Jean-Paul Belmondo wears a Rolex Submariner

Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Joss Beaumont, a French agent sent to kill an African head of state, then disowned by his own government, sentenced to hard labor, and finally back in Paris to settle accounts with the men who sold him out. Georges Lautner directed Le Professionnel from a Michel and Jacques Audiard script, and Ennio Morricone scored it; his theme 'Chi Mai' became a hit across Europe, better remembered now than the film itself.

On Beaumont's left wrist is a steel Rolex Submariner Date, its black dial carrying the white date window at three o'clock. Writing for BAMF Style, the one close reading of the watch on screen, the author cannot decide between the reference 1680 and its successor the 16800, both in production around 1981. The watch does not drive the plot; Beaumont wears it the way he wears the French military dog tag at his neck, as standard kit, and it is on his wrist when he checks a body. The Submariner had been Rolex's dive watch since 1953, its Oyster case screwed down against water and dust.