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Limited to 393 pieces

Made from
The King of Cool’s
1961 Triumph TR6 Trophy
‘Escape’

  • Free worldwide shipping
    Excludes customs duties Read More
  • 36-month sales warranty &
    30-day returns Read More
  • Secure payments with credit card, Paypal
    or in monthly installments with Splitit
  • Need further help with this item? Contact us
Limited to 393 pieces
1,995.00 $
Limited to 393 pieces

Made from
The King of Cool’s
1961 Triumph TR6 Trophy
‘Escape’

1,995.00 $
  • Free worldwide shipping
    Excludes customs duties Read More
  • 36-month sales warranty &
    30-day returns Read More
  • Secure payments with credit card, Paypal
    or in monthly installments with Splitit
  • Need further help with this item? Contact us

Description

The TTT Escape is a limited edition timepiece made from the infamous 1962 Triumph TR6 Trophy, ridden by The King of Cool himself.

Danish Design.
Swiss Made.
Limited to 393 pieces.

Captain Virgil Hilts is the laid-back, fearless US pilot who stages an audacious attempt to jump a pair of border fences into Switzerland on his 1962 Triumph TR6 Trophy – only to crash and be recaptured – in what is now considered one of the most iconic scenes in movie history.

The bike is now widely regarded as the most famous Triumph motorcycle in the world, and can be experienced as part of the permanent display at the Triumph Factory Museum.

Prior to entering the museum, the bike the was fully restored by Dick Shepherd, leaving the original clutch plates and connecting rods to be repurposed as the dials of the TTT Escape timepieces.

The TTT Escape features a dual case construction, allowing the dial 30 degrees rotation, switching between Ride and Dress wearing modes.

Specifications
Dimensions
  • Diameter 43,0 mm
  • Lug-to-Lug 46,5 mm
  • Height 12,3 mm
  • Opening diameter 33,0 mm
  • Weight (w. strap) 95g
Movement
  • Caliber SW200-1 S b SELLITA movement w. rotor decoration
  • Ruthenium Anthracite plating
  • Automatic, manual winding
  • Frequency 28,800 VPH (4.0 hz)
  • Power reserve 41 hours
  • Accuracy ± 15sec per day
  • 26 Jewels
Features
  • Swiss-made
  • 3 Hands 
  • Skeletonized sandwich dial with 30-degree rotation adjustment between two positions “RIDE” and “DRESS”
  • 5 ATM, 50 meters
  • 3-year full warranty
Case
  • 316L Stainless steel
  • 4-piece case 
  • Dual case system
  • Top glass Sapphire Crystal with layers of anti-reflective coating
  • Exhibition caseback with Mineral Crystal
Materials
  • Third inner dial ring (lowest part) made from reforged 1962 Triumph Trophy TR6 clutch plates and con-rods
Strap
  • Perforated brown double calf leather strap
  • Stamped green inner lining and curved spring bar
  • Stainless steel wire buckle with polished and sandblast finishing, black PVD coated tongue
  • Width (lugs) 22,0 mm
  • Width (buckle) 18,0 mm
  • Length 125,0/75,0 mm

HISTORY

Recovered / Recycled / Reclaimed

Recover The $1’000 jump Recycle Clutch plates and connecting rods Reclaim Repurposed with a purpose
First we recover

The $1’000 jump

The 1961 Triumph TR6 Trophy 650cc used in the movie is considered to be the most famous Triumph motorcycle in the world, thanks largely to the movie’s heartstopping chase and jump scene.

The King of Cool was an avid motorcycle and race car enthusiast off-screen, and he frequently performed his own stunts whenever a movie role presented an opportunity, and was even inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999.

However, a little known fact about the scene in which Hilts, the ‘Cooler King’, attempts to escape into Switzerland by jumping the border fence disguised as a German soldier, is that it was actually performed by friend and stunt rider named Bud Ekins.

When Ekins hit the ramp hard in fourth at 60mph on the first take, he said: “I took off, throttled right back and it was silent. Everything was just silent – the whole crew and everything was just silent. And then when I landed they were cheering like crazy.”

When the assistant director approached him, and said ‘Well, that’s a $1,000 jump if I ever saw one’

Through the magic of editing, the movie’s director John Sturges made it possible for our hero – in disguise – to also ride as one of the pursuing German soldiers during the climactic chase scene. The final sequence actually shows him chasing himself (he’s the one who hits the wire, in case you were wondering).

For the movie, the TR6 was recast as a German Wehrmacht BMW R75. With a top speed of 110 mph, there wasn’t much else around in 1961 that could keep up with it.

 

Then we recycle

Clutch plates and connecting rods

Once filming was complete, the bike was left to gather dust in a barn in Norfolk before being discovered by Dick Shepherd, owner of the world’s largest private collection of Triumph motorcycles. After contacting Bud Ekins to confirm the bike’s authenticity, Shepherd set about restoring it to its former glory.

The restoration took about 4 months, with a staggering 95% of the original parts preserved on the exhibition bike. However, Shepherd replaced the clutch plates and connecting rods to get the Triumph looking exactly as it does in the movie, passing the originals on to REC Watches for use in the TTT Escape dials.

The bike is now on permanent display at the Triumph Factory Museum in Hinckley.

Reclaim

Repurposed with a purpose

Our aim in creating the TTT Escape timepiece was to establish a link between the design and functionality of this unique motorcycle.

Along with the TR6 components used in the dial, multiple references to the bike’s design are also built into the TTT Escape. These include the dark-green color scheme used on the dial, rotor and strap inner lining, and the bike’s license plate as seen in the movie (WH-13371), which appears at 5 o’clock on the inner dial.

The semi-openworked sandwich dial and exhibition case let you look straight through the balance wheel and beyond, echoing the “naked” design of the TR6’s engine.

The polished wire lugs, which protrude from the contrasting vertically-brushed outer case, closely resemble the bike’s exhaust pipes. Each watch is individually numbered on the left side of the case.

The skeletonized SW200-1 movement has been developed and customized in collaboration with Sellita, and features ruthenium plating and a custom rotor inspired by the spoked wheels, with a sunburst-finished oscillating weight.

Each TTT timepiece features a dual case construction that lets the wearer turn the entire dial to switch between RIDE and DRESS mode. In RIDE mode, the 12 o’clock marker is shifted 30 degrees clockwise to center it in the rider’s field of vision.

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