James Bond Watches Blog

I wish I could say that the first new James Bond watch announcement for 2012 was merely a comedy of errors.

But it’s nowhere near that good.

Yesterday morning (that is to say, Eastern Time in the United States, where this James Bond Watches Blog is written), Omega sorta officially announced an upcoming James Bond Seamaster model. Actually, two.

Both “commemorate” 50 years of the James Bond films. There’s a 41mm watch, limited to 11,007 pieces; and a 36.25mm watch, limited to 3,007 pieces.

TimeZone broke Tuesday with full text of the formal communication from Omega, along with photographs.

Trouble is— they also broke with it last Friday. But that January 20 information was from an Omega Authorized Dealer in London. A dealer that had posted detailed information for both watches as items it was then-selling on a pre-order basis.

As a strong advocate for purchasing new Omega watches through Authorized Dealers, I’ll remind my friends here that we commonly see signs in display cases to warn us that genuine Omega watches aren’t sold new on the Internet. In particular, there’s reason to doubt warranties for sales via the web. Same thing at point of purchase for Rolex.

And yet the leak-source from last Friday blatantly promotes itself as an official part of the retail network for both. Ready to do business with all comers, apparently, via its website.

Those of you who follow my James Bond watch updates on Twitter @bondwatches saw my due diligence on this story as it unfolded, prudently, real-time.

If I’d wanted to, I easily could have made a big splash on this blog, second only to TimeZone with a story here. (Sadly, a number of both watch- and Bond-related sites did just that, neither acknowledging the actual investigative work done by TimeZone staff nor by me — too readily sacrificing credibility and accuracy at the alter of shallow self-promotion.)

But if I’d have done that, I’d have had egg on my face, too, when the Authorized Omega Dealer in London pulled the two James Bond 50th Anniversary watch listings from its site, sometime between Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.

What’s the big deal anyway?

Once everything seemed copacetic, formal release issued and out, this let’s take a step back for perspective query appeared on TimeZone then, yesterday:

who cares if it was leaked a day early…

…this isn’t corporate earnings, or in fact anything sensitive at all really….

Well, first off: It wasn’t “a day early,” but rather, at least 4 days early (don’t know how long London-AD had had it up before it was mentioned on TimeZone). And the watch forum announcement unfolded as the Omega corporate offices in Switzerland would have been closing for the weekend. So, sorta like taking the car out when Mom and Dad aren’t home.

But the best answer to this question actually came right away, from a TimeZone staffer:

It’s unethical for one thing

An AD taking orders and selling the product a week ahead of everyone else when there were clear instructions from head office (called a PRESS EMBARGO) is unethical.

Yup.

Moreover, even though TimeZone received and ran the official release from Omega corporate, it still doesn’t appear on the official Omega website. Nor, based on a number of eMails I’ve received through this morning, have a number of US Authorized Dealers for Omega heard anything about this, “officially.”

Thus, the actions of the London-based Omega Authorized Dealer undermined the legitimate Omega retail network, worldwide. It undermined the cautions made at every brick-and-mortar store that Internet sales of Omega watches are not allowed, and are risky.

Further, do I have to remind regular readers of this James Bond Watches Blog about the “Madagascar shirt” incident when we were at a similar state of inquiry to identify the Quantum of Solace Omega, at a time when that film was in pre-production?

In summary: A free lance effort to make knock-off replicas of what actor Daniel Craig wore as James Bond in Casino Royale. And, don’cha know, one of the movers and shakers behind that project just happened to have a girlfriend, “Samantha,” who he said worked for Omega corporate, in marketing. Buy the Madagascar shirt, he promised, and he’d share her insider information on the Quantum of Solace watch as part of the deal.

Back to the Omega “Collector’s Piece Classic Seamaster Co-Axial 300 M: Commemorating 50 years of James Bond in films” watch, then, as I pointed out on Twitter via @bondwatches: The London AD was the only name that came up when model numbers for the new limited were entered over the weekend.

That portends for them a major head-start in visibility (and leveraging their franchise investment overall) in coming discussions of Skyfall James Bond watches.

So it was more than a leak. It was a leak with effectively strategic leverage. It was a leak that every Omega Authorized Dealer in the world now has to pay for, as do the wristwatch customers who buy from them.

How will Omega SA deal with this, the real issue, here?