Opinion: The Ultimate James Bond Watch

Over the course of the last 50 years, James Bond has worn an assortment of timepieces. Aside from some interesting quartz Seikos donned by Sir Roger, most of the Bond watches are some of W4L’s favorite tool watches. However, many sites have covered the range of Bond timekeepers, so that’s not what I’m interested in doing. I want to take the question of, “what’s the ultimate James Bond watch?” give it an unnecessary amount of thought, and do my best to answer it.

Of course, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with the current Bond watch — Omega’s 38.5 millimeter Aqua Terra — it’s a fantastic choice. The problem I see is that James Bond’s watches were never “selected”. No. The majority of them were chosen either because of marketing dollars, or to pay respect to Connery’s Submariner. And there’s the kicker – the Connery Submariner wasn’t even chosen, it became a legend by default! Cubby Broccoli wanted everything about James Bond to be as Fleming-y as possible – down to the Rolex watch. Problem was, they didn’t have a huge budget, and Rolex didn’t want to provide an example. The solution was the Submariner off of Cubby’s wrist. And there you have it. History. Made.

Let’s wipe the slate clean. No more Submariners, no more Seamasters, no more Sir-Roger-Seikos. If Q Branch was selecting the perfect watch, there are a number of things they’d have to consider. One, it obviously has to be shockproof, waterproof, and anti-magnetic. Two, it should be versatile enough to handle a casual or formal crowd. And three, it needs that James Bond…je ne sais quoi. Meeting those three requirements doesn’t leave a whole lot of choices, and I’ve boiled it down to my three favorites.

Bremont Solo

Bremont Solo

Bremont seemed an obvious choice. A British company who makes tough-as-nails watches. Could it be more perfect? If James Bond died and came back as an inanimate object, odds are, he’d be a Bremont chronometer. Hell, they use Swiss movements, and Bond is part Swiss himself. Mindblowing intensifies. The question then becomes, which Bremont would Bond wear?

I think it has to be the Solo. It blends handsome, clean looks without drawing too much attention. It has all the durable qualities you could ask for – on the low end of water resistance at 100M – but that’s nothing Q couldn’t help with. The MBII was a close second, but the stainless steel bracelet option on the Solo sealed the deal.

Sinn 856 UTC

Sinn 856 UTC

If Patek Philippe, Audemars Piguet, and Vacheron Constantin are the holy trinity of haute horlogerie, Bremont, Sinn, and Damasko are the holy trinity of résistant horlogerie (go ahead, you can all use that). Even though Bond is British, and loves all things Britain, he truly appreciates well-made products. Let’s take a quick look at the literary Bond. His custom triple-gold ring cigarettes feature Turkish blend tobacco, he carries a Walther, and loves Taittinger Champagne. He’s almost stubborn about his preferences. Living a life filled with so much uncertainty, he finds peace in the reliability of familiar comforts. I can easily see Sinn fitting into his routines – with the 856 UTC as arguably the best choice.

The 856 UTC pulls inspiration from pilot’s watches and then just cranks up the engineering to eleven: an argon filled case, tegimented steel, faraday cage, you name it. I’ve never heard a single negative word about Sinn, other than maybe the designs are too sober – which is a positive attribute for a super-spy looking to blend in. The added functionality of a second timezone only strengthens the case. All things considered, I think a Sinn would be an incredibly smart choice for Bond.

Rolex Milgauss

Rolex Milgauss LV

Ready to go with a Damasko, I felt my inner Bond fan yell, “ROLEX! There must be a Rolex!” I initially relented, but, not one to go out without a fight, I put my foot down on the Submariner. If Daniel Craig had the foresight to switch from the Planet Ocean to the Aqua Terra, I knew I had to look beyond the Sub. The Explorer was dancing in front of me like a kid trying to get picked for a team in gym class – but I wanted something different. Sure, Fleming wore a ref 1016 Explorer, and it’s likely the watch he envisioned when penning the novels, but this is my article. That’s when I looked past the dancing timepiece and saw the Milgauss.

What can be said about the Milgauss that can’t be said about Bond himself? All right, fine, Bond isn’t made of 904L stainless steel. But otherwise, the Milgauss is a great fit. It has devilishly handsome good looks, time-tested reliability, and all-terrain durability – common qualities with OO7. The green-tinted crystal of the limited edition adds the British flare. Of the three, the Milgauss is hard to beat.

The Bremont, Sinn, and Rolex leave James nowhere to go wrong – any would be a proper choice. That is, unless we’re talking about Sir Roger’s Bond, who would probably go off script and choose an Omega Z-33 – given his predilection for quartz and, you know, space battles. We’d love to hear your take on the perfect Bond watch. Tell us in the comments, on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, wherever you’d like!

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