While updating the “Casino Royale” Limited page earlier today, I noted that that watch, new from an Authorized Dealer, was priced in 2006 at $3,650 (MSRP).
In case you forgot to ask— the standard (read, ‘not Limited Series’) Omega Planet Ocean, in either size, runs $3,300 (MSRP) on the rubber strap …. So we’re talking about a $350 premium for the James Bond 007 Casino Royale watch affiliation ….
The “Casino Royale” differed from its screen-correct, available-to-consumer counterpart in that it had the “007” logo for second-hand counter-weight, unique casebook markings, and paperwork. My personal Limited is currently on long-term loan to the National Watch & Clock Museum [1] for display as part of its “Wristwatch Gallery.” My own 2900.50.91 is here with me, locked away until retrieved for occasional wrist-time.
Fast forward to present day and I’ll recall that I purchased about a month ago a replacement NATO with “007” logo that is identical to what was originally issued with the Omega Heritage SPECTRE. The MSRP on that was around $300, as compared to $180 for an apparently identical weave, in 21mm, from the same OEM, with stainless steel hardware — but without any sort of “James Bond” indicia.
Comparing “parts” to “watches,” now something like seventeen years apart, the math works out to a 67% premium today, versus almost 11% in January of 2007.
It gets a little trickier to come up with an apples-to-apples for the current Omega No Time to Die Seamaster on its mesh bracelet [2]. But after working the numbers with a few colleagues, I’m pretty comfortable in thinking that a “James Bond” affiliation comes in at a premium of between 42% and 45% for Omega wristwatch purchases (new, from Authorized Dealer).
Those are very impressive numbers for any brand partnership. But between a “relic of the Cold War” [2] and a “luxury Swiss watch” market that is said to be “falling” [3]? By any metric, I call that outstanding.
— Dell Deaton
off-site
References
- National Watch & Clock Museum (accessed January 6, 2024).
- “Seamaster Diver 300m, 42 mm, Titanium on Titanium: Reference 210.90.42.20.01.001” / Omega (accessed January 6, 2024).
- “Disney’s Harsh New Reality: Costly Film Flops, Creative Struggles and a Shrinking Global Box Office” / July 5, 2023 / Brent Lang and Rebecca Rubin, Variety (accessed January 6, 2024).
- “Time to buy? Why the prices of Rolex and other Swiss watches keep falling” / December 8, 2023 / Pras Subramanian / yahoo! finance (accessed January 6, 2024).