In Casino Royale, James Bond, played by Daniel Craig, first meets his love interest Vesper Lynd on a train. She subjects him to a withering post-feminist analysis of who he is and what he stands for. Basically, Lynd has decided she hates Bond and the inherent, psychopathic misogyny required by him and his ilk to function as professional killers.
Lynd: “…MI6 looks for maladjusted young men who’d give little thought to sacrificing others to protect queen and country. You know, former SAS types with easy smiles and expensive watches (glances at Bond’s wrist)… Rolex?”
Bond: (casually) “Omega.”
Lynd: (hovering between irony and sincerity) “Beautiful.”
The scene might have gone over the heads of most viewers, but make no mistake, it was high stakes product placement crafted on a hair trigger — and it could have very easily backfired. Why trumpet Bond’s watch when he’s getting his goolies squeezed and then mention the opposition?
The pros have already deconstructed the exchange. Here is the definitive interpretation by M4TT on the Omega Forum at www.watchuseek.com: “The implication is that the ‘expensive’ watch is both predictable and compensatory — from the same school of feminist rhetoric as ‘big car: small penis’. Her prediction of a Rolex thus leads to the possibly subliminal inference that Rolex are both the predictable brand and the brand for people who are trying too hard. The camera cuts to full face as Bond, calmly, and with a half smile, utters the one word: ‘Omega’. We know that he’s Bond; he’s not compensating, he’s not trying and he certainly doesn’t follow the herd. More to the point, [Vesper’s] question was a dig and it misfired — her response is at least semi genuine – she is impressed, she just doesn’t want to show it.”
Using a movie or TV series as a vehicle for product one-upmanship is BIG business — just look at Sex in the City. The right to put a timepiece on Bond’s wrist has been fought over for decades, arguably ever since Sean Connery donned a Rolex Submariner before bedding Ursula Andress in Dr No. The Submariner is arguably the most famous and sexiest sports watch ever made, even though its aura may have been tarnished in recent years as legions of thrusting young men, anxious to telegraph to the world that they have arrived, have made it the sine qua non of accomplishment.
Omega has less aura but also less bling and it has equally impressive brand equity. Its Speedmaster Professional was the first watch in space. The same model is still available today and, like its predecessor that timed the booster rockets on the ill-fated Apollo 13’s return to Earth, it is still manually wound and still comes with the shatterproof Hesalite crystal glass.
Omega paid a lot of money for Pierce Brosnan to wear the blue Seamaster Professional when he became the fifth Bond. It was an endorsement campaign that paid dividends. It became, and still is known as the Bond Watch. Today, Omega no doubt is paying more for Daniel Craig to wear the more rugged Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean.
So what better vehicle for a watch manufacturer than Ian Fleming’s übermensch, the man most men aspire to be and who comes with the girls, the car — we’ll save the battle for the right to drive which car for another time — the locations, the food, the drink and the music. In fact, so keen are manufacturers to get in on the 007 act that, although the Rolex Submariner has appeared in more Bond movies (10) and on more Bonds (4) than any other model, our man has gone into battle against the pantheon of fiendish villains wearing at least four other brands through the decades.
In the books, Bond wore a Rolex but we are not sure which one. Legend has it that producer Cubby Brocolli lent Sean Connery his in Dr No when Rolex allegedly wouldn’t donate one and the film’s budget didn’t stretch to one. It was by chance a Submariner. Whatever the truth is, the Submariner was the perfect vehicle for the period. Rugged manly and beautiful, it was not only the perfect foil for Connery’s coiled, panther-like menace, it reflected the renewed surge for exploration and daring that defined the 50s and 60s.
The 70s saw a slump in aesthetic values. It was the decade of quartz innovation and the dreaded LED and LCD watches. Although Roger Moore started off wearing a Submariner in his first two films (in Live and let Die however we were treated to what was to come, when Moore was momentarily sporting a Hamilton Pulsar ‘P2 2900’ LED digital watch) he was burdened with a slew — five to be precise — of truly awful Seiko digitals, before Timothy Dalton resurrected the fortunes of the Submariner in his dismal two-film incarnation as our man.
Who cares about such pointless navel gazing? Well apparently quite a few people. At Omegamania, organized by horological auctioneer Antiquorum on April 14-15, 2007, an anonymous UK buyer acquired the Seamaster Planet Ocean worn by Daniel Craig in Casino Royale. The winning bid: $213,000, not bad for a used and abused $3,000 watch.
Michael Karam is the Associate Editor In Chief of Executive. He has an Omega Seamaster and a 40-year-old, steel Rolex Oyster Datejust Perpetual. He still craves a vintage Submariner.
