James Bond Watches Blog

Shortly after unveiling my “James Bond watches: ‘The List’ of EON Productions movie wristwatches” on the jamesbondwatches.com website, I posted a Thread to the TimeZone “Rolex – Vintage” Forum. James Dowling, a/k/a “MrRolex” is the moderator.

Some of what follows here includes feedback from Forum participants, including Mr. Dowling.

However, the main purpose for presenting the content here is for the further information I provide on development of “The List” and questions that were valuable to answer.

delldeaton, Jan 01, 2009 – 11:42 AM, “Definitive list of James Bond film watches (EON Productions)”

Wanted to make TZ one of my first stops in sharing what I believe is the most comprehensive lists of James Bond film watches available. Although it’s been several years in the making, I still consider it a work-in-progress.

But the thing I think it offers of most importance at this point is an organized way of capturing each variation of watch by film, model, story line, and gadget. I don’t see this so much as a debate about “which watch came first?” or “which watch is best?” or “what’s the real James Bond watch?” so much as it is a way of trying to cover everything for those who are interested in the topic.

As always, I thank you all for your interest. And I’m looking forward to your feedback….

delldeaton, Jan 01, 2009 – 02:46 PM, “There are really two things I’m fundamentally hoping to achieve here”

The first is to provide a truly complete list of all watch variations that have appeared in the James Bond films from EON Productions. A clear shortcoming in efforts (well-meaning as they may be) based on film-title associations falls short; for example, A View to a Kill shows as many as four different watches in my list so far.

Now we look where perhaps we have not looked before. And we can discuss watches based on common labels, moving closer to “final answers,” as opposed to potentially confusing variations.

Second, I wanted to really question assumptions here. That doesn’t continue reading…

The IWM exhibit asks a question often debated by Fleming biographers: How much of James Bond was Ian Fleming? Evidence abounds that Fleming steeped this fictional spy with his most personal tastes and habits. The 007 clothing choices, hatred of tea, and number of cigarettes smoked in a day all parallel aspects of Fleming’s own life.

Product placements abound in his books. Familiar brands hook us to Bond’s world through the reality of what we already know and accept. Bond’s creator was thoughtful in the use of these. Thus there are obvious distinctions between references made to things he had simply researched to fill in gaps, and those he experienced personally.

In total, there are approximately 100 references to James Bond wearing a watch in the Fleming novels and short-story collections published between 1953 and 1966 (the last two were posthumous). Two-thirds of these continue reading…

Up until how, perhaps the biggest impediment to creating a comprehensive list of every James Bond watch featured in an EON Productions film has been the lack of a clear way of identifying each and clearly differentiating it from all of the others. Simply referring to “The Dr. No wristwatch” risks finding only the Rolex Submariner most frequently seen, but missing “The Sylvia Trench watch” in those early scenes with actress Eunice Gayson that established Sean Connery as James Bond.

Same thing holds true with For Your Eyes Only. Or did you think the Seiko Duo-Time was the only wristwatch Roger Moore officially wore as James Bond in that one?

Both mechanical and quartz watches might be called “The Pierce Brosnan Omega.” Even if we were clear on that technical difference, how would we differentiate the Arkangel version, worn on a strap during the GoldenEye pre-title sequence, as opposed to the model worn by 007 on a bracelet throughout the balance? And that’s before we start exploring the Q-Branch options à la Danjaq property masters.

In developing this list for the James Bond Watches website, we decided that looking at the question from that very studio properties department standpoint best captured things for all possible angles of inquiry. Take for example the entries above for Live and Let Die. At least three different presentations of the Rolex watch were made: There was the watch simply as worn by James Bond, and as it worked in gadget-function for magnet and buzz-saw applications (thanks to Q Branch). All three are here, although from a story (and movie-goer) standpoint, the audience is supposed to think of it as the same one wristwatch.

One of the other challenges we’ve overcome continue reading…