Spot the Watch: Escape Plan and a Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon

Escape Plan was a 2013 prison escape film.  It was notable for a couple of things.  It was the first time that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone had starred in a film together where they are the main characters, which is a surprise considering their individual star power and they have been friends for a very long time.  Who doesn’t love Rocky Balboa and The Terminator!  What also makes the film notable was the appearance of one particular timepiece, that would legitimately be the most expensive wristwatch to used in a film, if it was real.  Usually a non working version of the watch or a prop is used, so that on camera it looks the actual timepiece.  The particular model in question?  The mighty Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon.

Sylvester Stallone wore a customary Panerai and a IWC Big Pilot during the opening scenes.  Later on he takes a Luminox timepiece off one of the guards near the end of the film while making his escape.

The character who wears the “Sky Moon Tourbillon”, is the warden played by Jim Caviezel.  Why a warden of a high tech prison is wearing a Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon is anyone’s guess.

On first viewing the watch looks 100% legitimate.  The author has pondered the authenticity of the watch since the movie came out and decided to revisit it and see if it really was a fabled Sky Moon Tourbillon.

From a far distance it does looks like a legitimate and mythical Ref 5002.

Another screesnhot of the watch in question on the wrist.

The subidals of the watch do look correct for a Patek Philippe Sky Moon Tourbillon, the thickness of the watch and even the deployant clasp with the familiar Calatrava cross.

 

On viewing further scenes in the film, it becomes clear that all is not what it seems.  A real Sky Moon Tourbillon has two crowns, positioned at the 2 and 4 o’clock positions.  As you can see from the picture below and the first shot of the watch on the wrist, the timepiece in the film seems to have only a middle crown which would point in the direction of a replica watch being used for the film.

 A quick browse on Google Images, does seem to confirm the replica argument as all of the pictures show the same replicas with the rose gold case and dial configuration with a middle crown.

The genuine article and a fake Sky Moon Tourbillon

It would have been awesome if the movie prop department used the real McCoy like the one below.

We are pretty sure a replica like the one below was used in the film.  As you can see the replica only has onee crown with way too many additional pushers on both sides of the case.

What is the most expensive real timepiece seen in a film?  Its a good question.  The Breguet Tradition Tourbillon used in Batman vs Superman would certainly have to be on the list.  We will do some further film watching and research to see which other heavy hitting watches have made a on screen appearance.

That concludes this movie themed Spot the Watch.