SPOILER ALERT!

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Circa 1961 Anno Domini

This was the year that made James Bond, and thus, James Bond watches.

On June 28, 1961, Variety ran a three-sentence news story: ‘A.R. (Cubby) Broccoli [1] and Harry Saltzman [2] have joined forces in a production setup [3]. As a start, they have acquired screen rights to all [a] the Ian Fleming [4,5] yarns on James Bond, and plan to put the first into production in Britain this fall. Initial one will be “From Russia With Love”‘ [published four years prior][6].

History is never that pointed of succinct, of course. Rather akin to a pebble breaking the surface of a still pond, consider the reach of its furthest discernible ripple for boundaries.

In this case, from release of The Ian Fleming James Bond Watch™ in 1960 to the premier of Goldfinger in 1964.

Key events Timeline [b] centered on June of 1961, from a James Bond Watches perspective.

circa fourth quarter 1960

The Ian Fleming James Bond Watch™ was made by Rolex [7][c]. It has been estimated that the price of this Explorer model was approximately $170 US at that time [8].

circa January 1961

Ian Fleming formalized a deal with Harry Saltzman for a six-month option to secure backing from a major studio to produce a series of “James Bond” motion pictures” [9].

January 20

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was sworn-in as 35th President of the United States of America [10].

January 21

Producer Michael G Wilson, born in 1942, turned 19 years old [11].

January 24

U.S. Air Force Boeing B-52 Stratofortress with a payload of two hydrogen bombs crashed in North Carolina [12].

January 31

Three-year-old “Ham” became the first chimpanzee to travel into space and return safely after to earth [13].

circa February 1961

Ian Fleming completed first typed manuscript for his tenth James Bond book, The Spy Who Loved Me (1962) [14].

March 1, 1961

Actor David Niven, born in 1910, turned 51 years old [15].

March 17

President John F Kennedy named the fifth James Bond novel, From Russia, with Love (1957) among the books in his top ten [16].

March 17

“… Kevin McClory [17] took out an injection to prevent publication of Thunderball” [18]. This action was brought on the basis of a 1958 collaboration among Ian Fleming, screenwriter Jack Whittingham [19], and producer Kevin McClory on a movie script project that “fizzled out.” The claim was that Mr Fleming had “used that screenplay as the basis for his new Bond novel without permission” [20]. “Publication was allowed but the ensuing case lasted two years” [21].

March 27

The ninth James Bond book, Thunderball, was published by Jonathan Cape [22].

April 11, 1961

Trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann began in Israel [23].

April 12

Ian Fleming suffered a major heart attach [24]; it was later observed that he had “lied” about having been “fully restored in health and spirits” as of September 11, 1962 [25]. Mr Fleming wrote Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang [26] during his hospitalization convalescence [27]. “While in hospital [he] had been forbidden a typewriter lest he strain himself. To fill the hours he wrote a children’s story using pen and paper …” [28].

circa May 1961

Writer Wolf Mankowitz [29] introduced Harry Saltzman to Albert R Broccoli [30].

May 6

Jack Whittingham, himself also having suffered a heart attack, wrote to a hospitalized Ian Fleming [31].

May 8

Former MI6 agent George Blake convicted of spying for the Soviet Union KGB [32].

May 10

Mr Fleming replied to May 6 letter from Jack Whittingham [33].

May 25

President Kennedy called for a commitment to “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth” [34].

circa June 1961

Ian Fleming “suggested his friend David Niven [to] play Bond” [35-37].

June 8

Bell “rocket belt” was publicly demonstrated for the first time [38,39].

June 18

Producer Barbara Broccoli, born in 1960, celebrated her first birthday [40].

June 20

Albert R Broccoli and Harry Saltzman met with United Artists [41,42] and a team headed by Arthur Krim [43,44][d] and including his nephew David Picker [45,46] and “agreed to a six picture deal” [47], originally to have been based upon the Thunderball novel [48].

June 21

“Harry Saltzman and Cubby Broccoli form a partnership to make the James Bond films” [49].

June 28

Mr Broccoli made decision to cast [50] Sean Connery [51,52] as James Bond.

Variety magazine ran brief news item about Messers Broccoli, Fleming, and Saltzman striking a deal to produce a series of James Bond movies based upon the books.

July 5, 1961

Albert R Broccoli and Harry Saltzman made distribution deal with United Artists [53], subject to the producers having secured “a completion bond” [54][e].

circa mid-July

EON Production Buyer Ron Quelch [55] participated in decision to designate a Gruen Precision as James Bond watch for pivotal character-establishing scenes [56]. A second, diving watch (“it needed to be a Rolex” [57][f]) was separately called for, as appropriate to the then-anticipated plot based upon Thunderball [g].

July 21

Astronaut Virgil I Grissom was almost killed when his Mercury capsule “Liberty Bell 7” was lost during post-mission ocean recovery [58]. Lieutenant Colonel Grissom had not worn a wristwatch of any sort [59].

July 24

Gilt-Edged Bonds was first published, by The Macmillan Company, New York [60]. This was an anthology consisting of the first, fifth, and sixth James Bond novels by Ian Fleming: Casino Royale (1953); From Russia, with Love (1957); and Dr No (1958).

August 13, 1961

Construction began on The Berlin Wall [61].

August 18

Richard Maibaum [62] completed first draft of screenplay, based upon 1961 Thunderball novel [63].

August 23

Mr Broccoli reported to Mr Saltzman that United Artists Vice President Robert Blumofe [64,65] had said: “New York did not care for Connery [and] feels we can do better” [66].

