It’s a race to the auction house — Steve McQueen’s most storied watch is up for grabs at Sotheby's

Bidders, start your engines. The Heuer Monaco watch worn by the effortlessly cool actor in the 1971 film ‘Le Mans’ is about to go on sale.

Lotte Brundle's avatar
By
published
in Features
Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen's character in 'Le Mans' — an effortless speed demon tearing up the road in a Porsche 917.
(Image credit: Courtesy of The Estate of Steve McQueen/ Sotheby's)

55 cars. 110 drivers. Two arch rivals. One iconic film. Keeping pace with it all, a Heuer Monaco watch like no other, on the wrist of the coolest actor to grace Hollywood. In the 1971 film Le Mans, Steve McQueen sports a piece of wrist candy that is just as cool as his on-screen race car driver, Michael Delaney. On June 15, at Sotheby's in New York, the watch will make its auction debut as part of their Important Watches sale.

The watch comes with more than 200 archival photographs, as well as correspondence between the film set and Heuer. It is estimated to sell for $500,000 – $1 million (about £370,000 – £740,000).

The watch in question

Fitted with a leather strap, the watch still has a distinctive look today.

(Image credit: Courtesy of The Estate of Steve McQueen/ Sotheby's)

Correspondence that comes with the watch in question

Correspondence relating to the watch from the personal archive of Don Nunley.

(Image credit: Courtesy of The Estate of Steve McQueen/ Sotheby's)

The piece of film history comes from the personal archive of Don Nunley, the property master of Le Mans. There were seven Heuer Monaco watches supplied while filming, but this one was kept by Don afterwards for himself. Another watch from the film is at the TAG Heuer Museum (the brand was renamed when Techniques d'Avant Garde — TAG — purchased a majority stake in the company in 1985). A further watch, thought to have been used in pre-production for the film, sold at Sotheby's New York in 2024 for $1.4 million.

The Heuer Monaco was the first square water-resistant automatic chronograph, and was introduced in 1969. Don says this particular watch was ‘worn by Steve McQueen most often throughout the film and on set’.

Steve McQueen

Steve McQueen in the film directed by Lee H. Katzin.

(Image credit: Courtesy of The Estate of Steve McQueen/ Sotheby's)

The watch in question

Heuer later became the TAG Heuer we know today when Techniques d'Avant Garde purchased a majority stake in the company.

(Image credit: Courtesy of The Estate of Steve McQueen/ Sotheby's)

For more information, visit the Sotheby's website

Lotte Brundle
Lotte Brundle

Lotte is Country Life's Digital Writer. Before joining in 2025, she was checking commas and writing news headlines for The Times and The Sunday Times as a graduate sub-editor. She has written for The Times, New Statesman, The Fence and Dispatch magazine. She coordinates Country Life Online's arts and culture interview series, Consuming Passions and writes the print feature Shop of the Month, for the magazine’s London Life section.