The tenor Freddie De Tommaso fell in love with opera and timepieces as a young boy. Now he shops for high-end examples in the cities where he performs.
It seems to be all about the timing for the British tenor Freddie De Tommaso.
In late 2021, at 28, he stepped into the role of Cavaradossi in “Tosca” at the Royal Opera House in London when the scheduled tenor had to bow out. Mr. De Tommaso saved the evening, garnering huge applause in what one British critic called a “had to be there” moment.
Mr. De Tommaso, a rising name in the opera world, is also a collector of watches as a connection to his past and to milestones of his personal and professional lives.
Timing has also been on his side when it comes to finding certain watches in his travels to the cities of Europe and beyond. His fast-track career is allowing him to afford watches that he once only dreamed of buying.
His interest in timepieces and opera started when he was growing up in Tunbridge Wells in southern England. His Italian father, Franco, who had moved to Britain in his 20s, opened a restaurant, Signor Franco’s, in 1995, which became a favorite among locals. A young Freddie was exposed to opera through the background music always playing at the restaurant and during family outings to the nearby Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He also began to notice the watches of the restaurant’s male customers and a few high-end watches that his father had collected over the years.
“I always found them interesting since as men we don’t usually wear jewelry,” Mr. De Tommaso, 31, said by video recently. “Watches are our statement pieces.”