James Stewart wears an unidentified watch

James Stewart plays Frank Towns in The Flight of the Phoenix, the pilot of a cargo plane that crashes in the Sahara Desert with a handful of oil workers aboard. Robert Aldrich directed this 1965 survival drama, which strands its characters in the sand with dwindling water and no hope of rescue. Their only chance comes from a passenger who claims to be an airplane designer and proposes they build a new aircraft from the wreckage. Stewart plays Towns as a man used to being in charge who must accept that his skills are useless here. The film is about masculine pride under impossible pressure, with Stewart's character forced to take orders from someone he does not respect or trust. His watch has not been identified.