James Bond Watches Blog

Last year around this time, I shared a rather helpful video that showed you the fundamentals of how a quartz wristwatch tells time.

This time, it’s the parts, names, and interfaces among them that go into making sure your mechanical James Bond watch keeps accurate track of passing hours, minutes, and seconds.

No— we’re not talking “James Bond” affiliated brand this time. We’re talking basics, fundamentals here. A show called “How It’s Made” on Science TV featured a segment on “luxury watches” during its seventh season (episode 8).

I downloaded it for myself from iTunes. But it also seems to have been made available via YouTube, as you see here.

Courtesy Discovery Channel

The style, class and fundamental character of Sean Connery's James Bond was established in no small part by details such as the Rolex dress watch he wore in Dr No

Style: Circa 1962.

After locating an independent image of what may well be the Rolex that Albert R Broccoli “tossed” to the Eon Productions art department for Sean Connery to wear for introduction as James Bond in Dr No, I got to thinking about what might be called the “Submariner Sc0toma.”

The word scotoma refers to bias. More particularly, a self-filtering mechanism (of which the individual is very likely unaware); it sorts incoming data. Based on what that person has seen before, and how they’ve interpreted it, they are more receptive to information that confirms what they already believe, and tend not to see otherwise obvious facts that refute their preconceptions.

For example, ask most people who are quite interested in Rolex which model they think is the most popular — based on sales.

“Submariner” will show significantly among responses. That’s certainly what you’ll see on the Internet forums, whether we’re talking watches in general, Rolex-specific, or James Bond.

Fact is, the most popular Rolex is a 28mm model for ladies.

Two weeks ago, I quoted from Men’s Style, by Russell Smith, in what readers of this James Bond Watches Blog now know was setup for the likely “Sylvia Trench” James Bond Rolex watch photo posted here this past Monday.

Since then, I’ve started to spend some time looking for any indication that a gentleman of class or sophistication, dressed otherwise in formal attire, playing cards at a casino in the early 1960s, would — by stretch of imagination or oversight — be shown wearing a diver’s watch.

So far, continue reading…

Earlier this week, I came across a book by Russell Smith titled Men’s Style: The Thinking Man’s Guide to Dress. It’s gonna get us started on a last remaining topic key to James Bond watch identification.

One of the things that’s lost in so many of the boysterous discussions of why James Bond “must” wear this watch or that — “because Rolex is known for…,” or “Ian Fleming served in World War II as an officer attached to…” — is a basic understanding of fashion.

The Rolex Precision worn by Sean Connery for his very first “Bond, James Bond” introduction at the Chemin der Fer table in Dr No was no accident.

That can’t be true! It was an oversight, a continuity error. It must’a been Sean Connery’s personal watch. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

James Bond only should’a been wearing the Submariner!

No way. Not in 1962. Not with Terence Young directing and attentive to such details (as he clearly was).

Fifty years ago, appointing James Bond with a diver’s watch in that situation would have surpassed the worst silliness anyone might care to highlight in, say, Moonraker.

As the 1960s unfolded, diver’s watch led, rather than followed “style” choice ubiquity. Probably started when highlighted by the flame of Bond’s cigarette lighter in Goldfinger. Then Rolex advocated it as a fashion direction.

Maybe that’s why Russell Smith doesn’t express much respect for recent James Bond watch choices.

In recent years, several of the world’s most famous watchmakers have launched spectacularly expensive advertising campaigns in an effort to imbue their scientific and technical watches with the glamour of war and adventure, thereby providing the closest contact to war or adventure most men will ever have. Omega paid untold thousands to a Hollywood studio to ensure that Jamesbondman Pierce Brosnan was wearing their Seamaster Professional Divers watch in Tomorrow Never Dies continue reading…