A Rolex Submariner that survived 17 dives to the Titanic. A Heuer Monaco made famous by Steve McQueen. Sometimes a watch is just a watch – and other times it’s a time capsule with something to say.
One of the great joys of collecting vintage watches comes from the lives these small machines live before they make their way onto our radar and, eventually, our wrists. For some watches, their pasts are full of mystery, as they seemingly appear out of nowhere in an auction catalogue or the collection of a friend. Other watches hint at a well-loved past, with a caseback engraving commemorating someone’s graduation or 50 years of service at a company. And then there are watches that tell bold, exciting stories because of who owned them and where they found themselves ticking out critical seconds.
This last category of watches is what we might call watches with provenance, but even those are not all created equal. Just knowing that a watch was once owned by someone famous or understanding each time it changed hands over the decades isn’t always enough to make an otherwise pedestrian watch appealing. But there are some watches that appear in iconic photographs, belonged to beloved matinée idols, and were tools used to accomplish important things – and these watches transcend watch collecting itself, becoming time capsules that connect us to important moments in the past, keeping those stories alive for future generations.
Here are four such watches, each of which has its own riveting story to tell.
Steve McQueen’s Heuer Monaco
Steve McQueen wore this Heuer Monaco in the famous racing film Le Mans. Estimate: $500,000-1,000,000
Few watches are as category-defining as the Heuer Monaco. It embodies the brash, daring spirit of midcentury racing, in the days when just getting behind the wheel could be a life-or-death decision. This is largely due to it prominently appearing on the wrist of actor Steve McQueen in his turn as racing driver Michael Delaney in 1971’s Le Mans. The Monaco reference 1133B, with its oversized square case and rich blue dial, is immediately recognisable as it appeared both in the film itself and in many of the promotional photographs and posters, playing second fiddle only to McQueen himself. The watch was brand new, having been introduced in 1969, and it immediately ascended to the upper echelons of pop culture success.
McQueen was intimately involved in the production of Le Mans and wanted a hand in every decision, from the cars down to the wardrobe. Prop master Don Nunley prepared a selection of authentic racing chronographs for McQueen to inspect and, as the story goes, he immediately gravitated toward the Heuer Monaco – this Heuer Monaco, case number 160,304. They would end up sourcing additional watches to use for the film, including half a dozen additional Monacos, but this is the one that started it all. It’s unknown which exact watches were used for which film scenes, but it is known that all seven watches (the six sent by Heuer and this one) were all on set during the filming and there are productions stills confirming McQueen wore this particular Monaco, as it was the only one fitted on a steel bracelet.
The other six watches have all sold publicly in the past, but this example is new to the market, having been purchased after filming by a mechanic, Bevan Weston, as a souvenir. He would go on to work for decades as a racing mechanic, traveling the world with various teams and drivers, adding even more racing provenance to this already incredible watch. Whether you’re a motorhead, a film buff, or a watch enthusiast, it’s tough to imagine a cooler vintage chronograph than this one.
Al Giddings’ Rolex Submariner “Red Sub”
What the Heuer Monaco is to motorsport fans and would-be racecar drivers, the Rolex Submariner is to lovers of Jacques Cousteau and weekend dive trips. It is, in many ways, the very essence of the modern dive watch. This reference 1680 is a so-called Red Sub due to the rare red printing at 6 o’clock, one of the more collectable and sought-after versions of the vintage Submariner. But it is far from an ordinary example. This Red Sub comes to Sotheby’s from the original owner, Al Giddings, a pioneer of underwater exploration, photography and cinematography, who brought countless people closer to the depths they imagined, in both documentary work and consulting on feature films.
Giddings first acquired this watch in the late 1970s and proceeded to wear it for decades as both his daily watch and as a tool on dives. Fortunately, this is well documented, with countless pictures and film stills featuring Giddings wearing his trusty Red Sub, from network news interviews to the sets of James Cameron films to submersibles used for scientific research. Most famously, he wore the watch on set with Cameron during the making of the 1997 film Titanic, a subject with which Giddings is intimately familiar, having dove there more than a dozen times wearing this very watch. It comes to market not only from Giddings himself, but also accompanied by signed photographs, news clippings and DVDs, certifying its provenance and providing a glimpse into its incredible life.
Al Giddings’ Gold Rolex Submariner
The watch above wasn’t Giddings’s only Submariner though. In the early 1980s, Giddings did some work documenting the research of Dr. Sylvia Earle, one of the greatest marine biologists and oceanographers of all time, fittingly nicknamed “Her Deepness.” Earle was and continues to be a Rolex ambassador, and the brand wanted to use some of Giddings’ photographs for an advertising campaign. He allowed them to do so at no charge, believing it was important to shed light on her incredible work and to galvanize support for protecting and exploring the oceans. About a month after sending in his pictures, a box arrived in the mail from a friend at Rolex, and inside was this beautiful 18k gold Submariner reference 1680/8.
While Giddings continued to wear his trusty stainless steel Sub as his daily driver, he did pull out this gold Sub for very special occasions, including some beneath the waves. While serving as the director of underwater photography for Titanic, he wore the watch to set and director James Cameron asked him for a favour – could Bill Paxton wear it in the film, in which he plays a dive director exploring the Titanic wreck? Giddings was happy to oblige, and this very watch can be seen on the actor’s wrist multiple times on-screen. That the watch accompanied Giddings on dives to the actual wreck only adds to the mythology, making this a true trophy Sub if there ever was one.
President Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Rolex Day-Date
Not all good watch stories are those of daring-do adventures and tie-ins to popular culture. Since the early 1980s, Rolex has smartly marketed the vaunted Day-Date as the President, a term originally coined to refer to the watch’s hidden-clasp bracelet. The watch earned this nickname because it kept appearing on the wrists of iconic world leaders, from Dwight Eisenhower to Fidel Castro to the Dalai Lama. The example here comes from the family of Gamal Abdel Nasser, the former president of Egypt, who served from 1954 until his death in 1970.
President Nasser was just the second president of an independent Egypt, and he is best known for advocating for peace in the Middle East as well as his public works projects targeted at improving the quality of life across his country. He was also known to be a humble man who eschewed material possessions, making this watch even more interesting. It was a gift from Anwar El Sadat in 1963, as commemorated on the caseback with an Arabic engraving translating to “Mr. Anwar El Sadat 26-9-1963.” Sadat went on to serve as President of Egypt after Nasser’s death, making this a gift of a President from one to another, quite a unique thing.
Fittingly, the watch’s day and date displays are also in Arabic, matching the engraving on the back. The watch has been passed down in the family since Nasser’s death and is the only known personal possession of Nasser’s to reside outside a museum collection.
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