Watching Movies: Indiana Jones’ First Watch: Harrison Ford Wears A Vintage-Inspired Hamilton In ‘The Dial Of Destiny’
In the late 1970s, Steven Spielberg – fresh off his WWII romp, 1941 – had his sights set on directing a James Bond film. His friend George Lucas, however, had other ideas. Claiming to have an original story worked out, Lucas told his friend Spielberg that he had a project better than Bond. It was about a character (then) named Indiana Smith, an archeologist and adventurer sent to far-flung locales to track down notable antiquities. It was in the mold of swashbuckling heroes of the films of their youth, like Bogart in Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), but with the flare of Connery in Dr. No (1962) The two began collaborating, along with famed screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan, and the result was Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) which followed the exploits of the renamed Indiana Jones. Its score by John Williams became as iconic as any music put to screen, and the rest was history.
Now for our purposes, Indiana Jones famously never wore a wristwatch. Four decades later, and with the fifth and final installment, The Dial of Destiny, hitting screens worldwide today, that changes as Harrison Ford wears a curious, vintage-inspired, quartz Hamilton in his swan song as Henry “Indiana” Jones, Jr.
Poster art for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Image courtesy of Lucasfilm/Disney
Why We’re Watching
It’s opening day for the blockbuster film, that’s why we’re watching. And since almost nobody has seen this one yet, consider this to be an entirely spoiler-free affair. When I first caught wind of the title, my watch nerdery immediately assumed it must be in reference to a watch dial. As it turns out, I was very wrong – but in the end, the props department and new Indiana Jones director James Mangold (of Ford v Ferrari fame) saw fit to at least give the character a watch – which is a nice start.
The film itself is literally centered around the concept of time, beginning with the aforementioned Dial of Destiny, which serves as the MacGuffin driving the plot forward. Without giving anything away, it’s an object that unlocks the ability to time travel (just see the film before passing judgment on the concept). The dial itself leads Jones to meet his goddaughter Helena (played by Phoebe Waller-Bridge). She’s after the object but for monetary reasons. These are the kind of reasons that go against the fabric of Jones’s core sensibilities.
A de-aged Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Image courtesy of Lucasfilm/Disney
In their journey to track down the complete Dial of Destiny, they find themselves face-to-face with former-Nazi Dr. Voller, played by Mads Mikkelsen. Ironically, Mikkelson also played the heavy in 2005’s Casino Royale, which adds another layer to the Bond/Jones mythos.
Indiana Jones 5 also utilizes de-aging techniques to bring Ford back to his younger days, though there’s some real uncanny valley stuff going on with the end result. You can let me know how you feel about that once you’ve seen it. But this talk of de-aging and time travel brings me to the little thing we like to call a watch. In this film, Ford’s Jones wears a Hamilton Boulton from the brand’s American Classic collection.
The Hamilton Boulton featured in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Photo courtesy of Brandon Menancio
You might be asking yourself, “A quartz Hamilton in a film set in 1969? What gives?” And yes, this is a modern watch in a period film, though it’s not the first time that’s happened (here’s looking at you Pearl Harbor and Argo), but it is the kind of thing that keeps a story like this from feeling as authentic as it could. At the same time, the watch does not get a ton of screen time, it doesn’t even get a close-up. Instead, we see it from a distance on Jones’s wrist or merely the silhouette of the case, which does give off a certain Art-Deco vintage vibe.
And that’s by design. The movie reveals (and I suppose this is sort of a spoiler), that the watch once belonged to his father, Henry Jones – an homage to the late Sean Connery, who played the role in The Last Crusade (1989). So despite the fact that the watch is far from period accurate – the first quartz watch full stop wasn’t a commercial product until 1969 – it is rooted in sentimentality, which we love. Then you can rope in the whole time travel angle of the film and just pretend that maybe it was sent to the Jones family from the future. It’s called suspension of disbelief. Look it up.
Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Image courtesy of Lucasfilm/Disney
The watch itself features an elongated cushion case, almost like a rounded Cartier Tank, and measures 27mm x 31.6mm. It is gold-toned with a closed caseback and a creamy dial with a small-seconds sub-register and ornate, applied Arabic numerals. Its overall styling is reminiscent of the ’20s and ’30s but updated for today both in size… and, of course, movement. At the end o the day, this particular model will forever be remembered as Indiana Jones’s watch, much the way we look at the Hamilton Murph watch.
The Hamilton Boulton. Photo courtesy of Brandon Menancio
Lastly, for those getting ready for popcorn and soda at the theater tonight, there’s one more watch to spot. It’s one with no discernable branding, but it plays a very important role in the story so keep your eyes peeled for it.
Our own Brandon Menancio had the chance to attend the premiere of The Dial of Destiny in Los Angeles earlier this month. He walked the red carpet and sat in the star-packed theater among the first in the world to see the movie. “It was so fun,” he told me. “It was honestly surprising to see George Lucas – and Steven Spielberg walk right by me. It shocked me.”
Photo courtesy of Brandon Menancio
Right before the curtains opened, there was one last surprise in store. The maestro himself, John Williams, conducted an orchestra on stage with the Indiana Jones theme to a shocked audience. “The John WIlliams performance was one that definitely surprised me,” Menancio said. Sounds like one hell of an evening to bid farewell to Indiana Jones.
When We’re Watching
The first instance concerning the watch is a scene in which we don’t really see it, but we do hear about it, which counts for something. In a chase scene where Jones and Helena find themselves in a high-speed pursuit, Jones realizes that his watch is missing. Helena immediately figures out that her compatriot, a teenager named Teddy, has taken it. She encourages him to give it back, at which point Jones shares the timepiece’s origins.
Image courtesy of Lucasfilm/Disney
Later in the film, we find Jones waking up in his bed in the morning, The camera lingers for a moment on his bedside table, where we see the time-bending quartz Hamilton resting at an angle. The dial is facing away from the camera and is slightly out of focus, but we can at least see the overall shape and style of the case. In all, this ends up being the clearest view of the watch in The Dial of Destiny.
No, this is not the same scene indicated above but it is a shot that features some semblance of the Hamilton Boulton in Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny. Image courtesy of Lucasfilm/Disney
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (starring Harrison Ford and Phoebe Waller-Bridge) is directed by James Mangold with props by Ben Wilkinson. It is now playing in theaters everywhere.
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