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Rock Hudson Watch - Ice Station Zebra

  1. cicindela Steve @ ΩF Staff Member Nov 18, 2014

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    Anyone want to take a shot at this, I've never been about to find it resolved. Breitling?
    imagdes.jpg index.jpg rock-hudson-ice-station-zebra.jpg

     
  2. pitpro Likes the game. Nov 18, 2014

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    Frame grab not good enough
    for decisive detail.
    I would say Breitling Top Time
     
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  3. cicindela Steve @ ΩF Staff Member Nov 18, 2014

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    The grabs are old from TRF. Perhaps someone will make new ones from an HD copy at some point.
     
  4. SeanO Nov 18, 2014

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    UG Compax?
     
  5. duc Jan 1, 2017

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    I think it might be time to resurrect this thread. I've been pondering this one for awhile. Ice Station Zebra is in rotations, so I know it's going to cause me to go back to the web and try. Does anyone have a guess?

    Another site thought maybe this:

    [​IMG]

    Someone else thought this:

    [​IMG]

    Based on the spacing between the subdials, I'd guess the Heuer.
     
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  6. LouS Mrs Nataf's Other Son Staff Member Jan 1, 2017

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    Agree with Heuer. If that's true though, it's hard to believe that the army of Heuer fanboys haven't called it yet.
     
  7. ScubaPro Actually dives with dive watches!!! Jan 1, 2017

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    It's probably a prop watch. They look like all kinds of different things, and it literally could be anything. Unless the watch manufacturer is listed in the company credits, there's no way the film company will pay the permission costs to use the watch that can be identified as a certain brand when they don't have to. Most of the watches that people think they identify aren't what you think they are. Sometimes (rarely) an actor will use a personal timepiece, but the same trademark rules apply. Of course, in the modern era many actors cut deals as ambassadors and that comes into play as well. The Brosnan Omegas were all money on the table. Ian Fleming names all kinds of watches in his books, but never Omega. They paid to become the Bond watch and the story of the costume designer picking it is pure PR. As a person who worked on feature films for years, things are very rarely what they appear (even watches).
     
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  8. meganfox17 Jan 1, 2017

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    Happy New Year Steve[emoji137] @cicindela

    There were really 3 dashing handsome Hollywood men of the 60s unmatched by today's screen idols :
    Marlon Brando , Paul Newman & Rock Hudson ( Please leave Sean Connery out of the picture [emoji85] ) so naturally I was always interested in their wristwatches on and off the camera. Marlon Brando loved & sported at least 5 or 6 different Rolex watches throughout his movie career. I cant remember the movie title but in that movie to look even more convincing as a role of a convict, what Brando did was blasphemous ! He simply pried open & removed the entire bezel of his Rolex GMT , something unheard of back then.
    Ol' blue eyes ( Not Frank Sinatra ok ? ) as you know now has a Rolex named after him so that leaves 6 foot 5 inch Rock Hudson. Off the screen he had many watches given as gifts by leading Hollywood actressess ! Why do the women always give the studs Rolex watches ?

    Ok. Back to the subject now. My first impressions on the watch
    ● Hey ! That's a new shiny watch. Maybe real maybe props....
    ● The Tricompax white subdial layouts are super perfect with a black bezel (please leave Speedy out of the picture guys !) It's like a bezel with minute or hour markers all around but spaced out.
    The watches that come to my mind are Breitling Avi 765 Co Pilot ( The sentimental favourite I'm sure ) , Enicar Sherpa but even more suspicious are the UG & Heuer Automobile Aviation or simply Heuer Autovia specifically Ref 2446M or 2446H
    ●The applied square markers & the logo look suspiciously like a Heuer Autovia[​IMG]
    ●The lengthy lovely long thin lugs goes in favour of the Heuer. It looks beautifully sculptured too from the side profile.
    ● The filming of the movie was made in 1967 so I think the watch was manufactured somewhere between 1962 and1966 . Since it looks brand new then it must be the 2nd generation Heuer Autovia Ref 2446H rather than 2446M but of this I cannot be certain.
    ● In Ice Station Zebra , Rock Hudson was a captain of a nuclear Sub right ? What's the name of the Sub again ? Tigerprawns ? Tigerfish or some fresh fancy seafood name ?
    ●I'm quite sure the strap on the Heuer Autovia was not the original but had been replaced with another leather strap equipped with a mini compass !
    Surely you'll need one on your wrist, in a Sub if you plan to nuke your enemies right in the kisser during the Cold War period yes ? That explains that funny crater like recess near the lugs. Yeah , I guess the strap has large brass buttons too[​IMG][​IMG]So that's my final assessment Sir. The Heuer Autovia Ref 2446 is worth a heck of a fortune by now , a lot more if it were unpolished since the Ref number is finely engraved on the casing at the 12 o clock position at the attachment of the lugs !

    Ok I'm done [emoji136] Thank You for having me on your thread , Sir !
     
  9. ConElPueblo Jan 1, 2017

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    Honestly, I don't think this was a concern in 1968. Cannot think of other instances from that era where a prop watch was used.
     
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  10. redpcar Jan 1, 2017

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    I know of many. It was common to use sterile watches in the movies / tv. The props department had the names removed for one reason or another. Here is a cool site specifically on watches in the movies
    http://watchesinmovies.info/

    One of my favorite scenes showing this was a Rockford files episode with Tom Selek as Lance White had a mechanical alarm watch. Close up clearly showed the name had been angrily wiped off. (Of course, I can't find a screen shot) BTW, Jimbo wore a Heuer Carrera most of the series. Very cool.
     
  11. voere pawn brokers are all about $$$ Jan 1, 2017

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  12. duc Jan 2, 2017

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    Ms Fox, I like your logic better than redpcar's.

    No offense redpcar, I just don't want to think about a prop watch. Since the watch face is never shown clearly enough to identify the mfr, what liability would the movie maker actually have to the manufacturer?
     
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  13. ConElPueblo Jan 2, 2017

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    But having a name removed from a dial doesn't make it a prop watch. And the example you mention support my view - with a bit of research you'd still be able to identify the watch in question, which wouldn't be possible with a prop watch. In addition, the series you mention is ten years younger than the movie mentioned here. I'm not a huge film buff, but do you have any examples that are from the same period?
     
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  14. jimmyd13 Jan 2, 2017

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    A year or two ago, I was in a long and involved "identify this watch" thread with a still from another movie. Three of us ended up tracking down the film and getting screenshots from every angle we could. It was definitely a toss up between the Top Time and an Autavia but the images were of such low quality that we spent days trying to work out which was which.

    The three places the watches differ noticeably are the lugs (straight and beveled); the position of the subdials in relation to the bezel; and, the width of the bezel.

    For my money, this is definitely, almost certainly, probably, maybe, most likely, the Autavia.
     
    Edited Jan 2, 2017
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  15. tyrantlizardrex Jan 2, 2017

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    I like your level of conviction. :thumbsup:
     
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  16. Tubber Jan 2, 2017

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    I think he is in Mrs Mays' Brexit Department.
     
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  17. jimmyd13 Jan 2, 2017

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    There are some insults that are just too harsh to bear.
     
  18. tyrantlizardrex Jan 2, 2017

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    Watches mean watches.
     
  19. Tubber Jan 2, 2017

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    You could buy a nice watch for the price of them slinky leather trousers.
     
  20. jimmyd13 Jan 2, 2017

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    Ha! That's where you're wrong! They're chaps, not trousers .....

    And PVC......

    And ass-less.
     
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