Directed by Tony Scott and produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer, Top Gun follows Lieutenant Pete “Maverick” Mitchell, a gifted but reckless Navy fighter pilot selected to attend the elite Naval Fighter Weapons School at NAS Miramar, California. Alongside his radar intercept officer “Goose,” Maverick competes against the best pilots in the fleet, falls for astrophysicist Charlie Blackwood, and grapples with personal tragedy before ultimately proving himself in a real combat engagement. The film became the highest-grossing movie of 1986, earning over $350 million worldwide on a budget of roughly $15 million, and it cemented Tom Cruise as one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
Behind the Scenes. The U.S. Navy’s cooperation came at a price — literally. Paramount paid $7,800 per hour for fuel and operational costs whenever aircraft were flown beyond their normal duties. During filming aboard the USS Enterprise, Tony Scott wanted to shoot aircraft backlit by the sun, but the ship’s captain changed course mid-sequence. To restore the original angle, Scott personally wrote a check for $25,000 — buying himself five additional minutes of filming. Scott was also officially fired three times during production: once for filming too much footage in slow motion, once for a scene in which Kelly McGillis appeared too provocatively lit, and once for shooting cockpit sequences with mirrored visors down, making the actors unrecognizable. Each time, he was reinstated. The film is dedicated to Art Scholl, a veteran stunt pilot who died when his aircraft entered an unrecoverable flat spin during aerial photography and plunged into the Pacific Ocean. His body was never recovered. Before Tom Cruise was cast, the role of Maverick was considered for Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze, Sean Penn, Rob Lowe, Charlie Sheen, Michael J. Fox, and Ralph Macchio. Val Kilmer, for his part, did not want to be in the film at all and only participated due to contractual obligations.
The Watch. The Porsche Design reference 7176S, worn by Maverick throughout the film is arguably the most recognizable watch in cinema history for watch collectors. It was designed by Ferdinand Alexander “Butzi” Porsche — the man behind the iconic 911 — who founded Porsche Design in 1972 after leaving the Porsche company. The 7176S was among the first production watches ever to feature an all-black PVD-coated case, a deliberate design choice inspired by Porsche’s automotive philosophy of form following function. The watch worn in the film is the black PVD variant, paired with a matching black bracelet. Inside beats the automatic Lemania caliber 5100, a robust movement featuring a day-date complication. The case measures approximately 41mm in diameter with a screw-down case back and an internal tachymeter bezel. The watch had originally been issued to military pilots in several European air forces before appearing on Maverick’s wrist. When Top Gun: Maverick was released in 2022, Tom Cruise wore the very same reference again — reportedly the identical watch, restored for the occasion — making the 7176S the only timepiece to anchor two blockbuster films separated by 36 years. The appearance in Top Gun transformed the watch from a niche collector’s piece into one of the most sought-after vintage chronographs on the market.
Details
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Marketplace Price
€2 800
Movie Year:
1986
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