As with the 34mm Rolex Oyster Perpetual James Bond watch referenced in Carte Blanche (discussed in its own, separate thread here on CBn), Jeffery Deaver had not provided a model number for the Breitling that Agent 007 wears throughout most of the last half of the book. As quite a few fans have pointed out to me, and I suppose elsewhere, Mr Deaver actually cites Breitling by name more often than he does Rolex.
During the Simon & Schuster VIP launch party on June 14, I had the opportunity to talk watches with Jeffery Deaver at several points over the course of the evening. "James Bond" and otherwise. For example, in what I might characterize as somewhat of a Hitchcock parallel, Mr Deaver wrote a Baume & Mercier onto the wrist of Felicity Willing as loose tie to his own personal choice in timekeeper. By then he'd already gone on to ID the aforesaid Rolex, but not the Breitling.
Yes, I asked.
There were, however, enough details in Carte Blanche - including a price point, which, in particular, was provided via internal dialogue of "green" bad guy Severan Hydt - to seriously narrow the possibilities. I also knew that the watch was based on something Jeffery Deaver had actually seen, most likely through the connection between Breitling and Bentley Motors. So I approached one of my contacts at Lewis Jewelers, which had been a strong supporter of the "Bond Watches, James Bond Watches" exhibit at the National Watch & Clock Museum, both as an Authorized Dealer for Omega and in assisting on some prep for the vintage TAG Heuer watches we showed.
Lewis is also an Authorized Dealer for Bentley, including the more specialized "Breitling for Bentley" line, and had a sufficient range that we could actually line up the "first cut" watches for review against the various descriptions in Carte Blanche. Some models were then immediately eliminated; other contenders were then compared based on differences as simple as dial variations. Which ones or one jumped out with the sort of impact Jeffery Deaver had described?
It really seemed there was only one.
I had and have a good relationship with Simon & Schuster, and all along had been in dialogue with representatives on my own ongoing coverage of Carte Blanche both from a watch perspective, and, as has been linked to from here on CBn, broader book review commentary. So I scheduled a block of time to meet with Mr Deaver one-on-one around the time of his last US book tour stop on June 29, in North Carolina. The watch from Lewis was with me, and appears in the image below, which I took as part of an extensive photo session.
He literally beamed when I handed it to him. For those of you who don't know, he is both an extremely organized, detailed, thoroughly-researched writer, but also quite well-versed in watches. One of his previous Lincoln Rhyme novels (in which, incidentally, Kathryn Dance is introduced) centers on a villain known called "the watchmaker," titled The Cold Moon. So forget what some "experts" on the internet may say about Jeffery Deaver and watches: He knows exactly what he's talking about, and exactly what sort of watch specifications meet his needs in character development.
The watch in the photo above and below, then, thus officially became the James Bond Breitling for Carte Blanche. Let's face it: Who's in a better position to say "I knew it when I saw it" than the author himself? It parallels the response of another James Bond author, ie, Ian Fleming, who responded to BW Goodden by letter on June 5, 1956, clarifying James Bond watch selection criteria just after publication of the novel, Doctor No.
Specifically, here's what we're talking about. James Bond wears a Breitling for Bentley model A2536513 Bentley Motors T Speed chronograph with “Neptune Blue” (C781) dial, on 991A Speed bracelet, in Carte Blanche. It is also available on a strap; and there are 3 other dial variations. But, ya know, let's face it: They're just not as "gaudy" as this!
As a final note on this subject, something interesting happened last Friday - just over a week after this Breitling for Bentley was named Carte Blanche James Bond watch.
Jeffery Deaver did an interview for MSNBC that ran 7 minutes, 2 seconds. That's a typical segment for a TV news story; maybe even a little long. Started with a bit of background on James Bond, introduced Mr Deaver, then broadly covered three things. The first was that signature drink invented by Jeffery Deaver for his 007 book. The last addressed his "sensitive" Bond in terms of women and relationships.
In between, at 4:52 on the time code, the topic of "brands" in James Bond was raised. More than anything else, that's probably the thing that most connects me to James Bond watches. And I've always admired it in Ian Fleming, following with great interest the histories noting the ratio of time he first put into marketing Casino Royale, versus actually writing it. In this case, on MSNBC, the specifics on brands in Carte Blanche was limited to Bentley, Breitling, and Rolex - with the bulk of the substance then narrowing on the latter two watch makers.
It's pretty darn impressive to see James Bond watches having this sort of impact. And it creates a unique and personal hook that benefits all of us, providing both interest and raising the value of the James Bond brand in the ramp-up to "Bond 23."
I've tried to link to several things where folks may want to see more detail above. The entire MSNBC video can be viewed, free, online as well.
