Phillips in Association with Bacs & Russo is delighted to announce the sale of a historically important and previously unknown Rolex Submariner owned and worn by Steve McQueen. Given by McQueen to his personal stuntman, Loren Janes, as a gift and inscribed on the caseback, "TO LOREN, THE BEST DAMN STUNTMAN IN THE WORLD. STEVE", it was thought to have been lost in a fire. The watch comes to auction as the single most important watch associated with Steve McQueen to ever appear publicly.
Loren Janes was brought into test as McQueen's stunt double on the show that propelled McQueen into the public eye - Wanted: Dead or Alive, a Western television drama McQueen starred in from 1958 until 1961. According to an interview with Janes, two doubles had already been fired. Janes simply sat down with McQueen and told him that he could make him "look better than he imagined possible." McQueen requested Janes as his stunt double for every movie on which their schedules would allow them to collaborate, and consequently, of McQueen's twenty-seven major motion pictures, Loren Janes was his stunt double in nineteen.
Other watches, even other Rolex Submariners, have appeared in public with established McQueen provenance, but none with this level of personalization. In fact, the present watch is the earliest McQueen-owned Submariner known, a reference 5513 dating to 1964 and gifted to Loren Janes likely in the mid-to-late 1970s as recollected by the surviving Janes family members.
In 2016, a wildfire outside of Los Angeles, burned intensely for almost two weeks, destroying over 40,000 acres of land and killing two. Of the eighteen buildings destroyed, one of them was the home of Loren Janes and his wife. To the dismay of the Janes family, nearly all of their personal belongings and Loren Janes' personal collection of film memorabilia were believed lost. Yet, at the urging of the current consignor, who had learned about the tragic fire and knowing the durability of Rolex Submariners, the family was encouraged to try to find the Rolex in the rubble. And find it they did, after a few days of dogged shoveling. Once the watch had been found, the family sent it to be examined and restored by Rolex U.S.A., which took particular care in documenting the restoration process and preserving the watch's priceless caseback. The soot wedged between the Rolex bracelet clasp and on the caseback is indeed still present.
The watch will be sold with a letter signed by Loren Janes attesting to its provenance; a remarkable letter and photos from Rolex U.S.A. documenting its restoration. A portion of the proceeds from the auction of this watch will benefit The Boys Republic, The McQueen Family charity that rehabilitated McQueen when he was a youth. An additional portion of the proceeds will be gifted to the surviving family members of Loren Janes.
It will be offered with an estimate of US $300,000 to $600,000.
Thanks.