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James Bond Watches

During the first week of January, 2010, JamesBondWatches.com formed a study group with David Chalmers and Paul Gavin to critically test the Heuer-Bond watch theory. Chalmers, based in Hong Kong, runs Calibre11.com, “a website dedicated to both the Vintage Heuer watches from the 1960-1980 period, as well as the new TAG Heuers of today.” Gavin, in the United Kingdom, collects Heuer watches focusing on 1964 to 1984, and includes among his current projects an effort to extensively catalogue Heuer and TAG Heuer diver watches. He has just launched HeuerWorld.com to facilitate ongoing research into these tool pieces.

Neither of these men was predisposed to name TAG Heuer the first newly identified addition to any list of James Bond watches since Omega took on the mantle with GoldenEye in 1995. They’re watch guys, not 007 fans. Further to this, I actually held off for a bit in our initial discussions before revealing even the possibility that our work might involve a potential James Bond connection.

Although consistent with the 980.031, the Timothy Dalton Gibraltar Watch from The Living Daylights “could” have been seen as a 980.031.60 reference. The former has a standard diver’s bezel: With numbers on the tens, major indices between each of those increments, and further marked for each minute between zero and fifteen; these increase around the clockwise direction. The 980.031.60 features a countdown bezel on which all sixty minutes are marked, numbers are shown at each five-minute increment, and numbers ascend in counter-clockwise rotation.

By the way, for those who collect 007 (watch) trivia, we can confirm that the time shown on this Dalton-Bond wristwatch is 3:30, with the sweep second-hand pointing to the 12 o’clock position.

Unfortunately, the position of these hands presents serious problems in key areas of further differentiation among reference 980.031 options including the brand logo.

In 1985, a company by the name of Techniques d’Avant Garde (“TAG”) bought an established Swiss watchmaker with a history dating back to the late 1800s, founded by Edouard Heuer and his sons Jules-Edouard and Charles-Auguste. The result was what became known as TAG Heuer by the time pre-production began on The Living Daylights. Even before the merger, Heuer had produced a number of dial variations for its 980.031 diving watch. Some simply showed the “Heuer” logo below the 12 o’clock position; others had added the number “1000” just below the name.

With the advent of TAG Heuer, a re-branded 980.031 was produced with the “TAG Heuer” logo, otherwise indistinguishable from the “Heuer” version it replaced. But distribution channel queues and indeterminate production change-over date records suggest that the Gibraltar Watch — which JamesBondWatches.com now calls the “Gibraltar Heuer” — is equally as likely to have branded with either logo. Therefore, the dial on the Gibraltar Heuer at this point can be narrowed no further than to one of perhaps two to four variations (mostly differentiated by small changes to text and placement details).

Some Heuer reference 980.031 wristwatches had filled 6, 9, and 12 o’clock markers. The aforementioned Gavin analysis, however, clearly shows that the watch worn by Timothy Dalton as James Bond had open markers at these positions.

Conversely, some of these watches showed date windows with black numbers against white backgrounds; others had white numbers against black backgrounds. The note made above about the time showing as 3:30 puts the hour-hand in a position to obscure meaningful attempts at reaching certainty on this question for the James Bond Gibraltar Heuer. Similarly, the 12 o’clock second-hand position adds to the problem of calling the logo “definitely Heuer” versus “definitely TAG Heuer.”

Finally, many 980-series Heuer watches were produced in two different case thicknesses. One is approximately 30% thicker than the other, crystal-to-protruding-caseback. The thicker case features crown guards that more fully surround the winding crown than does its less-hefty brother. Examination of available profile images showing the watch on Dalton’s wrist clearly indicate the thinner, i.e., 10 mm O.D., case version.

Go to "James Bond wore a TAG Heuer wristwatch," Part I (d)

Part I (a) of "James Bond wore a TAG Heuer wristwatch," on James Bond Watches
Part I (b) of "James Bond wore a TAG Heuer wristwatch," on James Bond Watches
Part I (d) of "James Bond wore a TAG Heuer wristwatch," on James Bond Watches

Part II (a) of "James Bond wore a TAG Heuer wristwatch," on James Bond Watches
Part II (b) of "James Bond wore a TAG Heuer wristwatch," on James Bond Watches
Part II (c) of "James Bond wore a TAG Heuer wristwatch," on James Bond Watches
Part II (d) of "James Bond wore a TAG Heuer wristwatch," on James Bond Watches

Posted by Dell Deaton, April 2, 2010 at 6:35 PM
Updated April 2, 2010 at 8:15 PM

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08/05/2010 03:52 PM