Do you all have a favorite "watch" movie, that is to say a favorite movie in which a watch is featured prominently?

I would nominate "Somewhere in Time" with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. Released in 1980 the movie didn't do too well with audiences or critics, but has since developed a bit of a cult following after being on cable and satellite TV for years.

In this movie a young playwright(Christopher Reeve) is presented with an old hunting case pocket watch on the opening night of his first play by an elderly lady. The lady asks him to "Come back to me" and then leaves the theater and the shocked young writer. Years later the writer becomes obsessed with a portrait of a beautiful woman in an old hotel and discovers the young woman in the photo is the same much older lady who gave him the watch and asked him to return to her. He finally finds a solution to his time travel problem in hypnosis and "returns" to 1912 and the woman of his dreams.

This is a sweet, dreamy fantasy that many would dismiss as a "chick flick" but is really quite appealing on several levels. If you are a watch lover, the movie is even more enjoyable because of the prominence of the watch in the story and its symbolism in a movie so preoccupied with time.

Here's a link to the film on amazon:
Somewhere in Time

I really did like that movie, and saw it when it was first released on the big screen. The ONLY problem I REALLY had with the movie WAS with the watch.

He started the 'adventure' when she, as an elderly lady, GAVE him the watch in the present day. She got it when he was suddenly jerked back to the future from HER time period when he saw coinage from HIS time period in the future, and left the watch behind.

So, where did the watch come from in the first place? I never could come up with a satisfactory answer to that one.

Regards! Mark

I had the same problem, Mark. I actually did a little research on that as a matter of fact. The movie was based on a book called "Bid Time Return" by Richard Matheson. Matheson was one of the three primary freelance writers for the original Twilight Zone show. (The others were Rod Serling and Charles Beaumont.)

In Matheson's book, the watch is given to young Collier back in 1912 with an inscription with both their names on it. In the book in other words the watch has a "beginning." While revising the book into a screenplay and brainstorming ideas with the producers, Matheson suggested having the old woman give the watch to Collier in 1972 in their meeting after the play. Everyone loved that and it was decided to use the bit of business in the movie. Later Matheson realized he had erred and the watch was now coming from nowhere and had no beginning, but it was too late.

I found a website that is the official fan site for the movie, and the origin of the watch and its explanation by Matheson in an interview is there. Also, the original prop watch for the movie was found recently and written up in their newsletter. I'm getting the back issue and will report back when I get it.

If you click on the link and scroll to the bottom of the FAQ you'll see the topic of the watch with no beginning!

http://www.somewhereintime.tv/article_faq.htm

EXCELLENT!! Thank you, my friend. Yet another mystery 'solved'!

HIGH regards! Mark

Well, I got the fan club's back issue newlsetter about the prop watch used in the movie. The watch was an 18 sized hunter cased 21 jewel Hamilton 941 made in 1903 with a blue fancy dial. According to the article in the newsletter, Mr. Art Zimmerla rented the watch to Universal Studios(along with a similar duplicate) and has had the original watch in his collection ever since.

The watch is serial number 205038, and the 14- karat solid gold case was made by Brooklyn Watch Case Company. Factory records show the movement was finished on July 16, 1903 and shipped the same day to Jenkins & Lovett in Peoria, Illinois.

Mr. Zimmerla said when interviewed that he was recommended to the movie Company by Hamilton as a collector living in the LA area at the time who could supply the type watch the movie required. He also said he was the Hamilton historian at that time.

It was really interesting to find out a bit more about this watch, as I have never really been able to get a good enough look in the movie to identify it.

old doc on gun smoke was rather rough with his hunter.... so was quigly ... down under... didn't any of these guys know how to close a hunter case?

i recently cut half way in on a movie where a youngster stole a hamilton tank watch watch from his mothers boyfriend,,,

then there was anthony hopkins who dismantled a hamilton 993.... the bear belonged to my neighbor ...(back in the 60's that is)

"The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" or was it "For a few Dollars More?

Nope, it was "Fist full of Dollars"!!!!!

The pocket watch played a big part in the movie.

(Musical Watch) and the gun fight started when the music stopped!

I watched these movies this week, and almost broke my neck trying to figure out what they were, with no luck.

There were actually 2 watches, but I don't remember which movie had both.

Since this was a "Spaghetti Western" Clint Eastwood, probably a foreign watch.

One did have a metal dial.

The bad guy had taken it from the sister of the man hunting him.

Clint Eastwood got the reward for the gang, and Lee Van Cleef got the watch back.

OOPS, it was "A Few Dollars More"

and there is a fight over the name of the music that the watch played.

One called it Sixty Seconds to what? and some say something else.

Lots of disagreements on this one.

i got a close look at "doc" adams watch in yesterday's episode. it looks to be a 16 size elgin signed elgin in print on the dial.

newly was using an 18 size american waltham hunter.

it was a 2 part episode titled "The Guns Of Cibola Blanca"

Sheila,

That IS a great watch movie. And Don, I agree for some reason nobody in the movies seems to be too gentle with closing their hunter cases. I know sometimes the "snap" of the closing is used for dramatic effect.

Another good watch movie is Time After Time. In that one Jack the Ripper escapes to the late 1970s in San Francisco in H.G. Welles' time machine and is pursued by Welles.

David Warner plays Jack the Ripper and he carries a gold musical pocket watch that has a picture of his mother in the cover. He plays it before every "encounter" with a victim, and the watch has a crucial part to play in the finale.

Here's a link to the movie on Amazon.

Time After Time