Lot 344

Hanhart

Steve McQueen

A rare vintage flyback pilot's chronograph

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From around 1941, Hanhart produced their "Flyback" chronographs with double pushers and the calibre 41.
Because of its reliability and accuracy, these chronographs were very popular with the Luftwaffe in the Second World War. The watch was available in a great number of variations such as chronographs with one or two pushbuttons, with or without revolving bezel.

A star among his peers, and a daredevil who performed his own stunts - that is how we knew Steve McQueen and he wore this watch, not while sipping a fancy drink or eating a top notch meal, but during off road endurance motorbike races, which is a tough, dirty and bone-rattling job demanding everything from a timepiece such as this Hanhart 417ES, which we generally associate with aviation and not with actors crawling in the mud. Any watch that survives a week long daily 300 Mile trips through muddy forest areas certainly deserves the label "tough".
The original Hanhart 417ES was a legendary German bicompax chronograph, of which only 500 pieces were produced between 1956 and 1958. The letters "ES" stand for Edelstahl - the German somewhat poetic designation (literally "noble steel") for stainless steel. Happily devoid of any fauxtina, this is a wonderfully faithful recreation of the first aviator’s chronograph ever produced for the German military. So we can take it for granted that this timepiece is up to fulfilling any demands a man like Steve McQueen might have: it is battle-ready, mud-proof and fresh.