News of the latest James Bond tribute watch was kept top secret ahead of its official announcement. But our own David Bredan infiltrated Omega’s boat-party launch event (drysuit over tuxedo, of course) to bring us these hands-on pictures of the new Omega Seamaster replica watches and save the world.
James Bond jokes aside, David did join Omega for the unveiling event on the River Thames in London, and here is the colorful new watch dedicated to the fictitious secret agent. In the colors of the UK’s Royal Navy, the “Commander’s Watch” is not for a single specific movie, but rather celebrates the cult of Bond and commemorates several film anniversaries at once.
Surely, from Omega’s point of view, there are not enough opportunities to capitalize on the star power of 007 and their Official Timekeeper (or something of the sort) relationship with the film franchise. As noted, Omega copy watches with Swiss movements are not for a film, like the Seamaster Aqua Terra for Spectre or the solid gold Goldfinger watch, for example – not that we require such a reason for making a new watch.
Rather, someone noticed that 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of You Only Live Twice (1967), the 40th anniversary of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977), and the 20th anniversary of Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). Missed opportunity for a “trilogy” with a watch for each movie? With a current list of 26 James Bond films since the first in 1962, though, we could potentially expect something similar every couple of years. In fact, there will be no fewer than four Bond film anniversaries to celebrate in 2019… so save a spot in your watch box for that limited edition.
By 1997, Omega was the Bond watch for the second time in Tomorrow Never Dies after the relationship began with GoldenEye in 1995. It was a Seiko in The Spy Who Loved Me and the Bond watch in You Only Live Twice has not been positively identified, according to my internet research. Beginning with GoldenEye and for a number of movies, the spy often wore a blue Omega Seamaster Diver 300M.
So, while 007 tribute and prop watches have come from other lines, such as the (confusingly named, but different from the 300M) Seamaster 300 (Spectre edition hands-on here), Aqua Terra, and Planet Ocean (as here for Skyfall), Omega Seamaster fake watches with white dials are relevant and fitting for the Omega and 007 relationship.
But the triple anniversary doesn’t fully explain the watch or its red-white-and-blue color theme. The elegant Omega Seamaster replica watches are referencing and channeling the Royal Naval Reserve Commander facet of the James Bond character. If you’re like me and not totally caught up on every movie and the complex 007 universe, it might be getting a bit arcane for you too.
For the launch event, Omega CEO Raynald Aeschlimann explained that Omega was “fascinated” by Bond’s “connection to the Royal Navy, which is an organization that Omega also has history with, and we wanted to pay tribute to his rank as Commander.” In each of the three films that the Commander’s Watch pays tribute to, Bond is apparently seen wearing his official military uniform at some point. Good enough for me.