November 2009
As a sidebar to his “Tell Time Like a Spy” article in the Style: MEN magazine (Singapore), senior writer Terence Lim interviewed Dell Deaton of James Bond Watches. This took place in parts, from September 14 to 20, 2009. As with most interviews, what made it to publication was only a small slice of what was provided.
Posted here to the Internet in its entirety through specific, written permission to James Bond Watches and Dell Deaton. Style: MEN magazine has an international circulation of 25,000 readers per issue.
Bonding Time
Watch expert Dell Deaton shares his insight on James Bond and his creator, Ian Fleming.
by Terence Lim
In the 22 Bond movies, we’ve seen 007 wear different watch brands. What’s your take on his taste in horology?
The watches have always served to define the character of James Bond. In the early films, the branding was part of an overall effort to “authenticate” an actor with Ian Fleming and his novels. As the 007 brand came to represent the bigger-than-life, Bond’s watches started to represent — fantastic but real — technologies and gadgets.
So Bond moves with horological trends?
Yes. Talking about watches in the 1970s, to keep Bond current, going quartz made perfect sense. In the last 20 years, there’s been an evolution towards luxury and tough-guy status, with moves to realism more recently. Today, Omega is a great fit on the Daniel Craig interpretation of 007.
Fleming gave other characters Patek Philipe and Cartier watches. But why primarily Rolex for Bond?
Ian Fleming was brilliant at using brand names as shorthand to flesh out characters and circumstances, imply credibility, and carry readers past, if not into, otherwise unbelievable storylines.
Rolex wasn’t Bond’s marque du jour?
Fleming didn’t stick to Rolex for Bond anymore than he did for himself.
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