Infernal Affairs III (2003)

Infernal Affairs III

Andrew Lau and Alan Mak's finale to the Infernal Affairs trilogy, released in December 2003, months after Infernal Affairs II. Interweaving three timeframes, the film follows the psychological collapse of Lau Kin-Ming (Andy Lau, with Edison Chen as his younger self), the mole who has survived into a senior police post, and revisits undercover officer Chan Wing-Yan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai, with Shawn Yue as his younger self) in flashback. Mainland gang leader and fellow undercover operative Shen Cheng (Chen Daoming) and superintendent Yeung Kam-Wing (Leon Lai) enter Lau's unraveling as Kelly Chen, Anthony Wong, Eric Tsang and Chapman To round out the cast. (Wikipedia)

Watches

TAG Heuer Monaco

Worn by Chen Daoming as Shen Cheng. Two bbs.xbiao.com community threads independently describe Shen Cheng's square-cased chronograph as a TAG Heuer Monaco: a 2015 trilogy archive thread names it "TAG504" specifically, while a 2021 Monaco-community thread describes an unspecified black-dialled Monaco. The two accounts do not agree on a single reference. The 2021 thread also repeats an anecdote, hedged by its own poster as "据说" (reportedly): that Chen Daoming disliked the props department's watch during filming, went to a shop himself, bought a TAG Heuer Monaco, and wore it as Shen Cheng. Neither thread traces the anecdote to an interview, an on-record cast or crew statement, or press coverage of the shoot, and one explains Chen Daoming's TAG Heuer connection by calling him the brand's spokesman, but Chen Daoming did not become TAG Heuer's China ambassador until October 2010, nearly seven years after this film released, so that particular explanation is chronologically impossible as stated. The self-purchase story remains unverified forum lore, not documented production history. (Xbiao, Xbiao) A third, independent source, specialist watch-history blogger 石版的钟表工作, confirms the brand and model as a TAG Heuer Monaco automatic chronograph and further specifies the generation: the Monaco went out of production in 1979 and was not reissued until 2002, on a movement built from an ETA 2892 base with a Dubois Depraz chronograph module, which narrows the family-level identification to that reissue generation even without a sub-reference. The same source speculates, using its own hedge "或许" (perhaps), that Chen Daoming's admiration for the watch during filming may be what led to his later TAG Heuer ambassadorship, offering this as a more chronologically coherent alternative to the existing self-purchase anecdote rather than a documented account; it remains the source's own speculation, not settled history. (石版的钟表工作, Zhihu mirror)

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Chronoswiss Lunar

Worn by Leon Lai as Superintendent Yeung Kam-wing. 石版的钟表工作 identifies a Chronoswiss "Lunar" full-calendar moonphase watch on Leon Lai's Superintendent Yeung Kam-wing in a brief watch shot at his first appearance, reading the traditional full-calendar moonphase layout as an unlikely choice for a villain and using it as commentary on the character's then-ambiguous loyalty. The source names no reference, and the model attribution has not been independently corroborated. (石版的钟表工作, Zhihu mirror)

© Media Asia Films

Chronoswiss Delphis

Worn by Andy Lau as Lau Kin-ming. Specialist watch-history blogger 石版的钟表工作 identifies a Chronoswiss Delphis on Lau Kin-ming in this film, describing its regulator-style layout, digital jump-hour display, and retrograde minute hand, a combination Chinese collectors nickname "独眼龙" (Cyclops) for the single jump-hour aperture that dominates the dial. The source ties the watch's oddity to the character's arc in this installment: Lau barely talks his way through interrogation, but the strain culminates in psychotic delusion and an unsuccessful suicide attempt, which the source reads as the reason for the "strange watch." No reference is given, and no second source corroborates the sighting. (石版的钟表工作; mirrored at Zhihu)

© Media Asia Films