James Bond 007 & Rolex Submariner

[ThatOtherGuy7]

Received this as an early birthday present and just finished putting it together (took a few hours over the last few days). I’m a Rolex, 007, cars, and LEGO fan so thought this was fitting.

The Watch:
The Submariner (no date) was first worn by Sean Connery in the movie Dr. No in 1962. Rolex remained the watch of choice for 007 until 1974 when it was replaced with a Hamilton Pulsar digital watch (played by Roger Moore), followed by Seiko quartz watches for the following 13 years. In 1987, Timothy Dalton as James Bond wore Tag Heuer for the first and only time. In 1989, he switched back to a Submariner with date. That was the last time 007 wore a Rolex. Since 1995, as Pierce Brosnan debuted as James Bond in GoldenEye, 007 has been wear different variants of Omega Seamaster, Planet Ocean, and Aqua Terra.

Even though the watch of choice for MI6’s most well-known secret agent has changed over the last 60 years, Rolex has special meaning as it was 007’s first ever watch on the silver screen. Even the author - Ian Fleming - himself wore a Rolex Explorer as he was writing the 007 novels.

The Car:
The Aston Martin DB5 made its debut in 1964 and was driven by Sean Connery as 007 in Goldfinger. Over the last six decades, James Bond has driven various AM cars and still does to this day. BMW made its first debut in 1995 when Pierce Brosnan played 007 in GoldenEye. In the latest installment “No Time To Die,” and Daniel Craig’s final appearance as James Bond, one of the cars he drives in the movie is the classic 1964 DB5 that first appeared in Goldfinger.

The Women:
Too many women to name and they were all beautiful. James Bond is a charmer and has had his way with the ladies. They never went wrong with any of the Bond girls.

The Drink: the Vesper martini - shaken, not stirred. Named after his one true love that tragically passed away (played by the lovely Eva Green in Casino Royale).

Here’s to a happy Labor Day, great community, watches, cars, women, and the Bond and history between Rolex and 007. Cheers!

Source: watchtime.com, mensjournal.com, carcovers.com, and wikipedia.org.

[vh2k]

Great job!

[Avs Fan]

Nice! My car repair guy has built several of these Lego models including this one. He has them all on display. They are really cool in person. He says building some of them was more complicated than repairing my car.

[ThatOtherGuy7]

Originally Posted by Avs Fan

Nice! My car repair guy has built several of these Lego models including this one. He has them all on display. They are really cool in person. He says building some of them was more complicated than repairing my car.

I can see why. This was one of the more challenging builds: took a lot longer than I thought and some small details that were easy to overlook.

[brandrea]

Excellent post

[ks58]

Very cool to see.

[Jackie Daytona]

Nice. I’m a big Bond fan as well. Beautiful watch and cool lego DB5

[Gladiat0r]

Great post! Thanks for sharing

[mulberry083]

Actually got to ride in the DB5 from the movie. Classmate’s father was senior exec for Aston Martin in the US, he brought it to our grade school and gave some rides. His one rule - “don’t touch the red button on the gear shifter”.

[ThatOtherGuy7]

Originally Posted by mulberry083

Actually got to ride in the DB5 from the movie. Classmate’s father was senior exec for Aston Martin in the US, he brought it to our grade school and gave some rides. His one rule - “don’t touch the red button on the gear shifter”.

Whaaaat? Wow that must have been super cool! Did you ask what the red button does or was he just messing with you guys?

[jaySL350]

Originally Posted by ThatOtherGuy7

Whaaaat? Wow that must have been super cool! Did you ask what the red button does or was he just messing with you guys?

Red button on the Bond DB5 = Ejector seat,,

[mulberry083]

Originally Posted by jaySL350

Red button on the Bond DB5 = Ejector seat,,

Exactly. Every 10-11 year old boy knew what that button was for and at the time we probably thought it would work! If I recall correctly, the “working” items on the car were the rotating license plate, the tire shredders, the bullet proof shield and the headlights dropping to allow the machine guns to pop out. GPS was obviously just a picture.

[Kyle3130]

Very cool!

[Lew Archer]

Cool watch and car!

Just to clarify...in 1973's "Live and Let Die", Bond does, indeed, wear a Pulsar in his first scene. However, Moneypenny returns his Submariner, which turns out to be a Q branch modified model, to Bond (Roger Moore) and that watch becomes instrumental to his defeating the villain at the end of the film. Moore wears the Submariner again in his second Bond film, 1974's "Man With the Golden Gun".

Beginning with 1977's "The Spy Who Love Me", Roger Moore's Bond wears a Seiko...and wears several different Seiko models for the remaining Moore films. Most of these were digital display watches. In his last 007 outing, Moore is wearing a Seiko, but with a more traditional analog dial.

