Key Takeaways:
• Culinary prodigy Flynn McGarry opened his latest restaurant, Cove, in fall 2025, showcasing a menu that interprets New York through a California lens.
• McGarry’s work is heavily influenced by Scandinavian minimalism and his passions for antiquing and woodworking, which are integrated into his business ventures like Gem Home.
• Historic watchmaker Urban Jürgensen, founded in 1773, has launched a new chapter featuring leadership by CEO Alex Rosenfield and designs by Kari Voutilainen.
For the May issue of Time Well Spent, UJ visited with 27-year-old wunderkind Flynn McGarry, who rocketed through the culinary landscape before he was even a teenager. Shaped by early discovery, sustained dedication, and singular talent, time has never been a boundary for Flynn’s passionate spirit. He approaches food and space with deep intention, creating experiences meant to last.
Born in Southern California, Flynn grew up immersed in creativity and was encouraged to pursue his passions. Cooking arrived, though, as refuge, rather than passion, amidst his parents’ divorce and the monotony of meals that accompanied that change. At ten, he pulled Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry Cookbook from a bookstore shelf. He cooked through every recipe within a year, teaching himself molecular gastronomy and knife techniques from YouTube along the way.
By twelve, he was working 15-hour days in professional kitchens and hosting tasting menus at his family home. By sixteen, he had staged at Alma, Eleven Madison Park, Alinea, Maaemo, and Geranium — the latter planting the seeds of a Scandinavian minimalism that runs through everything he does. That same year, he moved to New York and was hired by Dries Van Noten to cook at his summer home in Antwerp, where he discovered antiquing and woodworking. These pursuits now rival cooking itself and bleed into every endeavor.
At nineteen, Flynn opened Gem in the East Village, a restaurant named for his mother and designed to feel like those early dinner parties at home. He later expanded with Gem Home: part café, part bakery, part grocery, part antique shop. In fall 2025, he opened Cove – a blonde-wood haven with an open kitchen and a menu that asks what New York looks like through California eyes. After a decade and a half of relentless pursuit, one thing is clear: for Flynn McGarry, time has never been something to wait for, but something to seize.
“TIME WELL SPENT”
Urban Jürgensen helped build industry and prestige for Denmark, his country of origin. In the more than 250 years since he began this project, UJ has kept time for people of great achievement, from kings to sailors, from industrialists to artists. Each has understood what Urban taught us, that when we lavish our time on the things that move us, we move ourselves and our culture in the process.
As UJ charts its path forward into the new generation, we want to share the joy of watchmaking and watch-wearing. In our monthly photographic series, “Time Well Spent,” we show how passionate, curious, and creative people spend their time. We capture how creative people—in industry, artistry, sport, craft, innovation, and culture; some legends and some up-and-coming people we think will shake their fields—engage in unexpected activities that bring them joy. A painter in his garden. A chemist sailing on her racing boat. An athlete exploring his passion for cooking. An actress throwing pottery at a wheel. A designer doing humanitarian work. An architect playing catch with his kids. These are people who move us and culture, shown spending their time on the things they love. Because it is the UJ view that the people who represent their time understand better than anyone that time well spent is the world’s greatest luxury. We share these stories with love and joy as we celebrate Time Kept and Spent Beautifully.
ABOUT URBAN JÜRGENSEN
Founded in 1773, Urban Jürgensen is one of the oldest and most revered names in horology. Bringing together Danish elegance, Swiss precision, and an American mindset, the maison is renowned for its uncompromising dedication to craftsmanship, technical innovation, and timeless design. In 2025, Urban Jürgensen entered an exciting new chapter under the leadership of CEO Alex Rosenfield, with a new collection designed by the legendary watchmaker Kari Voutilainen, who is a Board Member and Senior Strategic Advisor to UJ. This next generation fuses over 250 years of legacy with a renewed focus on the intrinsic joy of watchmaking, creating watches that are not only exceptionally made but enduring companions in a life well lived. Every Urban Jürgensen watch is a tribute to time kept and spent beautifully: soulful, precise, and meticulously built by hand to be worn and enjoyed. As the house evolves, it remains committed to celebrating excellence for its own sake and preserving the traditions of haute horlogerie for future generations.
