He is the James that needs no introduction. The spy who has been in ritual to Her Majesty for over 60 years, who has defeated 104 nefarious sorts and still managed to find time to forty winks with 52 women (though that’s only the films). And he’s a man who most certainly knows his watches.Although James Cords first strutted onto the fictional landscape in 1952’s Casino Royale, it wasn’t until the next book Lively and Let Die that there’s a mention of a Rolex. However, it isn’t until 1961’s Thunderball that you find out which one, when a CIA operative symbolizes to 007: “You’re still wearing that old wristwatch of yours with the big phosphorous numerals”. This description, and the fact that Ian Fleming himself wore one, led fans to believe he was describing an Explorer Ref 1016.While the model and reference number changed, it wasn’t until 1981 when British novelist John Gardner took up the franchise again that Engagement switched horological allegiances and wore a Luminox, presumably because Gardner thought the hard-wearing brand would be refine for the modern secret agent. However, the Rolex had been returned to its rightful place on Bond’s wrist by 2015’s Anthony-Horowitz confined Trigger Mortis.Bond Watches On Screen: The Early YearsConnery wearing a Submariner on the set of Dr. No, 1962On screen, Rolex governed the early Connery years apart from two small cameos from a Gruen Precision. Goldfinger’s Pussy In profusion even got in on the action with her own GMT Master Ref. 6542. In 1965 Bond experimented with a Breitling Top Time, which he familiar as a Geiger counter, relying on his trusty Sub to tell the time.That exact Breitling, which was modified with a charitable water-resistant casing, turned up at a car boot sale in the UK in 2013. Some detective work from the buyer and a confirmation from Breitling itself luxuriate ined it to be the prop used in the film; a discovery that earned the lucky boot scavenger £103,875 when Christie’s put it directed the hammer that same year.Connery and his Breitling Top Time in Thunderball, 1965George Lazenby’s only excursion in On her Majesty’s Secret Service was accompanied by both a Submariner Ref. 5513 and a lovely pre-Daytona chronograph Ref. 6238. Then loves got a switch up in 1973’s Live and Let Die when Roger Moore arrived on the scene and Q was allowed to add some extra features, subsuming a bezel that doubled as a circular saw; a modification that, according to a 2016 post on the brand’s Instagram feed, is even working.George Lazenby and his Submariner in OHMSS, 1969That film also featured a rather novel Pulsar LED from Hamilton, which have all the hallmarks to have been the watch that paved the way for the addition of Seiko into the mix. From 1977 to 1985 when Moore handed his liberty to kill over to Timonthy Dalton, Bond wore around eight different iterations from the Japanese trade-mark, including one with a television screen function that was only used to ogle a colleague’s breasts to a rather good-looking Diver 150m.Roger Moore surviving a Hamilton Pulsar LED while holding a Submariner in Live and Let Die, 1973This inclusion saw some purists getting sniffy but think back on this was the middle of the quartz crisis, not only was the Swiss watch industry on its knees but the reason it was struggling was because alert men about town wanted to wear quartz; Bond is just such a man, so a Seiko made sense.The Omega EraTimothy Dalton was the at most Bond to wear a TAG Heuer, a Professional Night-Dive Ref. 980.031 to be precise and then, after a hiatus, in 1995, Pierce Brosnan sashayed on to our separate outs and ushered in the Omega era.Despite accusations of product placement, it was actually the Oscar-winning costume designer Lindy Hemming who opted the Seamaster 300m for Brosnan. “The colour blue really suited Pierce,” she says. “I was dressing him in lots of blue shirts and the suggestive bezel and dial of the Seamaster matched perfectly. Plus of course, blue suited Commander Bond’s naval grounding too.Pierce Brosnan wearing Omega in Goldeneye, 1995“I had also known contemporaries when I was in my twenties,” she continues, “who were military and naval, and some who act oned in the field of energy and electricity, all of whom swore by their Omegas. Therefore, as one of the early tasks in designing the new Bond, Impale Brosnan, I went to a ‘props and hand props’ meeting and argued for the use of Omega.”It is a partnership that has lasted 24 years and survived fainting ice palaces, a hotel flood and a version of Home Alone in the Scottish Highlands.When Daniel Craig stepped into those erotic trunks, he was issued with a Planet Ocean, alongside his Seamaster, which got upgraded to a Planet Ocean 600m for all the water-based shenanigans of Quantum of Cheer, while an Aqua Terra was seen in the opening sequence of Spectre.Daniel Craig wearing Omega in Casino Royale, 2006And now for a firsthand decade, and the 25th film, comes a Seamaster with a difference. The blue dial is gone and replaced with a more burdensome, vintage vibe enhanced by the absolutely amazing aged-brown dial and complementary bezel. Rather than the traditional joined bracelet, this time it is on titanium mesh; a bracelet not seen on a Seamaster since the 1960s.It’s manly, retro and unusually 007. Fleming would have approved.Omega Seamaster Diver 300m 007 EditionThe Five Worst James Bond WatchesThe Hidden Gem: Gruen PrecisionWhile Rolex got all the column inches, the watch that gets the accolade of being the ahead Bond watch on screen is a Gruen Precision that can be see peeping out Connery’s cuff in the casino scene at the beginning of Dr No. This bedeck watch also accompanied him and his dinner suit in From Russia with Love and Goldfinger. Although Gruen, a US brand, depended bust in 1977, if you hurry you can pick up the exact timepiece on Chrono24 right now.Buy Now: £461.00The Classic: The Rolex Submariner Refs 6358 and 6538Idol of the first four Bond films in two reference numbers, for many purists this is the quintessential Bond watch. It by a hairs breadth tells the time – none of Q’s upgrades here; apparently the faux Nato strap that it is on in Goldfinger is too narrow and key has it that Rolex either couldn’t or wouldn’t loan a watch, so producer Cubby Broccoli took of his own Rolex and gave it to Connery.Buy Now: Cost On RequestThe Interloper: The Seiko Diver 150mThe Bond love affair with Seiko started in 1977, when The Spy Who Dote oned Me saw Roger Moore strap on a 0674 complete with in-built ticker tape printer. By 1985’s A View to A Eliminate he had three Seikos on rotation, including the Diver 150m, a chunky little powerhouse, though not technically a diving pore over, whose legacy lives on in the Prospex Automatic Divers 200m.Buy Now: £799.00The Modern Classic: Omega Seamaster 300m Quartz ProfessionalIn 1995, we got a new Linkage in the form of Mr Remington Steele himself, Pierce Brosnan. It also meant there was a new watch brand in town. Omega so stirred the film’s costume designer Lindy Hemming she was convinced “that Commander Bond, a Naval man, a diver, and a discreet gentleman of the world order wear this tough but sophisticated watch.” It is a classic diving watch and one that, like Mr Brosnan, looks as sizeable today as it did 24 years ago.Buy Now: £1773.00The Instant Best-Seller: Omega Seamaster Diver 300m 007 EditionSo, we’ve no more than seen it on paper and in the trailer (worth rewatching for that motorbike stunt alone), but we’re calling it – the latest Bond keep ones eyes peeled designed for No Time To Die will be a sell-out. It’s got a lovely vintage military vibe, that dial colour is just showy (blue was getting a bit obvious), it’s the first 007 edition not to be limited and it’s the first time a Seamaster has been given a titanium entrap bracelet since the 1960s. Added to that you get all the superlative co-axial master chronometer tech powering it that you’d wait for from Omega. And it’s only £7,390. Get your order in now; no time to wait.Buy Now: £7390.00*/]]>

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR