Blanchy Talks Watches - Youtube channel

Fitz II wrote: »

Anyway flemmings James Bond wore a submariner because he was a naval officer so quite appropriate.

He wore a Rolex because Fleming did. It was at the time a very British brand, almost unknown as a brand beyond her commonwealth, so added to the "Britishness" of the character. Him driving a custom vintage Bentley another nod to that. Fleming loved to namedrop such brands in his books. It couldn't have been a Sub simply because the reference to Jimmy Bond going diving while wearing a Rolex was written before the Sub existed, so some sort of Oyster type affair, rather than a specific dive watch*. The only other reference in the books AFAIR was when he used a Rolex as a knuckleduster in a fight and mused he'd buy one again because they were hefty. Other brands mentioned in the books are Cartier, Patek and Girard Perregaux. All dress type watches worn by the villains.

Then along came the films. Connery wore the director's Rolex which happened to be a Submariner(and as it also happened the model the UK MOD bought a few of for their divers. The Milsub we all know and love didn't come along until 1970), but because Sean was a big lad and the director wasn't the bracelet didn't fit, so a production runner was sent out to buy a strap and came back with a cheap 1960's nylon one. Which led to all sorts of reversed engineered internet facts(c) about how he wore a NATO in regimental colours and collectors going wild for them. Until the BluRay came out and... On one of the forums a poster had found a card of these cheap 60's straps in all sorts of colours and he flogged them off for a few hundred quid each in a feeding frenzy. We're all mad really.





*Before the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms came up with the Dive watch design we know today, that Rolex, Longines and Omega copied in short order, dive watches didn't have timing bezels. The first specifically designed dive watch was a 30's Omega, a small affair in an enclosed Tank case. WW2 brought the Panerai on the Axis side and the Longines in a 19th century pocketwatch case design in silver with added lugs on the Allied. Neither with timing bezels. Post war the Americans ran with various US branded waterproof watches again minus bezels.

Timing bezels originated with pilot's watches, first with the Zenith/Helvetia/Longines internal pointer setups, then evolved and developed by Longines into the kind we would recognise today, external with numerals on the bezel, as part of their Weems series of pilot's watches. A 1940 Pilot's watch that looks like a diver.

Odd that it took another 15 odd years before someone thought; hang on, this timing bezel thing would be really useful for timing dives. Maybe Longines held the patent/licence on them and it ran out?

Cyclingtourist wrote: »

Yes as one who grew up before the films the brand-name dropping was a feature of the novels.

Which was innovative enough for its day too. Now we've always been bombarded with brand names, but much of it everyday items rather than luxury, niche and bespoke brands. EG vanishingly few outside the jewellery trade would have heard of Patek or Girard Perregaux back then, even Rolex would have been niche enough. Fleming also threw in a fair bit of nostalgia for a golden age, common today, but again something unusual back in days of modernism in full flight. In the books, this was his main car. A Bentley from the 20's.



Maybe Fleming had that in the books because the empire was fading and he was harking back? At the time US author would have almost certainly not gone down that path, because they were living their golden age.

If I'm not mistaken Bond even expressed a dislike for Waterford cut glass in one of the them, something I agree with when it comes to wine glasses.

I used to have a dislike for it, but I've been left a load of it and it's grown on me. Seems to be still in some vogue in the US.