Robert Redford wears a Rolex Submariner

In Las Vegas in 1979, a retired rodeo champion named Sonny Steele earns his living as the national spokesman for Ranch Breakfast cereal, touring the country in a flashy cowboy costume. When he discovers that the conglomerate behind the cereal has been keeping its 12 million dollar thoroughbred, Rising Star, docile with tranquilizers, he rides the horse out of the casino and into the desert, planning to release it into a herd of wild horses in a remote canyon. Jane Fonda plays Hallie Martin, the New York television newscaster chasing the story, and Willie Nelson, in his acting debut, plays Wendell, Sonny's manager. It was the fifth time Sydney Pollack directed Redford, in a partnership that eventually ran to seven films.

The Rolex Submariner on his wrist was Redford's own, the reference 1680, a watch he wore as a tool through decades of acting, directing, and time outdoors. Rolex began producing the 1680 in 1966 as the first Submariner with a date, the window at 3 o'clock sitting under the Cyclops magnifier on the crystal, and for over a decade the dial spelled out the word Submariner in red. Collectors now call that dial the Single Red.

For Sonny Steele, the steel bracelet is gone, swapped for a band of individually set turquoise squares. The etched silver ring on his hand has its own history: a gift from the Hopi that Redford, by his own account in The Hollywood Reporter, wore in most of his films from 1966 onward. The turquoise does its work on screen, where the actor's own watch passes as the character's.