Wristwatches long ago became a full-fledged hero of the famous James Bond movies and more than once saved the Agent’s 007 life. Still in other less heroic films common characters wear quite real watches to which we usually don’t pay much attention.
Absolute Power (1997) became the first film where Clint Eastwood appeared not only as an actor but also as a director. Eastwood’s hero, a hardened safebreaker, in his everyday life prefers Rolex Day Just, but during another criminal job he wears quartz chronograph Swiss Army.
If in two first parts of Batman the main hero managed without a watch, in the third part Batman Forever (1995) Bruce Wayne acted by Val Kilmer replenished his equipment with Jaeger-LeCoultre Reverso. At the back-case there was a mini-display. And the bad guy Two-Face (Tommy Lee Jones)gave preference to Oris Big Crown.
American brand Hamilton, which is today a part of Swatch Group, is considered to be a record holder in the cinema industry because its models appeared in the Hollywood hits more often than others. Hamilton made its début on the big screen in 1961 when Elvis Presley was wearing Hamilton Ventura with a black dial during the shooting of Blue Hawaii.
Everyone has got accustomed to the fact that TAG Heuer’s watches appear as a rule in films about sport, especially about racing as, for example, in Le Mans with Steve McQueen. But another model by TAG Heuer - Kirium - can be seen also in a horror film The Bone Collector (1999) on the wrist of the chief investigator played by Ed O’Neill.
In the film about military pilots - The Broken Arrow (1996) – there were no surprises: John Travolta, an actor and a licensed pilot, wears his favourite Breitling Aerospace.
Omega Speedmaster Professional is one of the most famous watches in cinema. In Apollo-13 (1995) it was even included in the script as it was Omega that saved lives to real astronauts when on board the spacecraft all the devices failed – then the docking was carried out with the help of the mechanical chronometer.
Omega Speedmaster Professional was appreciated not only by astronauts. In the Corruptor (1999) a venal policeman from Chinatown played by Chow Yun Fat also gives preference to this model.
The Daylight (1996) starring Sylvester Stallone is very rich in close-ups of different watch models by different brands. Stallone himself wears Luminor Panerai. Other characters prefer TAG Heuer, Seiko, Casio and Bulova.
It’s interesting to trace the evolution of watches worn by the characters of Die Hard. In the first film you can notice a Rolex on the main hero’s wife’s wrist. In the second film practically all characters – from terrorists to special squad soldiers – give preference to TAG Heuer’s chronographs. And finally in the latest film Bruce Willis wears Breitling Chronomat Longitude.
It’s a common knowledge that Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore was one of the sponsors of the Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003). Specially for Arnold Schwarzenegger a model T3 was created. But the first time when the hero was saving the world with Royal Oak Offshore on his wrist was in 1999 in the End of Days.
And finally a recipe of success from Hollywood: in the Wall Street the character of Charlie Sheen enters the brokerage firm for the first time wearing Lorus. But he leaves it already in Cartier.
Technorati tags:watch, wrist watch, Swiss watch, chronograph, tourbillion, Armitron, Cartier, Casio, Citizen, Longines, Omega, Seiko, Swatch, Tag Heuer, Tissot, news
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