In 2014, Christopher Nolan’s space-and-time-faring blockbuster Interstellar hit theaters. The film tells the the story of humanity under threat, with the Earth, ravaged by drought and famine brought on by climate change, no longer being able to sustain human life. Searching for a way to save humanity, a team of explorers led by Matthew McConaughey’s Joseph Cooper set out to explore a wormhole in search of a new planet. Before he departs on his mission, Cooper gives his daughter, Murph, his wristwatch as a keepsake, knowing that even in a best case scenario it would be decades before he’d be able to see her again. He tells her to use it to track their relative time. Without getting too into the weeds of the plot, I’ll just say that the watch eventually plays a critical role in the film.
Hamilton has a long and storied connection to Hollywood, with Hamilton watches having appeared in over 450 films throughout the years. The first-ever appearance of a Hamilton watch on screen was in the 1932 film, Shanghai Express, and in 1951, for the sake of historical accuracy, Hamilton was chosen as the watch for the hit film, The Frogmen.
For Interstellar, Hamilton teamed up with the production team to provide watches for a number of the film’s characters, among them Cooper and Murph (played both by Jessica Chastain and Mackenzie Foy). The watch worn by the latter, the one given to Murph by Cooper, became known by fans of the film as the “Murph” watch. It was built from elements of existing watches in Hamilton’s Khaki lineup, and initially there were no plans to release a version of this watch out to the public.