James Bond Watches Blog

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…

Actor Roger Moore wore a Seiko DK001 model, case number 0674-5009 wristwatch as James Bond in the 1977 Eon Productions 007 movie, "The Spy Who Loved Me"

This was my first “grail” Seiko James Bond watch.

As I was watching the quartz revolution play out real-time, it took me a bit to accept the notion that LED wasn’t the way things were gonna end up. Thus, my first Seiko LCD didn’t come until the Memory-Bank Calendar was selected for Roger Moore in Moonraker.

But this Seiko Quartz LC was indelibly impressed on my mind. As I’ve said in numerous presentations on James Bond watches now, it was my horologist’s connection to The Spy Who Loved Me, and the stunningly attractive Bond girl Barbara Bach.

Alternatively labeled the “Atlantis Seiko” (consumer version) and “Ticker-Tape Seiko” (gadget version) this James Bond wristwatch model is further distinguished as being the only 007 timekeeper referenced by Albert R Broccoli in his autobiography, When the Snow Melts — newly available this year on Amazon.com as a Kindle eBook.

I picked up the name he gave it, as the “Ticker Tape” watch, in honor of Cubby Broccoli.

Unique identification of this watch is model DK001, which is housed in a 0674-5009 Seiko case.

This image is a larger version and more expanded cropping of one released on the James Bond Watch Photos website in August of 2010, optimized for current iPhone models. Nondescript, low-key background 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…