Steve McQueen’s Tag Heuer Monaco Fetches $799,500

The 1971 Steve McQueen film Le Mans may not have grossed very much in the United States, but a watch worn by McQueen in the film brought in a whopping $799,500 during an auction at Profiles in History yesterday.

The 1970 Tag Heuer Monaco was personally selected by McQueen for his endurance-racer character Mike Delaney, who also donned a jumpsuit with a 1960’s-era Tag Heuer logo stitched onto the chest. Mounted on a black alligator strap, the 1970 Monaco was the first square-cased watch to feature an automatic chronograph. It was also one of the first examples of Heuer’s Caliber 11 movements, which were first released in 1969 to honor the Monaco Grand Prix.

To authenticate its history, the blue-faced beauty comes with a slightly-worn decal affixed to the back of the case denoting its reference number of 115, as well as a factory-printed certificate indicating that it was sold to the prop master of Le Mans.

In 2009, McQueen’s Rolex Submariner brought in $234,000, which served as the basis for the Tag Heuer’s starting price of $200,000. Other items up for sale yesterday included a signed passport of McQueen’s as well as a script to the Godfather signed by Marlon Brando.

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Source and photos courtesy DailyMailUK.