this — what Omega are you wearing today?
I’ve been wearing the new Bond Seamaster for a while now. I took it off of the mesh bracelet it comes with, as I’ve been obsessed with NATO straps lately. I wouldn’t dare put it on one other than the (Omega) one it comes with, but this watch is easily my new obsession. I’m starting to build out a proper collection, but I tend to wear one for two to three months, and then when I want to switch it up I put it in the safe and take another one out. For now this one is really still my baby. I do switch out if I have to be out in a suit or something, although this would make me feel very James Bond wearing it under a suit cuff.
Do you recall where your interest in watches got started? Was there a seminal moment in your life that sparked it all?
I would say that there were two. I was a kid and I was watching tv with the whole family on a Friday night — oh gosh, I’m dating myself right now — it was 20/20 with Hugh Downs and Barbara Walters, and there was a commercial for the Swatch Irony. I remember the orchestral tune from the commercial playing in my mind, and thinking how badly I wanted one. They didn’t get me an Irony, but they ended up getting me this blue oceanic-inspired Swatch shortly thereafter that I wore all the time.
The second moment came shortly after I had decided I didn’t want to work in restaurants any more and that I wanted to have a “normal” or classic nine-to-six job. I started working as a gallery director, and I knew that I was due for my first proper watch, so I found an old Omega Constellation from 1952 or 1953, with a black dial. I swapped it onto a nice new Cordovan black leather band for it. To me, it kind of felt like a symbol of me having a proper job, moving away from that nightlife, and becoming a responsible human being, so to speak.
From there, how did you come to be an Omega ambassador?
Someone on their team reached out through either my publicist or my agent, because they had noticed that I wore that same Omega Constellation every day of the first two seasons of Queer Eye when we were filming in Atlanta — there were a lot of cooking demos with closeups where you could see the watch, so someone on their team clocked it.
They invited me to the Fifth Avenue flagship store (in New York), and I way overstayed my welcome. It was supposed to be a short little tour, but I made them open up every drawer in the place, and show me everything they possibly had. And then I was gifted the stunning Speedmaster Dark Side of the Moon. I actually wore that watch non-stop for over a year. I didn’t take it off — I was just so obsessed with it, and smiling like and idiot every time I looked at it. That was where it all started.
Omega is one of those brands that I was familiar with long before I knew anything about watches — I was a swimmer and the stopwatch/timer had the Omega logo on it.
Speaking of Queer Eye, have watches every become part of the conversation within the show over the years?
Not really, at least not yet. That’s certainly more Tan’s department. Tan loves his gold and his jewelry, but he’s not much of a watch guy in the grand scheme of things. I actually genuinely don’t even know that I’ve ever seen him wear a watch. He knows that I’m deeply obsessed with Omega, and when I have a new watch I’m the first to tell him — I get excited about my watches the way he gets excited when he gets a new pair of Gucci or Ferragamo boots. Though I have a lot less watches than he has boots.
Antoni Porowski Is a Proper Omega Watch Fan
Antoni Porowski Is a Proper Omega Watch Fan
Antoni Porowski Is a Proper Omega Watch Fan
Antoni Porowski Is a Proper Omega Watch Fan
Antoni Porowski Is a Proper Omega Watch Fan
Antoni Porowski Is a Proper Omega Watch Fan
Antoni Porowski Is a Proper Omega Watch Fan
Antoni Porowski Is a Proper Omega Watch Fan
We’ve already established that you fixate on a particular new watch for an extended period, but what’s your process when deciding what to wear out for events or special occasions?
It’s often based on my mood, unless I’m working with a stylist on something specific. I’ll literally go through my closet five minutes before I have to get ready, and just be like, alright, what are we working with? What do I feel like grabbing? Sometimes I’ll go with expected colours that go well together, but other times I’ll grab the 50th Anniversary Moonshine Gold Speedmaster and decide that that’s my story for the night — I want to wear a nice heavy watch.
Do you ever have those times where you want to wear a specific watch and you build the outfit from that?
I do, with two specific watches. It goes that way with the Bond Seamaster I’m wearing today, and with my other Seamaster — the same reference that Biden wears, that I went out and bought the day he was elected president and I found out that he had that watch.
…there’s something about coming back to New York, whether you’re driving back from Jersey or landing at LaGuardia. Seeing that skyline always hits as a sort of “this is it” moment.
I read a while back that you were on the hunt for an Alaska Project Speedmaster. Did you ever manage to track one down?
We were just talking about that! The last time I was at the Omega Museum in Bienne there was someone there who was wearing one. I may have been asking a few of the folks at Omega, because I’ve heard that rumours that they may have some watches hiding in a vault somewhere. I’ve yet to find one, but sometimes when I’m feeling down I’ll hop on to Google and look up images of it to remind myself how much I like that watch. One day it’ll happen.
Have you paid much attention to the whole Omega/Swatch Moonswatch collab? Thoughts?
Honestly I’m into it, and it’s something I fully support. There’s one on its way to me in the mail as we speak. When you mentioned that, the first thing that came to mind was the Gucci & Adidas collab that has also been super successful. I don’t see any harm. I understand where watch purists are coming from, but it’s a collaboration and it makes something accessible. Omega is one of those brands that I was familiar with long before I knew anything about watches — I was a swimmer and the stopwatch/timer had the Omega logo on it. I knew it was a brand of precision, a brand of timing, and it was the thing that told me that I had 15 seconds before I had to start my next set.
When you think of somebody who isn’t in a position where they can’t get a Speedmaster or Constellation or whatever, but they can have that same feeling. There’s something about the law of abundance there for me, and I think it’s nice that more people get to experience that as well. Swatch is equally iconic in its own right too — a brand that was my first watch as a kid, and likely the first watch for countless others out there.
Going off topic before we wrap up, knowing that you’re Canadian, is New York the “forever home” now?
You know what, I have loved Montreal for my entire life, and I genuinely thought I was going to spend my entire life there, but as soon as I got to New York — on the first day, in the chaos of the C Train from Brooklyn into Penn Station — I fell in love with the city so deeply. It’s funny, I’m always excited to leave and travel, and I love constantly being in motion, but there’s something about coming back to New York, whether you’re driving back from Jersey or landing at LaGuardia. Seeing that skyline always hits as a sort of “this is it” moment. I’m just deeply madly in love with that city. I mean, as I get older, do I want to have a farm with too many dogs? Of course. But no matter where I go there’s always this comparison going on in my head, and New York always wins. It either clicks with people or it doesn’t, and there’s no real in between. It’s like cilantro for people, you know? No one ever says “cilantro is okay”. They either want an entire cilantro salad, or they hate it and think it tastes like soap.
