Steve McQueen wore a Heur Monaco through the filming of Le Mans and one example has just sold for $1.4 million.
Elsewhere a Richard Mille watch made for Ferrari has achieved the same price.
Steve McQueen’s Heuer Monaco was auctioned in New York by Sotheby’s.
It came to sale with excellent provenance.
McQueen had simply handed the watch back to wardrobe and it was bought by film mechanic Bev Weston for $40. He sold it on in 2010.
The line was introduced by Heuer (now TAG Heuer) in 1968 and is named for the Monaco Grand Prix.
It’s a fine racer’s watch, but perhaps best known for its unusual square case.
McQueen was a huge enthusiast for fast cars, which loomed large in his on-screen persona.
Bullitt, the 1968 San Francisco-set detective flick for which he is best known features some of the most revered car-chase scenes in history.
In 1971 Monaco cemented his speedster reputation by putting him on the track in a fictional Le Mans 24-hour race.
McQueen was also a great stylist, and the square watch stood out.
Six prop watches were used during the filming, with the previous, most-recent sale netting $2.2 million in 2020.
Does this $1.4 million sale reflect a wider market trend, or just that those who want and can afford a Monaco (two are in the company museum) are very few in number.
It certainly surpassed its estimate of $1 million max.
Richard Mille’s Ferrari watch achieved the same $1.4 million valuation at Christie’s in New York.
Famed for his ultra-thin, ultra-technical pieces, Richard Mille makes some of the most desirable watches in the world.
This one was badged for Ferrari and made this year in a limited run of 150.
It is 1.75mm thick, the second thinnest watch ever made.
Another Mille, an 18k white gold skeletonized piece made for Boucheron made just short of $1.2 million in the same sale.
The luxury watch market boomed during the Covid 19 pandemic lockdowns.
Some of the money that came into the hobby then has now moved on, but the very top end of the market – the rarest pieces by the best makers and star-linked pieces like the McQueen Monaco – the sale rooms are busy and hands (and clicks) are going up to hit the highest prices ever seen.
