2001 Rolex Sea-Dweller “The Real McCoy’s Steve McQueen Le Mans”

Up for grabs is a Rolex Sea-Dweller

Reference 16600 customized by The Real McCoy’s in Japan

The watch is a P9 serial from year 2001 production.

Some of you may be familiar with The Real McCoy’s Rolex GMT “Chuck Yeager”. These watches were ordered in numbered edition of 50 pieces and had “Chuck Yaeger” added on the dial, as well as an engraved caseback with Bell X-1 plane on it. And if you’ve never heard of The Real McCoy’s, it was a Japanese American military inspired fashion brand in the 1990’s. After a little over a decade in the business, they finally went bankrupt in 2001.

One of the founders of Real McCoy’s, Hiroshi Okamoto, is a big fan of Steve McQueen and in 2000 he opened a specialty store called “Contraband” on the second floor of the old Real McCoy’s. To commemorate this event some watches were made as a special order. I could only find a few examples online and it seems that they used Rolex 16600 Sea-Dweller as well as 16610 Submariners for these. On the dial “Steve McQueen” is printed in red above the Rolex model number. The back of them had “Contraband” and a date engraved. Below read “THE MAN” with McQueens engraved signature and his birthday date and year. “The Real McCoy’s” is stamped on the very bottom. They do not appear to be numbered or limited, but since this has taken place right before Real McCoy’s went out of business, I wouldn’t think many have been made or ordered.

The watch you see here, however, I cannot find another example of. From the front it looks similar, with “Steven McQueen” printed in red. However, when we look at the back, the scene is very different. We see an engraving of McQueen’s signature on top and “Le Mans” underneath a silhouette of a Porsche 917k with number “20” as the car he used in the movie. The bottom is signed “The Real McCoy’s”. The watch itself is a late P9 serial number with DE date code from 2001, so this could be one of very few or possibly unique piece before the company went bankrupt. If someone has one of these, or has seen another, please reach out.

The condition of the watch itself remains in seemingly unpolished state with factory finishes and chamfers. All numbers are fully legible.

The bracelet is tight and original.

No box or papers.