Michael Caine wears a Rolex Day-Date

Two con men, one elegant and one vulgar, competing for the same mark on the French Riviera. Frank Oz's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels pairs Michael Caine and Steve Martin in a comedy that works because neither tries to be the other. Caine is Lawrence Jamieson, a polished British grifter who poses as a deposed prince to relieve wealthy women of their money; Martin is Freddy Benson, a small-time American hustler who fakes a limp and begs for pity. When Freddy crowds his turf, they bet on who can first swindle $50,000 from heiress Janet Colgate (Glenne Headly).

On Jamieson's wrist is a Rolex Oysterquartz Day-Date, reference 19018, in 18-karat yellow gold, with the angular integrated-bracelet case Rolex built around its quartz movement from 1977 to 2001. The watch was Caine's own. He had owned it since the late 1970s and wore it in the film, and in 2022 it sold at Bonhams, in the sale "Sir Michael Caine: The Personal Collection," for £125,250 against an estimate of £8,000 to £12,000, a world auction record for the reference. The sunburst champagne dial in the catalogue photographs is the one on screen.