We should remember that back in the days that Fleming wrote his books, Rolex was regarded as an upper-class brand, but not to the heights it enjoys today.
Or depths, arguably. In the eye of the general public - who don't know about watches - I think a lot of people see it as a devalued brand. As has been discussed: overly tanned porcine businessmen in their villas in Marbella wear Rolexes. Rolex has also suffered massively from piracy, as has also been pointed out - the first thing I wonder when I see one is if it's fake. Perhaps Bond could have picked up a fake one in Hong Kong?
So the beliefs that we hold today about the value of certain timepieces cannot be held up against the pieces we see in Bond's past. We are missing the intent of the time - to show Bond as having the "best-of-the-best," to an extent. He wears what is cool and sought after at the time. Obviously, this is exactly where product placement rears its ugly head, but I think to state that what we've seen Bond with in the past detracts from his image now, is not taking historical aspects into account.
Very interesting point, and skewers the dilemma I was skirting around trying to express earlier. It is indeed easy with hindsight to see that the digital watches worn by Moore are hideous, just as one can point to his flared safari suit and feel a touch of hysteria bubbling under - at the time, as you say, the watches he wore were 'it' and nobody had any idea how bad they would look. My feeling is that Omega is the Seiko of 2004. That's not based on any knowledge of the watches' inner workings - just the look and the branding. Bear with me, watch-lovers and Omega owners.
I think Pierce Brosnan looks, at first glance, very much like he could be Ian Fleming's James Bond:
No scar, no comma of hair. But he has a cruel, debonair look, and unlike, say, Dalton, he knows how to wear clothes. He's wearing a Super 100 wool suit in that picture - very Sixties. Look at how Jason Bourne dresses in the last film: sweater, dark trousers, black coat. Very simple stuff. No idea who it's designed by, but it's utilitarian-military in feel, probably someone like Prada. It looks like an approximation of how many people dress today. James Bond still dresses like he's in the Sixties - his image is still very much of a man in formal attire (or has been in the Brosnan era). For me, the only piece of him that doesn't look like he's Fleming's Bond is the watch - it's the metal bracelet that does it. Screams 80s Marbella to me. Does not go with what he is wearing.
Check out Connery:
What watch is that? Can we get a strap like that for the next Bond? Can we, in fact, get that very watch, EON? Go to eBay!
I think I could more than handle the next actor wearing that watch. It would, apart from anything else, help enormously in all those tedious conversations about whether or not 007 is a number passed on to different men. Wouldn't it be handy to say, 'Funny, then, that he is wearing the precise same watch. Not the same model - the very same watch. Does each 007 hand over his watch on his death?' I think I need another question mark.
It would also be handy to say this about most of what Bond wears. And I think it's possible. The Sixties were the last great fashion era. The 70s have dated. The 80s, too. And the 90s - check Pierce's hair in GoldenEye.
Soon 2004's styles will have dated. But the majority of the brands Ian Fleming picked out still exist: Turnbull & Asser, Floris, Aston Martin, John Lobb, Dom Perignon, Taittinger, Geo F Trumper, Guerlain, Dunhill, Ronson, Walther, Cartier, Minton china... and many more.
I think you're right that the intent of the film-makers was to show the best of the time. But I think it was a mistake. 'He wears what is cool and sought after at the time.' Yes, in the films - but not in the books. Bond seeks the best - and the most durable. He would not buy a new watch because it's cool and sought after. He would stick with the one that works, and is of the highest quality. That's why he got it in the first place.
This has become a more general point than just about watches - but I think a new actor provides an opportunity for another look at the way Bond dresses, and the products he uses. When Brioni got the gig to dress Bond, they had a press release that said the following:
'James Bond, the very symbol of English elegance, has always been dressed by Savile Row tailors, hence the decision to entrust his dress to Brioni symbolises the definitive triumph of Italian fashion.'
We let that slide! That's worse than Moore wearing a safari suit with a Transformer watch and a pair of Converse All-Stars, that sentence. We were all so delighted that Brosnan was finally getting the job, and that there was a Bond who looked the part, that we let this comment slide. Read it again. And again, until your blood reaches boiling point. Allowing these Italian upstarts to use the Bond connection to proclaim victory over Savile Row!
It's time to bring Bond in from the Campania. I've been swayed on the Rolex - it's in Fleming, it's a handy little weapon (let's see it used as one again!) and Connery wore it. So get that one with the leather strap, put Bond in a Kilgour tux, give him a Ronson lighter, and you're off. None of that is going to go the way of Seiko - or Omega.
Edited by spynovelfan, 21 December 2004 - 11:58 AM.
