re Your "misses the point somewhat" statement, I'm guessing you're referring to what James wrote.
The point that I was making in this answer had to do with a lot of the mis-information that some folks are pitching about Rolex somehow being so much a different brand image today than it was when Mr. Fleming wrote his Bond stories.
Oh, absolutely and I quite agree. Sorry if that wasn't clear.
Remember: Bond has taken on the cover of someone who Goldfinger can rightly consider motivated to work for him out of greed, out for the money. This is also the story in which 007 is issued the Aston Martin DB III to add further credibility to his higher-class image. So the watch may have been issued to him as part of that. It's also possible that it's simply something Bond said, to enhance his bravado. Would Oddjob, as Mr. Fleming wrote him, have known the wiser?
If this is a matter of interpretation, or reconsiling seemingly contradictory information, my basis for making the call was that Ian Fleming had throught about what he'd written in response to his reader and meant what he wrote.
A very good point that doubtlessly supports the 'watch to fit the cover' idea. A very cheap model on a man driving an Aston Martin, playing golf for high stakes and staying at the Floridiana Hotel would surely seem out of place. So the cover-outfit would be a very likely explanation.
All the more so perhaps as it would lend itself naturally also to OHMSS's Rolex by extension. Chapter 8 of OHMSS for the first time delves more deeply into the matter of pre-op 'clearance':
'...You've fixed your laundry tags and so on?'
'Yes,' said Bond dully. 'I've fixed all that. And I've got two new suits with cuffs and double vents at the back and four buttons down the front. Also a gold watch and chain with the Bray seal. Quite the little baronet.'
The Rolex mentioned later prominently in this context would fit in as a part of the cover. The gold watch and fob (?) don't turn up again IIRC, but the Rolex would blend naturally into the picture of the baronet. Main drawback of this explanation: Bond muses that the SIS would have to pay for a Rolex replacement. Not a consideration Bond would give an article from Q branch. To the contrary, Bond's new model comes from their stock. So it would seem the one specimen finding the end of it's work life against the head of the guard was indeed Bond's own model, his private posession.
My explanation: it was a watch Bond treated himself with over the years, but didn't necessarily wear on an everyday basis in the field. In the case of the Corona assignment [the Piz Gloria infiltration] Bond felt it was fitting to his cover and decided to take it along for the ride. In a similar manner his Bentley's were equipped with an unregistered Colt .45, a 'private' gun, judging by M's reaction in the aftermath of the Drax affair.
Thanks for letting me weigh-in a bit further regarding my JamesList interview. I also couldn't pass up the opportunity to have them promote the upcoming National Watch & Clock Museum "Bond Watches, James Bond Watches" exhibit!
Thanks for giving some most interesting information here! Good luck with the exhibit!
