Denzel Washington wears a Timex Expedition

In Robert Zemeckis's Flight, Denzel Washington plays Whip Whitaker, a commercial airline captain who saves a falling jet by rolling it upside down to halt the dive, then faces an NTSB investigation that turns on the alcohol and cocaine in his blood. It is a senior pilot's job, six figures and decades of seniority. The watch on his wrist is a black plastic Timex.

Specifically a Timex Expedition, the brand's rugged outdoor line, a quartz watch that runs about thirty-five dollars on a black resin strap. That is a long way from the aviation chronograph the role seems to ask for. Writers who cover film costume have made the same point, filing Whitaker's plain Timex under substance over style.

The precise model is less settled than it first appears. The reference floated for it, a Timex Expedition Rugged Analog T49831, traces back to watch-spotting sites rather than the studio or a watch publication, and the on-screen watch, clearly a black field watch with a busy dial, does not resolve to a single reference. The brand and the price are the durable part: a man under federal investigation for flying drunk wears one of the cheapest watches money can buy.