James Bond Watches Blog

It’s not often that the public has a chance to see Ian Fleming’s personal James Bond watch in operation.

Next weekend, starting Friday, September 10, will be one of those rare occasions: During the “Bond Enthusiasts Weekend.”

Although the original Rolex reference 1016 Explorer upon which Mr. Fleming based his description of the literary James Bond watch remains in good working order, it’s not routinely kept wound as part of its year-long display within the “Bond Watches, James Bond Watches” exhibit at the National Watch & Clock Museum. I personally set the time and placed it, functioning, in its high-security case on June 17, 2010, just after completing a WGAL television interview in which it was featured.

Its venerable 1560 caliber movement kept it ticking away throughout the public opening that continue reading…

All six parts of this NAWCC presentation are also now available on YouTube.

This is the format I used for embedding them on CommanderBond.net, and I understand that that may be easier for other web placements as well.

The Channel is “jamesbondwatches” on YouTube.

At left, you can watch Part 1 right here within this Blog post. Otherwise, links to all 6 parts are included below for your convenience. continue reading…

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…