The Heuer Monaco watch that Steve McQueen wore in ‘Le Mans’ could fetch a million dollars

Swiss watchmaker Heuer sent six units of this model with blue dial to the film team with reference 1133B, of which two were equipped with steel bracelets and the rest with leather straps, the latter being the ones that the actor would wear. He gave the first Monaco watch with an engraved case to his personal mechanic Haig Alltounianwhich was sold in 2020 for $2.2 million through Phillipstwo other pieces ended up in the TAG Heuer museum and the last one will go up for auction by Sotheby’s next December 11 in New York. In addition, this piece will be exhibited in its facilities in the days before. Its estimated selling price is between 500,000 and 1 million dollars (between about 450,000 and 900,000 euros at the current exchange rate).

Once filming finished this piece was acquired by Bevan Westonyoung mechanic who worked on the film providing support to Ferrari 512 number 8. He later went on to work for McLaren as part of the Indy 500 team. The watch remained in his collection until 2010, the year in which he sold it to a private collector, who has kept it to this day.

The Heuer Monaco was launched in 1969 as one of the first automatics available on the market. wrist watches chronograph introduced along with the revolutionary 11 gauge. Its square case design, brushed and polished finishes and brutalist aesthetics stand out.

Although it is true that when it was released it was not a great success, after appearing in director Lee H. Katzin’s film its popularity skyrocketed, so much so that The model was relaunched in 1997 under TAG Heuer achieving more than notable sales thanks, among other things, to the advertising campaigns with the image of McQueen waving.