There has been just 26 years since the world premiere of Pulp Fiction, the second and indisputably most successful film directed by Quentin Tarantino who can be considered as the god of post-modernism in cinema. Yes, you have got older but this is not our case. Actually, it is not a bad thing as you might think, because the older you get, the wiser you become. Don’t forget that one of the things that impress the opposite sex most is wisdom. In fact, we are not precisely sure about this but, don’t worry, it makes you feel good when you think it that way. Moreover, if you take into consideration the fact that the first step to realize anything is to believe in it, you have already taken a step forward, believing what we said.If we come to the point without further ado; only one scene from the Pulp Fiction movie has remained in our minds. No, it is not the scene where Mia Wallace danced… I’m talking about the scene where we returned to Boxer Butch’s childhood, and where a wrist watch played the lead role, a watch that a comrade in arms of his father who had died in war managed to deliver it to Butch by undertaking great troubles (undertaking really great troubles) and that was handed from a generation to the next one. Aside from the fact that this scene and this watch represented a major turning point in the plotline and led to some developments that would radically change Butch’s life, this watch has a different meaning for us. Firstly, all of us – especially the ones whose ages are old enough for the first run of this movie – made great efforts to find out the brand of this watch, when there was yet no internet and so forth around. Let those who know what happens when an image, that was frozen while being watched on a VHS tape, is zoomed in, please tell those who don’t know. Fortunately, with the inclusion of internet in our lives and, soon after, the widespread use of search engines, the period of being not able to learn anything we are curious about has become history.
In order not to let you in trouble any more, we have hunted up this legendary watch and found out its brand for you. We say ‘legendary’ because this watch is both the first and, as far as we know, the only watch in the history of cinema that changed the storyline and one of the first produced wrist watches. In 1918, in which the watch was produced, pocket watches were being widely used but, offered as a technological ease with which the soldiers, during the First World War, were able both to use their two hands and, at the same time, to look at the watch, the watch straps were put into civilian use after the war, as it has been the case with all warfare technologies, and wrist watches with strap began to become popular. You see, Lancet was the brand of this watch that we saw in the movie and that reached to Butch, stopping in and leaving out of unsuitable places for generations
Lancet is one of the handmade gold watches of the Langendorf Watch Company SA, a Swiss manufacturer founded in 1973, known for its attention to details in watch design and production. Lanco watches, another brand of the manufacturer with a high level of recognition as compared to Lancet, continued to be produced and sold until 1973, the year the factory was still in production, and reached our times travelling for generations from father to son, from grandfather to grandson, as with Butch’s family and they continue their journey to the future. We were talking just about this, when we said, “A watch is never only a watch,” and “The indication of time is the most unimportant of things expected of a watch.”
In the open biddings, we occasionally encounter with the watches produced by Langendorf Watch Company SA between the years 19873-1973, that is, exactly throughout a complete century. We also hear that some lucky collectors may come across the originals of these handmade gold watches on e-bay pages. Of course, since it is very likely to bump into a fake one as well as an original, we recommend you to get it through certified auctions and auctioneers, if you are ever in search of such a vintage timepiece.
Speaking of the watches and movies, there are other watches the reputations of which have begun to go beyond those of the movies, even if they don’t have a key role as the Lancet, Butch’s family heirloom, had. The foremost of these is the Carl F. Bucherer Manero AutoDate, already an iconic watch worn by John Wick inside of his wrist allowing him to look at it while holding his gun, just in a way adopted by the Special Forces. Not only perfecting John Wick’s style but also effectively responding his needs in all three episodes of the movie series, the watch’s American selling price ranges between $2,400 and $13,600.
When it comes to style perfection, it is impossible not to mention the well-dressed secret spy of the cinema history. The Omega Seamaster model worn by James Bond in the Skyfall of the Bond series is worthy of Bond’s reputation, who is renowned for his good looks as well as his sharp mind. Omega Seamaster models have a price range between $2,290 and $9,000.
Taking a pause for the armed heroes and speaking of the sports heroes; worn by Steve Mcqueen, who went to the other world as an immortal star on November 7,1980, in the film Le Mans in which he acted a car racer and actual racing footages are featured, the Tag Heuer Monaco 1133 timepiece took a place not only in the history of cinema and sports, but also in the history of advertisement with the brand’s commercial film which was as influential and striking as the film itself, sloganizing the phrase “Do not crack under pressure.” While the Vintage Monaco 1133s find their buyers in the auctions and open biddings at different prices, the modern versions reproduced by Tag Heuer are priced at about $5,400.
With its footage story turned out to have a surrealistic nature at least as much as the film itself, in Apocalypse Now, the most authentic film in the cinema history in which facts and fancies are completely intermingled and the point where the dream ends and the reality begins faded all out, our eyes catch the Rolex GMT Master 1675 glittering on the wrist of Colonel Kurtz character personified by Marlon Brando, another immortal actor. Since there is almost nothing that is not iconic about Apocalypse Now, you might think as if this model doesn’t differ at all, but when an experienced warrior like Kurtz wears the watch inside of his wrist as any soldier with a profound close combat experience would do, things become totally different. Having somewhat a sophistication and a philosophical depth at least Marlondo Brando himself, Colonel Kurtz character is also known for his watch choice as well as his authentic clothes and nonexistent hair. In the auctions and open biddings, it is possible to see the Rolex GMT Master 1975 model worn by Colonel Kurtz in this masterpiece, the footages of which became a long-winded story and the narrations became notorious saying that the set was turned into a surrealistic atmosphere at least as much as the movie itself due to the drugs used during its footages. Timepieces of this model can find a buyer at prices ranging from $12,000 to open-ended figures. As a matter of fact, worn by Marlon Brando himself in the film and also owned by him until 1995 and with a “M. Brando” inscription on its inner surface, a Rolex GMT Master 1975 found its new owner at exactly $1.9million this past December. Yes, you didn’t read it false. There is more to it than you read; the amount paid by this unnamed buyer for the watch is exactly $1,952,000.
Last but not least, we think we would have quitted it fit and proper if we put an end with the Alsta Nautascaph model, the brand of which has been uncertain for years just like Butch’s Lancet in the Pulp Fiction and misestimated by the cinema and watch lovers mostly thinking that it was a Rolex or an Omega and one of the most mentioned watches in this context, appeared on the wrist of Matt Hooper the shark expert character personified by Richard Dreysfus in the Jaws, the unforgettable movie that has been the source of inspiration for numerous films, and countless counterparts of it are shot, and constitutes one of the stereotypes of the horror-thriller genre and the scenes of which are envisaged in front of our eyes at once, whenever we go swimming in the sea in summers.
The reason for the fact that the brand and model of this watch remained uncertain for years lies not only in the technological inadequacies but also in the fact that the producer went bankrupt and pulled out of the market during the Quartz Crisis in 70s. But the interesting yet legendary side of it is that the brand, which was revived in 2014, has not only made a return to the watch world at a rate of knots but has also been benefiting from the blessings of the Jaws movie without any advertising budget. Modern versions of the watch are available at about $800.
If we finalize our article emphasizing the fact that a movie is never only a movie just like a watch is never only a watch, we believe that, from now on, you will pay attention at least as much as we do for what the heroes on the silver screen have on their wrists.
