Who thinks the first movie James Bond watch was a Rolex Precision?

[delldeaton]

Forget for a moment that you're a WIS in the closing months of 2008, and that you've forgotten more about watch trivia than most watch owners will ever care to learn.

Instead, it's about the same season, but the year is 1962. James Bond novels are popular, but the next step for you is going to be in seeing that character on the big screen for the first time. Sean Connery is 007 and the movie is Dr. No.

Fascinatingly, in the well-orchestrated reveal, you see the very first James Bond watch before you see James Bond himself! And here it is, from a screen capture I made and Posted last April.



Other images are included on a related analysis I did along with Posting the images. LINK I've labeled it the "Sylvia Trench" watch to differentiate it from the Rolex Submariner in that same film.*

Now look at this image from You Only Live Twice, a handful of Eon-produced films later. A similar looking watch is there again.



As I pointed out in my Blog on Sunday, most folks either miss the fact that James Bond is featured wearing a watch at all in this film, or they insist or assume it must be a Rolex Submariner "just because." LINK But if this watch, which I call the "Osato Chemical" watch (based on where it's first seen in You Only Live Twice) is in fact the Sylvia Trench watch, then that certainly suggests somewhat more of a commitment to this timepiece than any argument that the watch from the scenes in Dr. No were perhaps continuity errors.

In fact, if, as one researcher says, Eon producers felt that James Bond had to wear a Rolex for his watch, then, irrespective of who provided which watch and when, wouldn't this watch have to have been a Rolex as well? I mean, you can't say "it needed to be a Rolex" in one place, but not in another, right?

Makes for a fascinating and as yet almost totally unexplored line of inquiry into the matter. As I've argued in the past, the James Bond watch selection can be key to the characterization of James Bond: So assumptions, Ian Fleming's intent, and the message audiences will receive are all at play here. Lack of a diver's watch may not mean anything in terms of 007's actual military service (as far as the fictional background is concerned); but it opens the door to considering a more subtlely presented agent, a man who's moved beyond that - and who is sophisticated enough to adjust for different circumstances, who doesn't wear his resume at his shirt cuff.

It also brings a lot of Rolex owners to the party here, even if they don't have sports models!

Could we be looking at a Rolex Precision from c1962 here?

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*Okay, who am I kidding here? I call it the Sylvia Trench watch because of that scene shot from a low angle w/ her legs dominating the image, playing golf (talk about combining the passions of Ian Fleming!), w/ Bond coming through the door to find her there - wearing nothing but his dress shirt.