When "The Secret of Parker House" originally aired I remember thinking Mac's red jacket, while simple in design, was cool. I had a red jacket that I bought at a GAP store, that was similar in design, that I wore whenever I wanted to emulate MacGyver's style.

Over the years whenever I would re-watch "The Secret of Parker House" or see a red jacket of similar design, I'd think it would be cool if I could have found the same jacket Mac wore.

Fast forward to last week. While watching "The Secret of Parker House" I got a wild hair and figured I'd check eBay. I typed in red cotton jacket mens, figuring that description would be broad enough. As it turned out, it was too broad, with over 2,500 listings, so I started including designer names ie: Banana Republic, J. Crew, Eddie Bauer and L.L. Bean. As it turned out L.L. Bean was what I was looking for. Below is a photo of the jacket I bought, which exactly matches the one worn by Mac. It is a size large, which given RDA's height, I assume is the size he wore.

The jacket appears red on the episode (due to the set lighting) and in my photo (due to the camera flash). The true color of the jacket is closer to burgundy or wine. The jacket's features are identical to Mac's.

- ribbed cuffs
- ribbed waist band
- two angled slash pockets
- identical matching zipper pull tab
- collar button tab
- two collar buttons (not visible in photo, but will be added later)

Here's one image I found online. The collar button tab can be seen on the left side of the collar.

Wow, you're good, MacFan! It's amazing how you track down all these pieces of clothing. And congrats on the addition to your collection!

Thanks.

Awesome work. It's on our wardrobe page now.

Great! Thank You.

Yeah very cool.

That's a really neat find MacFan! Thanks for sharing!

I always wondered why Mac never did wear that jacket again. It was a neat jacket... still like his black leather one better.

Here is a photo of the collar buttons and the inside collar tag.

When watching "The Secret of Parker House" the buttons can be seen briefly, very briefly at the point where Mac returns from his Jeep with the bags of groceries and he's yelling for Penny to open the door, which has mysteriously slammed closed on him.

I thought Mac's chronograph was a Seiko, but I found this page today. I'm guessing he must have chopped and changed.

http://www.donindiano.net/watches/breitling/callisto_chrono/

Thoughts?

(Sorry if this has been discussed elsewhere!)

It's a common design for watch faces. If you Google image search "chronograph watch" you'll find hundreds of different watches with that face layout.


As you can see from the below pictures, MacGyver's watch is similar but not the same.

But the picture at the bottom of the page appears to show him wearing a Breitling, not the one in the picture youve used. Sorry I don't know how to paste the picture in.

Your right.

Very interesting. I can't help thinking that might actually be RDA's own watch. I recall seeing him wearing it in an interview, which I thought, at the time, may have been the Seiko, but now I'm thinking it was this watch.

Now can we identify the episode this shot is from so I can research it further?

I wanna say that's the Black Corsage in Season 5. I think... lol

I just watched "Legend of the Holy Rose: Part I" and realized that Zoe is wearing either the same vest or the same style of vest that Mac wore several times during the first season. The only difference, Zoe's vest is missing the metal carabiner and the metal d-ring, positioned below the two top pockets seen on Mac's. My guess is that the wardrobe dept. simply cut them off. Possibly to make Zoe's vest look just enough different from Mac's?

* I couldn't find an image that showed her vest up close enough to view the details of it.

I think your right Jedi. I don't recall seeing that blue shirt warn in any other episode.

Wouldn't Mac's vest look really big on Zoe? There's quite a size difference isn't there?

That is true, she is somewhat smaller than he is, that's why I wrote,

Funnily enough I just watched Black Corsage earlier today and he is wearing the Seiko through most of the episode (identified by the small white dials and gold outer ring clearly seen towards the end whilst he is rigging the"space booth") so if it is from that episode it must be a one off or "freak occurrence".

He also appears to not be wearing the Seiko in Halloween knights. I would guess its the same watch as in the photo above (blue shirt) which I think is the Breitling.

That capture is from the Black Corsage episode when Mac and Frank are sitting at the outside diner table.

The watch is also warn in Cease Fire and Children of Light.

You can tell the difference between watches by looking at the front buttons. The Breitling has 3 knobs on the front while the Seiko only has 2. Also the Breitling is a chunkier looking watch.

The Black Corsage




Children of Light

Does anyone else think it's really out of character for MacGyver to be wearing a 2-6 thousand dollar watch?

Seems very lavish and expensive for someone who lives a thrifty and down to earth lifestyle don't you think?

I've thought the same thing regarding all the different jackets/coats/parkas Mac wore.

Perhaps they were part of the bonuses received from the Phoenix Foundation.

Not to mention how many different shoes he wore.

I don't think MacGyver would even except a watch of that expense. He'd rather give that money to a charity.

There's only really 4 jackets we see regularly through the show, so does that mean the others were purchased for specific purpose/mission and then given to second hand stores?

I bought and received a pair of white "Slouch Socks" off eBay. They're great. I feel very MacGyver like wearing them.

I'm not ready to drink the LL Bean Kool-aid quite yet on this one. Mac's collar has a notch cut while the LL Bean portrayed is an angled straight design.

I'll verify things once I get home and take another look at the jacket. It could just be the way the collar laid when I took the photo or the way it laid when
wore it that makes it look different. Every other feature of the jacket wore and the one I own, match (ribbed cuffs, ribbed waistband, angled pockets, metal zipper pull tab, collar buttons, collar button tab).

I bought a London Fog jacket that's really close in comparison. I have this in red (color is called "poppy") and navy blue. It's not the exact one but I figured it was similar so that's why I bought it

Here is a link to the red one: http://www.amazon.com/London-Fog-Auburn-Ja...ondon+fog+poppy

Yes, that is very similar Matt and a smart looking jacket too. I've picked up a couple of FarWest Gore-tex jackets at Value Village recently that aren't too far off the mark either. FarWest is a British Columbia company and who were getting quite prominent back in the late 80s/early 90s .... so I wouldn't be surprised if some of their lines made it into the MacGyver wardrobe depo. Having said that MacFan is probably spot on with the match and the angle/light making all the (negligible) difference.

I just saw that the company's inception was in 1977 so you could definitely be right about some of the products making their way into the show. This is especially true since filming locations were in Canada. Could you maybe post a picture of the jacket you purchased? Curious to see what it looks like. I've always wished the red coat had more screen use than just "The Secret of Parker House." I agree, MacFan is probably right about the angle, etc.