We looked at Steve McQueen’s daily watch in a previous post . Though the Rolex Submariner is a bona fide horological classic, the fact that the 5512 reference was McQueen’s every-day-carry choice can only reinforce the Submariner’s status.
As we mentioned in our first McQueen-related post, the long-deceased star remains a marketer’s dream because he possessed a rare combination of style and substance. Suits or sweats, formal or casual, Steve’s your man.
In this post we take a look at some of the other notable timepieces to which McQueen lent his aura.
Heuer Monaco 1133
He famously donned the Heuer during the racing scenes of 1971’s Le Mans. This is without a doubt one of the most iconic watch designs: a 40 mm, stainless-steel, square case, a left-side crown, a bi-compax chronograph and a Gulf-blue dial. It is perhaps the most memorable thing about that ill-fated film.
Rolex Speedking
Some believe that the modest size of the Speedking’s case (30-34 mm) has helped consign it to obscurity but its backstory is quite fascinating. Rolex supplied it to actual prisoners of war during WWII through the Red Cross. That made it the obvious choice for McQueen’s star-making role in 1963’s The Great Escape. Its utilitarian design provided a template for the classic dive watches of the ’50s and ’60.
Hanhart 417
Before he succumbed to the Rolex Submariner’s charms, McQueen went steady with the Hanhart 417. He reportedly purchased the German-produced bi-compax chronograph while filming The Great Escape in Germany. The Hanhart was worn by German Air Force pilots in the 1950s. It featured a 39 mm case, bidirectional fluted bezel with a red position marker and symmetrically placed right-side crown and dual pushers. The removable leather underlay beneath the case-back added to the comfort.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Memovox
For a long time, McQueen was thought of as a strictly jeans-and-boots guy but in 1968’s The Thomas Crown Affair he proved that he could pull off formal attire as well as anyone. Its understated elegance made the 37 mm stainless-steel-cased Jaeger the perfect dress watch for the wealthy and enigmatic Thomas Crown. Its alarm complication is quite a rarity in the world of automatically wound watches. It is set by using a secondary crown. The alarm sound is produced by a miniature hammer-and-gong striking mechanism.