Rolex Watches in the Movies

In the movies, I’ll be looking at two of the “coolest of the cool” icons in two different industries In this installment of Rolex watches—Steve McQueen and the Rolex Submariner.

It was fitting that the final film of the legendary actor who became famous playing a fictional bounty hunter on TVs Wanted Dead or Alive was about a real bounty hunter: Ralph ‘Papa’ Thorson. Papa Thorson made his reputation apprehending over 5,000 criminals in a long and colorful career. McQueen played Thorson accurately as a man slightly out of step with modern times. He drives an antique convertible, collects antiques, and listens to classical music. This was quite a change from the super hip kinds of characters McQueen had played in hit films like Bullitt of 1968. In that movie the hipster cop he played wore the coolest in late’60s chic like sports coats and turtlenecks and drove an ultra modern—and ultra badass—1968 Ford Mustang GT 390 Fastback. In this later movie, besides driving the aforementioned old convertible, McQueen opts for a completely different look, choosing jeans, tee shirts, and a nylon bomber jacket for his character. The only piece of really super cool equipment he sports is his watch…a Rolex Submariner Reference 5512, which he wears on his right wrist. (McQueen was a lefty.) The 5512 was the chronometer-rated No Date Submariner that was last produced in 1978, a close cousin of its more common and non-COSC rated sibling, the 5513.

But how do we know the exact watch he was wearing? The watch the King of Cool chose to wear in his final film was his personal watch, his very own Rolex. This was no prop department piece like the TAG-Heuer Monaco he wore in his racing film Le Mans in 1970 (A watch he immediately gave to friend after shooting wrapped on the film. ) In his private life, McQueen wore a Submariner 5512 for over ten years. It was his own watch.In June 2009 the famous McQueen Submariner was auctioned by Antiquorum Auctioneers in New York. When the gavel fell, the watch had realized a new record for the Reference 5512, $234,000.

There is one thing certain: Steve McQueen remains an icon long after his death in 1980. In all of his movies he exhibited a sense of tough masculine charm coupled with a hinted-at vulnerability that made him a legend. He didn’t get the nickname “King of Cool” by chance. It’s also not too surprising that in his personal life the King of Cool, who could afford to buy and wear any watch out there, chose a Rolex. The sturdy Sub matched his active lifestyle perfectly, and looked good doing it.