Winning (1969)

Winning

Winning, directed by James Goldstone from a screenplay by Howard Rodman, opened through Universal Pictures in May 1969. Paul Newman plays Frank Capua, a driver whose pursuit of the Indianapolis 500 costs him the marriage he has just entered with Elora, played by Joanne Woodward, while Robert Wagner's Luther Erding takes both the rivalry and the wife. Newman learned to drive for the part at Bob Bondurant's school and came out of production a racer in earnest, competing into his eighties and running his own team; the film is the hinge of that second career. (IMDb)

Watches

Rolex Daytona

Worn by Paul Newman as Frank Capua. This is the appearance the "Paul Newman" Daytona nickname is usually traced from, and Rolex itself makes the connection: its house magazine Perpetual Spirit records that the Cosmograph Daytona "certainly gained in popularity when Paul Newman appeared on screen in the film Winning with such a watch on his wrist," and that connoisseurs afterwards used the name Rolex never has. (Montres de Luxe, quoting Perpetual Spirit no. 13) Montres de Luxe reads the screen watch as the reference 6239 with a black exotic dial. That is one execution of the reference and not the one Newman is best documented wearing: the 6239 Joanne Woodward gave him around 1968, later sold by Phillips for $17.75 million, carries a cream exotic dial and a "DRIVE CAREFULLY ME" caseback. (Phillips) Nothing available settles whether the watch in frame is that individual piece, so the row stays at the line rather than claiming either dial; see Rolex Cosmograph Daytona 6239 Paul Newman for the auctioned watch.

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