What if the "original" James Bond Rolex turned out NOT to be a Submariner?

[delldeaton]

Originally Posted by wantonebad

Dell, what do you know about Fleming the man? I remember seeing a special on WWII a few years back where a fellow member of the British naval intelligence service claimed that Fleming wasn't much of a patriot, he said he was more interested in women and wine then in fighting the Germans.

Now this could easily just be sour grapes or a personal vendetta this man was voicing but what do you know of Fleming the man. Was he a slacking bon vivant writer, a staunch supporter of the crown and fierce analyst, or something in the middle?

First and foremost, I'd say he was a very "compartmentalized" man, and quite effective in keeping those compartments separated. There are many instances you'll see in his writing, interviews w/ people who knew him, and biographies, where the only way to reconsile "this image," as described by one, with "that image," as described by another is to understand that it was so thoroughly a part of his character to deal with individuals (or clusters) w/out overlap.

Arguably this parallels the function of discrete "cells" in espionage work; so we can draw whatever conclusions come from that based on what we know of his intelligence role in World War II and the James Bond stories that got closest to this (eg, From Russia, with Love).

Do I think that a fellow contemporary who worked with him could have honestly described Fleming as you say here? Yes. Do I think that is an accurate description? No.

In answering "somewhere in the middle," I'd say that he was a smart and resourceful and creative man. I think he was quite good at what he did in British intelligence, and a major asset to the cause. But he was not a field operative, nor did he pick a watch for James Bond based on any of that sort of thing or interest there.

He absolutely was not James Bond in terms of the License to Kill, honed skills, or some secret life about which we know nothing. He unquestionably was James Bond in terms of what he wore, his dealings with women, and interest in technology and gadgets.

It's a great question you ask here.

Because in my opinion the reason why any sort of definitive ID of the Rolex model has remained open for new determination today is precisely because so many have failed to look at context. They don't read the books, and try to short-cut things by going after pictures. Then a snag comes up, such as the one you point out, and it's back to Square 1.

In the end - as others have implied here (and I often see in Threads of this sort) - none of this is life or death. It isn't one of the most important subjects we could be looking into, not even in horology. But it's interesting to a lot of people, and the search is a great deal of fun. So, let's enjoy it!

PS: We can still talk about James Bond watch sightings around women, right?