The Most Iconic Movie Chronograph of All Time Is Headed to Auction

Steve McQueen’s screen-worn ‘Le Mans’ watch is up for grabs.

Published August 13, 2024

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The Heuer Monaco is one of the most recognizable watches in the world, and the biggest reason for that is Steve McQueen.

The late actor and menswear icon wore the idiosyncratic square racing chronograph in his 1971 film Le Mans about the 24-hour French road race of the same name.

The film was a box office flop with a notoriously troubled production, but the imagery of McQueen — who had a side career as a racing driver — in his Gulf racing suit with the Heuer on his wrist has made Le Mans a cultural touchstone.

Now, one of the Monacos worn by “The King of Cool” himself on screen in the film is headed to auction for the first time, and while it probably won’t quite fetch as big of a sum as the eponymous Rolex Daytona owned by fellow “King of Cool” (and McQueen rival) Paul Newman, we’re still likely looking at a watch destined to be one of the most expensive ever sold.

steve mcqueen in a scene from the film le mans — This iconic image of Steve McQueen is largely responsible for making the Heuer Monaco one of the world’s most recognizable watches.

The Most Iconic Movie Chronograph Ever

Heuer debuted the Monaco in 1969 as one of the world’s first automatic chronographs, and the following year it sent six blue-dial ref. 1133B Monaco watches to Le Mans prop master Don Nunley to be used in the film. Two were on metal bracelets, while the other four were worn on leather straps. Only the strap versions appear in the film, worn by McQueen himself.

Two of the six are owned by the TAG Heuer Museum and are unlikely to see the light of day, a couple of the others have hit the auction block before. The most recent sale was in 2020 when Phillips auctioned off one of the watches McQueen had kept and subsequently gifted to his mechanic who worked on the film. It sold for $2.2 million, making it the most expensive Heuer watch ever sold. This record still stands but is almost certainly now in danger of being broken.

vintage heuer chronograph watch — Is this watch destined to become the most expensive Heuer ever sold?

The watch set to be auctioned off by Sotheby’s was also worn by McQueen in the film. After filming, it was acquired by on-set mechanic Bevan Weston, who owned it for 40 years before selling it privately in 2010. That second owner is now selling the watch, marking the first time it has ever been up for public sale. The watch has never been on public display, either, as it’s always been privately owned since appearing in Le Mans.

Sotheby’s predicts the watch will fetch between $500,000 and $1 million at the auction, which seems … low. Don’t get me wrong; that is a ton of money for a watch, but given that the last one of these fetched over $2 million four years ago, and with the added intrigue that this one hasn’t been displayed in public since the movie, I’m thinking we could be looking at a new record-breaking Heuer.

black and white photos of men sitting on the hoods of rally cars in the 1970s — *Le Mans* set mechanic Bevan Weston, right, wears McQueen’s screen-worn Monaco during a rally race in Australia in the 1970s.

Prior to hitting the auction block, the watch will come out of hiding on August 14, where it will be displayed during Monterey Car Week at the RM Sotheby’s Monterey Auction in California. After a three-day exhibit, the watch will return to Sotheby’s in New York and await its fate.

On December 11, McQueen’s Le Mans Monaco will finally go under the hammer during the “Heuer Champions” auction, which is a curated collection of vintage Heuer chronographs being sold as part of Sotheby’s “Important Watches” series. Interested parties can register to bid at Sotheby’s website here.