Here’s your chance to bag the elusive white whale.
It feels like everything Steve McQueen ever wore has ended up on a mood board or style post at some point, and rightfully so.
The King of Cool had impeccable taste, and when it comes to watches, he is often linked to Heuer’s Monaco chronograph, worn in his 1971 film Le Mans. But in his personal life, the legendary actor and thrill junkie preferred Rolexes, along with a certain German bicompax pilot’s chronograph.
McQueen rocked the standard issue Hanhart 417 ES, featuring a black dial with black subdials, on a black leather bund strap. His endorsement has made the mid-century pilot’s chronograph Hanhart’s most popular watch for decades.
However, ask any collector of the renowned German tool watch brand, and they will likely point to a far rarer version of the 417 ES as the brand’s ultimate grail. Fortunately for them and all chronograph fans, it is now back in production in its original 39mm size.
The coveted chronograph in question is a 417 ES with an inverted all-white dial featuring black detailing. It was produced in far fewer numbers during the 1940s and 1950s, specifically for civilian use, making surviving examples exceedingly rare.
The color scheme and illusiveness earned it the moniker “Moby Dick,” in reference to the monstrous white whale hunted by Captain Ahab in Herman Melville’s totemic novel of the same name.
Thar she blows
Ironically, given the nickname that Hanhart has made official with its reproductions, the version of the 417 ES collectors yearned for has a 39mm case — hardly a whale of a watch. While that was oversized by 1940s standards, it is compact by conventional chronograph standards.
Case size is technically the only real update for this release, as Hanhart debuted a Moby Dick reissue in 2024 with a 42mm diameter, but the inauthentic dimensions didn’t satisfy purists.
However, even at 39mm, there are some minor visual updates compared to the original that I personally think are improvements, all of which are carried over from the 2024 reissue. First and foremost are the heat-blued steel hands, which match the narrow shape of Hanhart’s modern syringe hands.
The color is a beautiful complement to the white dial, and the tips of the hour and minute hands are slightly bent to match the curvature of the high-domed sapphire crystal.
One more update that might rub purists the wrong way is that the printed bezel marker, traditionally red on Hanhart watches, is now white. I like how it matches the overall scheme, and the watchmaker’s signature rotating fluted steel bezel is still intact.
To match the aged look to surviving examples, the hands, printed numeral hour markers and bezel marker are filled with creamy white Old Radium Super-LumiNova.
Not flying back
The new 417 ES Moby Dick has the requisite solid steel case, as indicated by the ES — an abbreviation of Edelstahl, which means stainless steel in German. And this update comes with the option for a stainless steel three-link bracelet, not offered with the previous 42mm reference.Obviously, the Moby Dick runs on a different movement than it did in the 1950s, but for some reason, Hanhart chose not to keep it a flyback chronograph. The original 417 ES was a flyback, and Hanahart does make revivals with the handy complication, utilizing the Sellita Caliber AMT5100 M hand-wound movement.
For the Moby Dick, the German watchmaker went with the respectable but non-flyback Sellita Caliber SW510 hand-wound movement. It uses a cam-lever, packs a 58-hour power reserve and Hanhart regulates the movement to +/- 8 seconds per day.
Availability and price
While the Moby Dick is not the 417 ES worn by McQueen, I personally think it looks better with the white dial, and the scarcity factor of the original release gives it an equally interesting backstory. What watch collector doesn’t love a good backstory?
The Hanhart 417 ES Moby Dick 39mm is available now for $3,190 with a three-link steel bracelet, or $2,940 on a brown leather pin buckle strap. Hanhart watches are sold in North America exclusively through Watch Buys, which is great because it negates import tariffs.
