James Bond’s First Watch

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As much as watches have become associated with this well known fictional British spy, in the original books written by Ian Fleming he only mentions Bond wearing some sort of Rolex watch … twice. And then we have the confusing inclination of the later movie Bonds to wear Omegas. Dell Deaton, who maintains an extensive blog part of which covers in great detail all the watches associated with the franchise, also happened to discover the very watch than Ian Fleming himself wore which was bequeathed to his niece after his passing. This was an early 1960s Rolex Explorer 1016 but still would not suggest what Bond actually wore in the earliest novels were he is referenced wearing some sort of Rolex in 1954. I like the Canadian connection that Fleming, who worked in Naval Intelligence during World War 2, had exposure to one of Sir William Stephenson’s spy training schools in Whitby, Ontario (Camp X) and observed that recruits would be wearing the very popular Canadian Rolex Oyster watches.

One of the more interesting and controversial Deaton findings is that the very first watch that appears in the “Sean Connery” Bond movies is a mysterious thin gold dress watch with Arabic numerals at 3, 6, 9 and 12 and a separate seconds subdial. He apparently wears the same watch in various scenes of Dr No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, You Only Live Twice, and Diamonds are Forever alongside with the well identified Rolex 6538. Deaton claims its a Gruen Precision with the 510 Caliber movement.

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The Gruen Precision with the 17 jewel 510 movement around 1962.  Gruen was once one of the largest watch manufacturers in the US and established itself in Cincinnati, OH in 1894.  By 1922 they also built a factory in Biel/Bienne Switzerland which supplied the company’s higher quality movements to be incorporated in the US assemblage. Soon annual gross sales exceeded 5 million dollars and the company became the largest US watch company. The Gruen family sold off their last interest in 1953 but the name continued to manufacture watches into the early 1970s with the Swiss factory closing in 1977 and the building now used by Rolex.
Bonds
Careful observation appears to reveal the same dress gold watch worn in several James Bond movies but the resolution is too poor to definitively identify the manufacturer. At this period there were several watches available that were very similar to the Gruen Precision.
Connery
It is theorized that Connery wore his own personal watch and a very similar watch is seen in photos taken well off set from the James Bond movies.

 

GruenFaces
My version of the watch is more conventional and appears to show very little wear.  The 10K rolled gold plate is much more durable than gold plating with thin sheets of gold fused with a base metal like silver or copper in a multilayer sandwich and rolled out in sheets for use.

 

GruenBond
Double-O-Seven,  you’re booked on the 7 o’clock flight to Kingston, which gives you exactly three hours, 22 minutes.

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Miss Trench shouldn’t take that much time, Sir.

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Published by jimchungblog

I have degrees in Biochemistry and Dentistry and practice clinically 2 days a week. The rest of the week I devote to photography and bringing you the very best writing in this blog.

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