Onto his wrist he slipped his steel Rolex Oyster Perpetual, the 34mm model, the date window its only complication; Bond did not need to know the phases of the moon or the exact moment of high tide at Southampton. And he suspected very few people did.
Rather reminds me of the first page of From Russia with Love, by Ian Fleming.
There was also a bulky gold wristwatch on a well-used brown crocodile strap. It was a Girard-Perregaux model designed for people who like gadgets, and it had a sweep second-hand and two little windows in the face to tell the day of the month, and the month, and the phase of the moon.
Obviously the Donovan "Red" Grant who wore that watch very much had "need to know the phases of the moon" then.
With Jeffery Deaver obviously alive and well, there's little doubt that he'll provide someone, sometime with an even greater degree of precision in James Bond watch identification than that which (is all that I've seen) above. So far, it looks like the Rolex reference 115200 Oyster Perpetual Date may be a contender.
Image courtesy Rolex
I've already written about this on my James Bond Watches Blog. Look for more there next week and following.
Meantime, I've seen a bit of a buzz on watch forum discussions regarding the 34mm case size. It's very small by the standards of today. The Omega 2201.50 Seamaster Planet Ocean worn by Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace, for example, has a 42mm case. The personal Rolex 1016 Explorer of Ian Fleming and described as the literary James Bond watch in the novel On Her Majesty's Secret Service measures 36mm across.
But I see nothing but good to expanding the field here. We've got plenty of diver's from which to choose, across brands and years of production. Fewer more subtle, lighter, more formal watches.
The more central question in my mind is, "How and why was the Carte Blanche James Bond watch chosen?"