When Ian Fleming first wrote Casino Royale at his desk at Goldeneye in sunny Jamaica, there’s no way he could have anticipated just what he was creating. I mean, who would ever dream that a spy-thriller novel that took all of one month to hammer out would morph into a culture-changing, universe-altering empire?
Today, the name James Bond brings to mind images of tuxedos, martinis, Aston Martins, and handsome men making corny jokes in British accents. The franchise has since illustrated the significance of intellectual property in the movie business – and the lasting power of a cinematic universe. But let’s not forget about the US fake watches. Sean Connery, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig – and yes, even George Lazenby – have cemented themselves as cult heroes of our little hobby. The film franchise made icons out of two watches: The Rolex Submariner and the AAA replica Omega Seamaster watches, and ever since Omega became the official timepiece of 007, the special editions just keep on coming with every passing film.
The new Bond film, No Time To Die (2021), has what’s arguably the best-designed and best-received Bond watch – only it was announced way back in 2019. We’ve waited a long time for Daniel Craig’s swan song. And now that the movie is out, we can testify that he makes that luxury Omega replica watches look cooler than any mere mortal could ever hope to.
Why We’re Watching
As perhaps you learned via our James Bond Weekend (or simply by living on Planet Earth), you’ve heard that the long-delayed theatrical release of No Time To Die finally arrived last Friday. But for the pandemic, this film would have arrived on cinema screens in April, 2020. Ah well, what is time anymore?
On Watching Movies, I’ve mostly stuck to covering films that you can stream online, or maybe pop open from your shelves of DVDs and Blu-Rays (or even VHS tapes, I’m not judging). For this edition, we are going full-on new release, and with good reason. There is no film franchise more tied to Swiss made fake watches today than Bond, and with the anticipation of No Time To Die’s arrival in theaters, combined with the fact that it’s Daniel Craig’s last outing as 007, it just seemed wrong not to feature it this week.
Of course, fair warning, while I won’t spoil the film itself, I will be touching on a lot of plot points connected to Bond and his cheap replica Omega watches as seen in the movie. So if you haven’t seen it, which you should (safely, of course), then head to your local theater and re-open this article on your return. Otherwise, let’s get into it.
The film finds Bond in the direct aftermath of the events of 2015’s Spectre; evading a team of agents from the eponymous sinister organization while on vacation with Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), with whom he’s since fallen madly in love with. From there, Bond runs into all manner of heavies from Spectre head Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) to new villain Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek).
The film is basically a two-and-a-half hour showcase of all the things we love from a Bond film – the man finds time to drink Heineken, vodka martinis, and scotch – and he wears the best Omega fake watches we’ve all been waiting for, very interesting perfect copy Omega Seamaster Professional 300m watches.
This is the classic “Bond Seamaster” design that dates back to the Goldeneye Pierce Brosnan days – the piece our own Cole Pennington recently wrote up as his Watch of the Week. Historical features are the dual crowns – one to work the watch, the other serving as a helium escape valve. The top Omega replica watches is 42mm in diameter, and features a scalloped bezel, and skeletonized hands.
The regular production models include a ceramic bezel, with a laser-etched wave motif dial. That’s where this special Bond piece diverges. Here we find a dark brown aluminum bezel, with a flat brown dial. The markers have a faux-aged appearance and the dial includes the old “dirty dozen”- esque British government property broad arrow symbol. You can have yours fitted either to a vintage-evocative Milanese bracelet or a NATO-style strap.
In No Time To Die, Craig wears the hell out of this high quality fake watches – which gets a special shout-out in the film, as well as the full Q treatment. Which means the watch isn’t just a watch; it’s a Bond gadget with an electromagnetic pulse weapon built into it.
Perhaps the most interesting thing about the replica watches with Swiss movements is the personal connection to Craig himself. Sure, this is product placement with a capital “P,” but nonetheless, Craig took special interest in what would be his final Bond watch. So much so that he was involved in the design process.
And if all that’s not enough to count as horological subplot, Lashana Lynch’s character, Nomi – also known as 007 in the film – wears an Aqua Terra 150m, and Moneypenny wears a DeVille Prestige Quartz.
When We’re Watching
Craig said in the past that he was dismayed that his first two outings as 007 didn’t include the character Q or any of the gadgets we’ve grown accustomed to over the years. That all changed with 2012’s Skyfall and comes to a head in his final act as Bond, here. Late in the film, as he and the other 007, Nomi (Lynch), prepare to storm an island in disputed waters between Russia and Japan, Q (Ben Whishaw) gives Bond a modified version of his Omega Seamaster super clone watches for sale. As Q reaches down to pick the watch off of a piece of equipment (ostensibly meant to give the watch its magnetic power) we get a closeup of the faux-aged dial. Q then proceeds to explain the online fake watches’ electromagnetic capability and shows Bond how to engage it.
We catch a glimpse of what this imitation watches store wholesale can do as Bond and Nomi make their way through the island, on the hunt for Safin. Bond squares off against a former Spectre henchman who’s since switched teams to Safin’s side. After some serious fisticuffs and a full-on wrestling match, Bond has his enemy in a chokehold. Looking for ways to finish the job, he glances down at his best quality replica watches and engages the bezel, releasing the EMP. It goes directly for the henchman’s electronic eyeball (which he used to contact Spectre in the past) and kills him instantly. Bond then radios back to Q, “I just showed someone your watch,” he says. “It really blew their mind.”