The other McQueen watch...

[automatico]

Every rolex guy knows the 1655 is the  McQueen watch even though he did not often wear one.  McQueen wore a 5512 on and off movie sets so that is probably the 'real' Steve McQueen watch.  He also wore a Heuer Monaco and others in movies but they are all expensive today and I for one can not afford any of them if I wanted an iconic 'McQueen' watch.

 

Otoh, one affordable McQueen watch that goes relatively unnoticed is the Benrus 'Bullitt' watch...a Benrus 3061 manual wind watch with military style black dial. 

They got hot enough a few years back that the Benrus brand owner at the time made another batch of them.

 

Here is one on eBay (sorta pricey imho):

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Benrus-Military-Watch-Re-Issue-50th-Anniversary-of-D-Day-17-Jewel-Like-New-/253776097776

 

 

I do not have a shiny case Benrus Bullitt 3061 with signed military type dial but do have a couple 1960s milspec issued Benrus watches.  They are similar to the Bullitt watch except the cases are Parkerized and the (tritium) dials are unsigned.  Since I bought the milspec watches they have gone up a lot so looking back I did Ok.  I have a few Benrus 3061 watches with dress dials but they are not worth much compared to a Bullitt.

 

 

Quote from 'BAMF Style':

 

"As a watch aficionado well-known for his Rolex Submariner and TAG Heuer Monaco in real life, McQueen sported a much more practical timepiece that would make sense on Frank Bullitt’s wrist. The watch has been positively identified as a Benrus Series #3061, a commercial version of a watch issued to U.S. GIs during the Vietnam War with a more civilian-friendly polished steel case on a well-worn black leather strap. The 17-jewel hand-wound watch has a branded black dial with a red-tipped second hand arrow, which Worn & Wound notes as differentiation from Benrus’ military Mil-W-3818B and GG-W-113 models that used the same Benrus DR 2F2 hacking movement."

 

https://wornandwound.com/review/affordable-vintage-bullitt-benrus/

 

https://www.mywatchmart.com/benrus/

 

 

McQueen Bullitt movie BAMF Style article:

 

https://bamfstyle.com/2012/10/01/bullitt/