The Towering Inferno (1974)

The Towering Inferno

John Guillermin directed this disaster picture, with producer Irwin Allen staging its action sequences, casting Steve McQueen as San Francisco Fire Chief Michael O'Hallorhan and Paul Newman as architect Doug Roberts, who battle a blaze trapping guests atop the 138-story Glass Tower during its dedication gala. (IMDb) 20th Century-Fox and Warner Bros. co-produced the film, splitting US/Canada and international distribution between them; it topped the North American box office for 1974 and drew from two competing novels, Richard Martin Stern's The Tower and Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson's The Glass Inferno. Fred Astaire, Faye Dunaway, and Richard Chamberlain round out the ensemble cast. (Wikipedia)

Watches

Rolex Submariner

Worn by Steve McQueen as Michael O'Hallorhan. McQueen wears his Submariner again the year after Le Mans, on screen opposite Paul Newman. Which Submariner is not documented here: the 5512 he wore through Le Mans and again in The Hunter is the obvious candidate, but nothing in the coverage of this film pins the reference or the scene. (Revolution) Montres de Luxe names the reference directly, putting McQueen in a Submariner 5512 for this film and stating it is his own watch rather than a production piece, matching the reference from Le Mans and The Hunter, though no independent source corroborates that specific claim. (Montres de Luxe) BAMF Style, writing about Robert Wagner's costume in the film, independently describes McQueen as wearing his own stainless reference 5512 Submariner as the fire chief. (BAMF Style)

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Rolex Datejust

Worn by Robert Wagner as Dan Bigelow. Probable identification. The watch belonging to Dan Bigelow, the tower's public relations chief, is hidden by his full seventies sleeves while he is alive and becomes a plot object once he is dead: firemen recover a gold-plated watch with a steel case back engraved "DAN BIGELOW", its two-tone bracelet torn from the upper lugs and hanging from the lower pair, and the engraving is how the body is identified. BAMF Style, going on the Jubilee-style bracelet and the waterproof case and saying it has seen no more of the watch than that, suspects a Rolex Datejust as the recognizable status piece Bigelow would choose. The dial is never shown, so the model rests on the bracelet and case shape alone. (BAMF Style)

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