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Watch expert Dell Deaton shares his insight on James Bond and his creator, Ian Fleming.

by Terence Lim

In the 22 Bond movies, we’ve seen 007 wear different watch brands. What’s your take on his taste in horology?

The watches have always served to define the character of James Bond. In the early films, the branding was part of an overall effort to “authenticate” an actor with Ian Fleming and his novels. As the 007 brand came to represent the bigger-than-life, Bond’s watches started to represent — fantastic but real — technologies and gadgets.

So Bond moves with horological trends?

Yes. Talking about watches in the 1970s, to keep Bond current, going quartz made perfect sense. In the last 20 years, there’s been an evolution towards luxury and tough-guy status, with moves to realism more recently. Today, Omega is a great fit on the Daniel Craig interpretation of 007.

Ian Fleming was brilliant at using brand names as shorthand to flesh out characters and circumstances, imply credibility, and carry readers past, if not into, otherwise unbelievable storylines.

Rolex wasn’t Bond’s marque du jour?

Fleming didn’t stick to Rolex for Bond anymore than he did for himself.

Also see Style:MEN "Tell Time Like a Spy" feature article

Posted by Dell Deaton, January 10, 2010 at 9:03 AM

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07/28/2010 08:22 AM