James Bond And Omega

A Brief History Of James Bond's Watches

On the October 26th in the UK, and on November 9th in the U.S., James Bond will return to theaters for the 23rd time in 50 years.

Over the years, Bond has become a style icon, what with his preference for fine suits by Brioni and Tom Ford, shoes by Church and Sunspel polo shirts. Bond also has exceptional taste in watches.

In the novels by Ian Fleming, James Bond wore a Rolex Explorer. But, as you probably know, he never wore one in the films. Instead, he wore a Submariner in the '60s and '70s, followed by a bunch of digital Seiko watches in the late '70s and early '80s, and then returned to Rolex again in the late 1980s.

But since 1995, Bond has been choosing to wear Omega. Or Omega is choosing James Bond — we don't know. We do know that James Bond, played by Pierce Brosnan at the time, was suddenly wearing this cool blue Seamaster Professional (ref. 2541.80) watch in GoldenEye. This first Omega watch was a quartz Seamaster 300M with a laser beam that came in handy for our favorite secret agent.

In the follow-up movies, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day, Bond wears the automatic chronometer version of the Seamaster Professional 300M watch, the ref. 2531.80. Although out of production, it is still a very popular watch in the pre-owned watch market. People still refer to it as "the James Bond watch."

When Daniel Craig became the new James Bond in the Casino Royale flick, Omega decided to take the opportunity to cross over from the Seamaster Professional 300M collection to its then-new Seamaster Planet Ocean collection. The Seamaster Professional 300M (ref. 2220.80) in Casino Royale is very similar to the one used by Craig's predecessor, Pierce Brosnan, but is now equipped with George Daniels' coaxial escapement invention. Omega has been making sure almost all of its mechanical watches (with the exception of the Moonwatch) are equipped with the coaxial movement, and so was the Seamaster Professional 300M "Bond" model.

In the same movie, Daniel Craig starts wearing the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean (ref. 2900.50.91) watch, a large (45.5-mm) sports watch on a rubber strap. At some point in Casino Royale, something happens that even watch fans found too much. When Bond and Vesper Lynd are traveling by train, Lynd looks at Bond's wrists and asks "Rolex?" "Omega" replies Bond, and that was that.

In Daniel Craig's appearance as Bond in Quantum of Solace, he's wearing another Seamaster Planet Ocean. This time, it is the more downsized ref. 2201.50.00, a 42-mm version of the Seamaster Planet Ocean on a stainless steel bracelet. Quantum of Solace is the end of Bond wearing the Seamaster Professional 300M watch, something that some Omega Seamaster fans will certainly regret.

In Skyfall, Bond will at least wear another Seamaster Planet Ocean again. That's for sure. Omega commemorates the Bond movies often with a limited-edition version of the watch used in the movies. For Skyfall, Omega introduced a limited series of its Seamaster Planet Ocean 600M. Only 5007 pieces (it's the 50th year of 007) will be produced worldwide.

This Seamaster Planet Ocean "Skyfall'"600M will come with Omega's latest in-house developed coaxial movement, caliber 8507 with a special "Skyfall 007" engraving on its rotor. Since this watch is also equipped with the "Si14" silicon balance spring, Omega offers a four-year warranty on these watches. The Seamaster Planet Ocean "Skyfall" comes with a special presentation box.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bond, Omega also introduced a special Seamaster Professional 300M earlier this year (during BaselWorld). A black version of the famous blue Seamaster Professional 300M that has a black lacquered dial with a 007 monogram and a super-cool gun-barrel design on the caseback.