It doesn’t matter whether your man is Craig, Moore or Connery, every time you hear the words ‘black tie’ you will instantly picture yourself stepping into the dinner suit ever the suave, sophisticated, less-than-secret agent. Sure, you’d probably die within the opening chase scene of any 007 movie, but by god you’ll look good doing so.
Yet the clothes do not make the icon; nor do the high body counts, insane pyrotechnics or approach to women that sets gender politics back a good few decades. It’s all about the watch.
OK, OK, that might be a bit of a stretch, but it hasn’t stopped 007’s Q-issued timepieces becoming catnip for collectors with a poker-playing roleplay in mind.
Just like the actors who have played him, not all Bond timepieces are created equal – and for every Dalton there’s a Lazenby. I’ll let you decide which way round those two go.
No Time to Die may have been postponed until November, but that doesn’t stop us checking out six watches to die for…
You’d probably die within the opening chase scene of any 007 movie, but by god you’ll look good
The Breitling Top Time from Thunderball (1965)
The new Breitling Top Time limited edition for 2020
Breitling Top Time
If there’s one watch I want to see Breitling re-introduce it’s this. Forget the reams of Navitimers, the strange collabs with motorcycle brands or airlines; just give me the Top Time Chronograph. Please? I don’t even need the Geiger counter the film version was equipped with. I won’t mention that Thunderball was crap either.
Kidding aside (seriously, not kidding), the super clean chronograph with its protective case is a step away from Breitling’s pilots pieces and towards a sportier, all-purpose feel. The only odd aspect though is that the watch included a third-party Venus manual-winding chrono rather than an in-house number. That’s not a bad thing, but imagine a modern version with Breitling’s current crop of manufacture movements. If that doesn’t sell, then Thunderball was a decent film.
Daniel Craig will wear the Omega 'No Time To Die' Seamaster Diver 300M 007 Edition
Omega Seamaster 300m
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So spaketh Moneypenny: “Rolex?” And thusly replied Craig: “Omega.” So began the genesis of the modern Bond Watch.
Sure, the switch first happened in 1995’s Goldeneye, but it wasn’t until the newer, grittier, anti-Brosnan incarnation of 007 that the modern Bond watch was set in stone.
With that simple exchange, the Omega Seamaster 300m – or some variation thereof – became the spy’s constant companion, even if it didn’t have a laser-projecting crown.
The actual watch in Casino Royale is the wavy blue-dialled version built before last year’s revamp of the collection, and largely thanks to the film became the watchmaker’s most popular model.
That said, Omega has muddied the waters a bit with more limited editions than films, some great, some less than. You can already get No Time to Die’s streamlined, military-inspired edition.
Just avoid the ones with 007 embossed onto the dial. You don’t want to be that guy.
Gruen Precision 510
You can tell the studio was still working things out when Dr No hit screens. Not only were there inconsistencies throughout, a tonne of audio / visual syncing errors and studio equipment clearly visible, they put this on Bond’s wrist. I’m not saying the Gruen Precision 510 isn’t nice; it is, it really is. But what British superspy would be caught dead wearing an American brand? #NotMyBond.
That said, it’s a handsome piece, as pure 1960s vintage as you can get with a silver face, gold case and indexes, and fit the poker scene with that first muttered intro (“Bond, James Bond” *shiver*) perfectly.
He did switch it to a diver later in the film for all the Caribbean beach hopping, but the watch worn at the advent of one of the most famous catchphrases in the world? That sticks. Plus you can pick them up for a few hundred quid at the top end, which is nice.
Roger Moore's Seiko 7549 Tuna Can from For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Seiko 7549 Tuna Can
Prior to the 7549, Bond had already worn a couple of Seikos, but those created in the image of the Hamilton Pulsar.
This was a departure not just for the spy but for the Japanese watchmaker. It was the first serious, professional-standard diver and it’s still one of the coolest it’s built with its unapologetically massive, shroud-protected titanium case and quartz movement – still a novelty back in 1975.
It also happened to be the only thing that took itself seriously in For Your Eyes Only; in case you don’t remember, it ends with a parrot chatting to Margaret Thatcher.
Today, it’s arguably more remembered than the film it featured in, having been reinterpreted a fair few times over the years and directly leading to the Prospex watches we know and love today. All of that, from a watch built because an angry letter was sent to Seiko HQ from a professional diver. It just goes to show, complaining works.
Sean Connery's Rolex Submariner 6538 from Dr No (1962), From Russia With Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964) – still known as the 'James Bond Submariner' today.
The Rolex Submariner 5513 from Live and Let Die (1973) worn by Roger Moore – sans the electromagnet for deflecting bullets and the circular saw bezel seen in the movie version.
Rolex Submariner
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If the Seamaster is the quintessentially modern Bond watch, the Sub is the OG.
It all but started the frothing, rabid frenzy for whatever was on 007’s wrist when, during the superlative Goldfinger, Connery illuminated the dial with a lighter, the kind of product placement most execs would sell their first-born sons for.
It was also the perfect fit: a practical, elegant, timeless timepiece for a man that embodied the same traits.
Granted, Bond Rolexes don’t have the same pedigree as, say, Paul Newmans, but a Goldfinger watch still achieved a solid £48,488 at Fellows in 2018, and 007 purists will pay a pretty (money) penny for any alluded to in the books.
When I was younger though I dreamed of the 5513 from Live and Let Die. It was a sad day when I found out the bladed bezel-equipped watch Moore used to cut himself free was nothing but a prop. Almost as sad as when I had to watch Octopussy.
The Hamilton Pulsar P2 from Live and Let Die (1973)
Hamilton Pulsar P2 2900 “Astronaut”
Even if you missed this little (now dated) number in Live and Let Die, you might have seen a different version of it in a much, much different film: Stanley Kubrick’s 2001, A Space Odyssey. The Pulsar was based on the concept watch created specifically for that film and, back when it came out, was ground-breaking.
It was the first fully-electric watch with no moving parts and, better yet, used the new-fangled magic of LEDs to indicate the time. It also looked like a miniaturised, nuclear-powered microwave which is… cool, I guess? And they say Bond’s style is timeless.
It might be more suited to Moonraker, but Hamilton’s attempt to keep 007’s gadgets cutting edge is one of the best simply by being the strangest. At the time it cost as much as a Rolex; now, not so much – in fact, there's a new edition out this year.