[grimps]

I always remember as a kid in the 80s there was a watch that was released that played the James Bond theme tune and had a stop watch on the display , I cant remember if it was a Casio or Seiko now but I always wanted one

[JonaG]

Originally Posted by grimps

I always remember as a kid in the 80s there was a watch that was released that played the James Bond theme tune and had a stop watch on the display , I cant remember if it was a Casio or Seiko now but I always wanted one

I had a Zeon 007 watch that played the theme tune and had a stopwatch. I think it was released around the time of A View To A Kill. It was cool, no idea what happened to it.

[aquanaut]

That’s ace, many thanks for posting

[Oyster Perp]

Bond (Connery) also wore a Breitling Dive watch in "You Only Live Twice". Its mooted that Fleming changed his own choice of watch to Rolex having seen Connery on the set of "Dr No" wearing his own Submariner. Stories abound on the internet concerning Flemings choice of watch and nothing is firm.

[Lew Archer]

Originally Posted by Oyster Perp

Bond (Connery) also wore a Breitling Dive watch in "You Only Live Twice". Its mooted that Fleming changed his own choice of watch to Rolex having seen Connery on the set of "Dr No" wearing his own Submariner. Stories abound on the internet concerning Flemings choice of watch and nothing is firm.

Connery did, indeed, wear a Breitling Top Time...but in 1965's "Thunderball"...and that watch was the first one in the films that was a secret agent's gadget...a geiger counter...which Bond used in certain underwater scenes, searching for the missing nukes that the bad guys had hijacked.

The watch turned up in a yard sale...someone purchased it for a pittance a few years ago, before, somehow, its history was discovered. Don't know the full story on that. Needless to say, it's since sold for a tidy sum.

In the second Bond novel, "Live and Let Die", published in 1954, and which predates any of the films, Fleming does equip Bond with a Rolex...and that comes into play in the underwater scenes of that story. As I remember, the model is unspecified. In the novel, Bond requests certain underwater gear, specifying what type of knife, shark repellent, shark gun, etc...but doesn't request a dive watch. When the gear arrives, it is described in detail, but there's no mention of a watch. However, toward's the novel's end, as Bond is making his way underwater in full frogman suit, he consults "the Rolex on his wrist". So, was that his personal watch or part of the dive gear Q branch sent? Bond fans who are watch nuts have debated it ever since.

In a magazine article, Fleming writes about 007, and notes that Bond wore a "Rolex Oyster Perpetual". I wouldn't necessarily take that literally...i.e., that he was referring to the "Oyster Perpetual" model, as opposed to some other Rolex model in the Oyster case, with the perpetual movement, because Fleming was foremost a thriller writer who used language for its dramatic effect, not merely to precisely describe an item the way a watch enthusiast might. For example, he once explained why he eventually equipped Bond with a Walther PPK pistol, choosing it over some other weapons that a firearms expert had suggested. Fleming said, "Walther PPK rolls off the tongue nicely." I expect he thought "Rolex Oyster Perpetual" also rolled off the tongue nicely. And, it does...

Late in life Fleming purchased a Rolex Explorer. I don't know if he also bought a Submariner at some point. There are photos of him in Jamaica, in his study where he wrote the novels, and he's wearing a Rolex on an Oyster bracelet. I don't know if the model can be determined from the photo, but my impression was that it could be either Explorer or Submariner.

I recall Fleming writing that one could tell much about a gentleman from his choice of timepiece...

[bombafra1]

Your Lego watch is very nice.....their bricks are getting closer and closer to reality

[ThatOtherGuy7]

Originally Posted by bombafra1

Your Lego watch is very nice.....their bricks are getting closer and closer to reality

Right?! It even has the movement inside that is very real. They even got the weight correct too.

[Casotakar]

Haha, that’s awesome. I need a lego set just like this. Huge bond fan myself. Watched all 24 films in a 3 week period during first lock down in 2020. I got so much enjoyment out of it. Seeing all the actors portray bond in very different ways and all the various watches and cars.

Thanks for sharing.

What will you wear to the new movie or while watching the new one OP???


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[ThatOtherGuy7]

Originally Posted by Casotakar

Haha, that’s awesome. I need a lego set just like this. Huge bond fan myself. Watched all 24 films in a 3 week period during first lock down in 2020. I got so much enjoyment out of it. Seeing all the actors portray bond in very different ways and all the various watches and cars.

Thanks for sharing.

What will you wear to the new movie or while watching the new one OP???


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I’ll likely wear the Omega SMP. :)

[1William]

Very nice.

[garyk]

Never tire of James Bond and Rolex stories. Remember the goofy watch James Coburn wore in “Our Man Flint”? Bond at least in those days was the real deal…

[garyk]

Our Man Flint watch…it had a lot of functions but telling time isn’t apparent lol…and the band looked like a drugstore gold tone…with brushed center links





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[strafer_kid]

Nice one!

[Zyfon]

Lucked out since I'm also a Bond fan

[ThatOtherGuy7]

Originally Posted by jaySL350

Red button on the Bond DB5 = Ejector seat,,

Ah right!! For some reason I was thinking missile launcher.

Originally Posted by Zyfon

Lucked out since I'm also a Bond fan

That is sweet!! 007

[Xerxes77]

Nice