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The second of the two major facts that weigh against calling the Tangier Rooftop Watch a Rolex is a continuity in the film itself that conspicuously favors TAG Heuer as the choice.
As noted in Part I, JamesBondWatches.com solicited input from David Chalmers and Paul Gavin as part of an ad hoc team tasked with narrowing the possibilities, if not outright identifying James Bond watches in The Living Daylights. Chalmers is responsible for the excellent Calibre11.com website out of Hong Kong; Gavin is based in the United Kingdom and has launched HeuerWorld.com to catalogue Heuer and TAG Heuer diver watches — up to the period leading into production of The Living Daylights.
It’s already been established that Timothy Dalton wore a reference 980.031 Heuer or TAG Heuer in the sequence before opening credits rolled in the motion picture. So, too, did the imposter (Carl Rigg) and Felix Leiter (John Terry). That makes three choices for TAG Heuer.
This is consistent with experience reported to JamesBondWatches.com by SEIKO Watch Corporation personnel who worked directly with Eon Productions in the 1970s and 1980s. Bracelet adjustments, damage repair, and emergency replacements are all more easily taken care of by film property departments when dealing with a single watch brand. By way of perspective, the film immediately preceding The Living Daylights was A View to a Kill (1985). SEIKO not only provided all three watch models worn then by Roger Moore as 007, but also the two worn by Max Zorin, one for M, another for Miss Moneypenny, one for Q, one each for Stacy Sutton, Sir Godfrey Tibbett, the Minister of Defense, General Gogol, Jenny Flex, and a handful of other players.
