The watches of James Bond, from Dr. No to No Time to Die

Fleming, Rolex and a borrowed diver

Ian Fleming’s Bond wore a heavy Rolex Oyster Perpetual on an expanding bracelet, so when the cameras began turning on Dr. No, a Rolex was a natural fit. Director Terence Young arranged a Submariner Ref. 6538 for Sean Connery and had it fitted to a leather strap, a long way from the bracelet in the books.

There is a charming tale that the budget was tight and that producer Cubby Broccoli simply handed over his own Submariner for the job. It is reported rather than certain, but it suits a film made on a modest scale.

That watch, the ‘Big Crown’, became known as the ‘Bond Rolex’. Collectors still use the phrase ‘James Bond Submariners’ for the 6538 and similar big crown versions. Connery kept the same diver through From Russia with Love and Goldfinger.

There was a second watch in Dr. No too: a gold Gruen Precision 510 dress watch, remembered as the Sylvia Trench watch. It made cameos in From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever.

Q joins in, and Lazenby’s pair

Thunderball brought a different idea. Q handed Bond a Breitling Top Time Chronograph that doubled as a Geiger counter, which suited the mission. The watch was no longer just a prop for his wrist but a tool that did a job on screen.

It was a pattern that would run for decades. Bond’s watch could be a quiet piece of character, or it could be a gadget, and the films kept finding new ways to blur the two.

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service gave the role to George Lazenby, and with it two Rolexes. One was a Submariner Ref. 5513, without a date window, which earned the nickname ‘Pre-Daytona’ for features it shares with the Daytona. The other was a rare Rolex Chronograph Ref. 6238.

It is a small corner of the story, but a rewarding one for anyone who likes to spot the details on a single film’s cast of watches.

Moore and the digital age

Roger Moore’s first outing, Live and Let Die, put a Hamilton Pulsar P2 2900 on Bond’s wrist. The Pulsar P2 was described as the world’s first successfully mass-produced digital watch, and it showed the time only when a button was pressed. For 1973, it was about as futuristic as a wristwatch got.

Then came a long and loyal run with Seiko, starting with The Spy Who Loved Me and lasting through A View to a Kill. The Seiko 0674-5009 Quartz LC in that first film housed a ticker tape messaging system, so Bond could receive messages from Q Branch without leaving his wrist.

It was a neat trick, and it set the tone for what Moore’s watches would be: playful, technical and a little bit cheeky. Few Bond watches have been so closely tied to the era that produced them.

Seiko’s long run

Moonraker featured a Seiko M354 Memory Bank Calendar, described as the first smartwatch. Octopussy followed in 1983 with Seiko’s Liquid Crystal TV Watch, a tiny screen strapped to the wrist.

For Your Eyes Only gave Moore the Seiko 7549-7009, the ‘Golden Tuna’, worn with a yellow diving suit. It is one of the more colourful moments in the whole catalogue of Bond watches.

In A View to a Kill, Moore wore four different Seiko watches. One was the H558-500 SPW001 dive watch, and another was the SPR007 7A28-7020 chronograph with a silver dial. That is a lot of Seiko for a single film, and a nice reminder of how much the brand shaped the Moore years.

A stopover, then a settled partner

The Living Daylights saw TAG Heuer’s Professional Night-Dive Reference 980.031 debut in the Bond franchise. It is a quieter chapter, sitting between Moore’s Seiko era and the arrival of Omega.

Over the years, Cartier, Tissot and Breitling have all appeared on Bond’s wrist too. The point of the series was never loyalty to one name so much as finding the right watch for the man and the moment.

That changed in the mid-1990s. Omega has supplied Bond’s watch since GoldenEye in 1995, and a Seamaster has appeared in every Bond film since. It is a rare thing for a long-running franchise to settle so firmly.

Omega arrives with Brosnan

Costume designer Lindy Hemming chose the Omega Seamaster for Pierce Brosnan’s Bond in GoldenEye. Brosnan was the first Bond to wear the Seamaster Professional 300m quartz, specifically the Seamaster Diver 300M Quartz, Ref. 2541.80.00, with a blue wave-pattern dial.

There was history behind the choice. Omega had served the Royal Navy, and its Seamaster was used by Royal Navy divers in the 1960s. The collection itself has been produced since 1957 and was designed for divers and professionals.

The watch offered 300 metres of water resistance and nearly four years of battery life. It also carried a laser in its bezel that could cut through an armoured train floor, which is not a feature found in the standard catalogue.

Tomorrow Never Dies used an automatic chronometer Omega Seamaster Professional 300M, keeping the line going.

Craig’s years and the farewell

Craig’s Casino Royale introduced the Seamaster Planet Ocean as a more physical watch choice. His watches there were a blue Seamaster 300m chronometer and a black Planet Ocean 600m. The sturdier look suited a harder-edged Bond.

Spectre’s Seamaster 300 was designed for the film and hides an explosive secret. Then came No Time to Die, with the Seamaster 300M 007 Edition: a 42 mm titanium watch, reference 210.90.42.20.01.001, that fires an EMP. Craig had input on its design, and the dial carries a broad arrow marking, the old British military issue marking.

Lashana Lynch’s character Nomi wears the Seamaster on a NATO strap in the same film.

In all, Bond wears a watch in all 25 Eon films, or 39 times if films are counted separately. From a borrowed Rolex to a titanium Omega, it is a surprisingly human thread through the series.