James Bond Watches Blog

Most current model from all confirmed James Bond watch brands: In a single shot

Confession: I actually completed work on this image around the same time as the James Bond watch group photo referenced here almost 2 months ago.

And it’s my favorite of the pair.

But I like to mix it up a bit. And strive for balance (information permitting) in discussing all known James Bond watch brands — each of which has its own passionate following.

At the same time, 10 days ago it was starting to look like this one would be out-of-date by the time I’d released it. That was when one Omega watch Authorized Dealers posted extensive details on what it said would be “the” Skyfall James Bond watch. That “scoop” was subsequently retracted.

Thus these remain, still, the most current models from among each of the known James Bond watch makers.

Starting with the back row, left:

• Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean, Quantum of Solace (2008)
• Seiko quartz Chronograph, A View to a Kill (1985)
• Hamilton Pulsar P2, Live and Let Die (1973)
• Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date, Carte Blanche (2011)
• Breitling for continue reading…

The Seiko 7A28 quartz Chronograph made history in its own right, beyond achieving fame as a James Bond watch in "A View to a Kill"

Although I haven’t made much fanfare of it, I believe this is another of those James Bond watches that was first identified here on this James Bond Watches Blog.

And it brings us full circle from the ground-breaking LCD worn by Roger Moore less than a decade earlier as James Bond in The Spy Who Loved Me.

At that time, in the Quartz Revolution, it was a major achievement to produce a digital watch that continuously displayed the time down to the second.

By 1985, Seiko had made the quartz analogue watch commonplace (no small feat in light of battery power required to move the hands).

That same year, for A View to a Kill, the primary James Bond watch was a Seiko model SPR007, 7A28-7020 Chronograph wristwatch. A history-maker in its own right, the SPR007 7A28-7020 was the first quartz chronograph ever made.

As a result, for this image I decided to go with a “drawing board” look. Technically, it’s still a photograph — since that’s how it started out. It also took a bit more than application of a single filter to come up with this, although the base image was continue reading…

James Bond watch choices among the most memorable features of 007 movies

The UK Mail Online today has a feature story on the 50 most memorable images from James Bond on-screen.

Second-to-top on the list: James Bond watches.

In total, specific wristwatches worn by the James Bond character were referenced 5 times. And that doesn’t include the “Villain’s watch garotte,” worn by Red Grant in From Russia with Love (coming in at number 35) nor the non-watch “Wrist dart gun” from Moonraker (47).

Curiously, the first James Bond watch named, at number 15, is the “Rolex with laser,” from Never Say Never Again. Not an Eon Productions movie. And, whatever the watch is, it is definitely not a Rolex.

In total, Rolex is named by brand three times. Rolex is the only watchmaker specified for Agent 007 by Ian Fleming in the original books. Jeffery Deaver put a Rolex on his James Bond in the novel Carte Blanche last year. The last movie-Bond to wear a Rolex was actor Timothy Dalton, with a reference 16610 Submariner Date in Licence to Kill, Eon Productions, 1989.

Only one other James Bond watchmaker is cited in this top 50: Seiko.

Showing up with room to spare at number 47, the “Seiko detonator watch” appeared in Moonraker, Eon Productions, 1979. Hat’s off to the marketing power of Seiko for this achievement. Seiko hasn’t been officially associated with James Bond since 1985, when actor Roger Moore wore 3 in A View to a Kill.

On the other hand, it’s stunning to see how little mindshare impact that Omega appears to be getting from the money it’s put into the James Bond movie and video franchises.

The Omega name appears nowhere on this top 50 list. continue reading…