August 25

Actor Sean Connery, born in 1930, turned 31 years old.

late summer 1961

Richard Maibaum and Wolf Mankowitz began working on script based upon Dr No novel, but “wrote a first draft in which there was no person named Dr No … [the] name was given instead to the villain’s little spider monkey who sat on his shoulder …” [67]. That approach threw Cubby Broccoli and Harry Saltzman “into some dismay” [68]. Mr Mankowitz subsequently “bowed out” of work on Dr No [69].

After having asked Guy Green [70], then Guy Hamilton [71,72], then Ken Hughes [73], to direct (all of whom declined), producers “finally offered the job to Terence Young” [74-76][h], who accepted [77].

October 1961

USSR triggered its Soviet RDS-220 hydrogen bomb (aka “Vanya,” “Tsar Bomba”), “the largest nuclear device ever detonated and the most powerful man-made explosion in history [with] a yield of 50 megatons of TNT …” [78,79].

circa December 1961

Abridged version of Thunderball (with notable omission of Chapter 9 reference to Rolex brand name) was published in Argosy magazine [80].

“Ian Fleming was now the top-selling thriller writer in the United States” [81].

December 12

Film Finances [82-84] received documentation antecedent to determining viability of its providing a completion guarantee for Dr No [85][h].

December 16

The four-page pre-approval analysis provided to Film Finances founder Robert Garrett by its outside production consultant John Croydon opened with a second paragraph which read, “I had liked the script and look of the papers until I heard that Terence Young was to be the director!” Mr Croydon closed by stating: “… I must confess to alarm at the combination of Broccolli [sic], Salzmann [sic] and Young in charge of the picture …” [86].

December 18

Film Finances made its decision to “give a guarantee,” and, effectively, “the green light for Dr No” [87]. Notably, it specified that certain assurances be provided in writing and up-front.

It also memorialized the initial budget for Dr No of £321,227 (at then-current exchange rate, this would have been the equivalent of U.S. $899,436) [88].

December 21

Sean Connery appeared as James Bond in first day of preliminary filming at Pinewood Studios [89,90].

December 22

On behalf of EON Productions, Harry Saltzman provided a letter over his signature that set forth delineated understandings about finances, as required by Film Finances [91].

December 29

On behalf of EON Productions, Mr Saltzman generated a three-page letter to Film Finances, agreeing to the terms of its completion guarantee. His first point stated that the Dr No “budget will be slightly higher than £321,227 …” [92].

circa first quarter 1962

This marked the last three months during which Albert R Broccoli and Harry Saltzman were in charge of Dr No production: Film Finances exercised its last resort option to take over on April 3, 1962 [93].

Notes

  1. Correction: This did not include the rights to Ian Fleming novel Casino Royale (1953). Ian Fleming had sold those to Hollywood producer Gregory Ratoff during the first half of the 1950s [94].
  2. Timeline is exclusive to James Bond Watches. Dates, references, and sources have been selected to provide what are believed to be relevant perspectives on the most important period in the history of James Bond watch appreciation.
  3. Combined output of all makers, globally, totalled approximately one hundred million watches at this time: Half out of Switzerland, around eight percent out of Japan [95]. On January 23, 1960, a specially-modified Rolex Oyster Perpetual was attached “to the *outside* of the bathyscape ‘Trieste’ when it made a record dive into the Mariana Trench near Guam …” [96]. Elsewhere, Bulova announced its “Accutron caliber 214, the first electronic watch [with a transistor] in the world” [97].
  4. Arthur Krim was referenced in When the Snow Melts as one of the “three main characters in the project” that launched the James Bond movie franchise, on par with Messers Broccoli and Saltzman [98].
  5. A completion bond “is issued to guarantee that a film will be [finished] and delivered to the distributor in accordance with the script by a stated outside date. [If] the film runs into problems, … guarantor has the option to …: Loan money to the producer to finish the film; Take over the film itself and finish it; or Abandon the film and repay [financier] costs” [99].
  6. At this time, the Gruen Precision Factory building in Switzerland had been reconfigured by Rolex and was being used as administration offices [100]. Rolex advertised new Submariner models at $150 to $180 U.S. on matched bracelets in 1961 [101].
  7. Noting that Ian Fleming had been “attending several of our production meetings before the picture started,” Cubby Broccoli stated that Mr Fleming, “never interfered in any way. There was no agreement giving him approval of the scripts, …. He was not concerned about the stories …” [102]. The only 007-tied references to Rolex at this point had been the Live and Let Die (1954) diver {204} and Thunderball gold Chronometer {90}. Beyond these, the Ian Fleming letter to B.W. Goodden} establishes that Mr Fleming actively rejected the recommendation of Rolex as James Bond watchmaker on April 25, 1958.. The only 007-tied references to Rolex at this point had been in terms of the Live and Let Die (1954) diver {204} and Thunderball gold Chronometer {90}. The letter from Ian Fleming to B.W. Goodden establishes that Mr Fleming actively rejected the recommendation of Rolex as James Bond watchmaker on April 25, 1958.
  8. Terence Young was referenced in A Bond for Bond as one of “the three principal figures behind Dr No [103].
  9. “Film Finances’ files on Dr No … involved a heavy claim. The overcosts were so great that the company was forced to go to the last resort of taking over control of the production, supervising its progress from the end of principal photography to the delivery of the film to United Artists” [104].

— Dell Deaton
Updated: December 24, 2025
March 31, 2024

off-site

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  104. __ (pages 22, 55, 58-63, 67, 69, and 77-78).

© 2026 – 2005 Dell Deaton, All Rights Reserved. USA

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