James Bond Watches Blog

Although Donovan "Red" Grant did wear a Girard-Perregaux watch in the novel "From Russia with Love," it never became a James Bond wristwatch

Some myths die hard.

They go down kicking and screaming, in fact.

For perhaps as many as fifty years, maybe more — too many watch writers insisted that Girard-Perregaux was a James Bond watch.

But it never was.

And I busted that myth here on this James Bond Watches Blog two years ago this month. See “The Girard-Perregaux wristwatch that James Bond did not wear,” February 14, 2010.

Confusion stemmed from reference to villain Red Grant’s “bulky gold wristwatch on a well-used brown crocodile strap,” described by Ian Fleming on the first chapter of From Russia with Love (Jonathan Cape, 1957).

“It was a Girard-Perregaux model designed for people who like gadgets, and it had a sweep second-hand and two little windows in the face to tell the day of the month, and the month, and the phase of the moon.”

Fast forward into climax and denouement of the novel: Bond’s own watch destroyed by Grant, Bond kills Grant, Bond takes watch of Grant’s dead wrist and wears it as his own from there on out.

Trouble with such simplistic wristwatches of James Bond stories is that they miss what happened in between continue reading…

James Bond Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date watch: Reference 115200, as specified by author Jeffery Deaver in Carte Blanche

Author Jeffery Deaver may have stirred a bit of controversy last year when he specified this 34mm Rolex reference 115200 Oyster Perpetual Date as his James Bond watch for Carte Blanche.

In my experience, criticism is unfounded.

This watch is an ideal successor to the 36mm Rolex 1016 Explorer that Ian Fleming designated for the wrist of Agent 007 in 1962, when writing On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.

Side-by-side, the case dimensions are indistinguishable. The contemporary choice a bit beefier, its sapphire crystal undoubtedly more formidable if ever called upon to serve as makeshift knuckle-duster, date-magnifier more clearly saying “Rolex.”

And, yeah: Just a (tastefully) bit more flash in some of its polished highlights.

I had quite a bit of time in the studio with this watch a couple of months back. So it’ll be coming up again this year and into the future on my James Bond Watch Photos companion site, in a variety of settings.

Its domed bezel makes it an interesting and sometimes challenging subject. Creative reflections at times. It also “sees” everything — in many situations, whether I’d like it to or not.

Here, it is continue reading…

Heuer 980-series Night Dive watch ad, placed just a few years before it would become a James Bond watch in "The Living Daylights"

This advertisement is from the August 1983 issue of Skin Diver magazine.

Among watch models featured, we see the reference 980.031 PVD Night Diver from what was then the Heuer Time & Electronics Corporation.

Actor Timothy Dalton wore that model as James Bond in the Eon Productions 007 movie, The Living Daylights, 1987.

Technical specifications include details on the phosphorescent glow-dial (after just 10 seconds of exposure to light, the entire dial was said to glow for an average of 10 minutes).

Beyond that, tritium markers on the hands markers at 12, 6, and 9 o’clock positions glowed “even without previous activation.”

A total of 6 color and size variations are shown here, beyond which, alternatives were “available with non-phosphorescent dials.”

In addition to providing historical information on reference numbers and certain specifications, advertisements such as this make great collector pieces in their own rights. I know some people who focus on individual watches, but go deep with them — building out what they own to include original packaging, instructions, ads such as this, and collateral material.

Often at nicely accessible prices.