Steve McQueen's Heuer Monaco From LeMans Sells For $799,500...Seriously.

From Hodinkee



Sells For $799,500...Seriously.
​photo courtesy of OnTheDash

​photo courtesy of OnTheDash

Late last week we told you that yet another Heuer Monaco 1133B from the set of LeMans would be coming up for sale - this one with full documentation and boxes, and in almost too good to be true condition. ​

This isn't that big of news because, well, there are at least four McQueen Monacos known to exist, and potentially even six! You see, the prop-master on set was given a whole case of Monacos, so while each of these four (or six) Monacos could indeed have been worn by Mr. McQueen, it certainly diminishes the "wow" factor of owning his watch when your neighbor, his neighbor, and their neighbor could also make a very real claim to owning the same "unique" watch.

Still, what made this auction so interesting is that it wasn't held at Antiquorum (who previously sold a McQueen Monaco for over $80,000 in 2009), but at a Hollywood memorabilia house. And, the estimate seemed to be foolishly high, starting at $200,000. ​The justification was that McQueen's Rolex 5512 (which was his personal watch and indeed unique) sold for $234,000 - what they didn't mention was that his Monaco sold for just $80,000 in the very same sale.

​We thought they were crazy to ask $200,000 as a reserve price. They weren't. It sold yesterday for a hammer of $650,000 - with the 23% buyer's premium, that's an incredible $799,500. Hard to believe, but true.

Wow. I never got the whole Steve McQueen thing. Guess I'm not old enough.

I love the great escape... but 800k?!

aztecknight wrote:Wow. I never got the whole Steve McQueen thing. Guess I'm not old enough.

An absurd price; but, in the 1960's, there was no man on Planet Earth cooler than Steve McQueen. Few actors, then or now, couple handle a shotgun as convincingly bad-ass as McQueen. A couple of scenes from his great movie The Getaway, directed by the master Sam Peckenpah:



And the final shootout:

Would be curious to know who the buyer was.