Elgin James Dean lucky pocket watch
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Elgin James Dean lucky pocket watch
Photo: Hodinkee
James Dean bought this gold-filled, full-hunter pocket watch as a struggling young actor in the early 1950s and called it his "lucky watch." The case, engine-turned and signed "Standard USA" by its maker, Standard Watch Co., holds a rhodium-plated Elgin movement made circa 1889, with a white enamel dial and blued steel hands over a sunken sub-seconds counter. (Hodinkee) Dean insisted on wearing it, against director Elia Kazan's objections, while filming East of Eden in 1954, swapping out its front cover to hide the "JD" monogram engraved there. He later gave the watch to Warner Bros. hairdresser Tillie Starriet, and Antiquorum auctioned it in 2013, nearly sixty years after it appeared on his costume waistband.
Appearances
1 cataloged on-screen appearance
| Title | Year | Type | Actor | Character |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East of Eden (1955) | 1955 | Film | James Dean | Cal Trask |