Merry Christmas!
Now— while there appears to be consensus that *On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is the James Bond story most tied to this blessed season, an irreconcilable divide must be acknowledged when it comes to the question of book [1] versus movie [2].
Irreconcilable when it comes to 007 watches, that is: The Christmastime wristwatch for the novel was an Explorer, on the big screen a pre-Daytona Chronograph.
Both from watchmaker Rolex.
Splitting … continued
As Rachel Cormack wrote for Robb Report, it was the “timepiece that helped cement Rolex as a maker of impenetrable tool watches …” [1]. And thus began an important horological thread to the association of that watchmaker to the world of James Bond, via Ian Fleming and his 1954 novel, Live and Let Die.
This past Sunday, Sotheby’s sold “The Companion Oyster” worn by the late Mercedes Gleitze [2] during the “vindication swim” … continued
One of the most common questions that I was asked about the “Bond Watches, James Bond Watches” opening at the National Watch & Clock Museum in 2010 was about the wristwatch I had chosen to wear for the occasion that night [1].
It was a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date Submariner reference worn by Timothy Dalton as James Bond in Licence to Kill.
Although I then-owned a 1016 Explorer, I felt like I’d appear to … continued
In 2018, United Kingdom auction house Fellows listed a rather interesting watch with James Bond movie provenance [1-2].
Auctions of screen-worn James Bond watches are hardly uncommon, of course [3]. In the case of this Rolex 5513 Submariner associated with Licence to Kill, however, it made no claim to have been worn by actor Timothy Dalton as Agent 007. Rather, it was on the wrist of stunt double Rodney Pincott — and included documentation … continued