Forget Seiko, Omega, Lazenby, Moore and Brosnan -- Sean Connery is James Bond, and the real James Bond wears a steel Rolex Oyster Perpetual Chronometer on an expanding metal bracelet, as described in chapter 15 of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. It later serves double-duty as a knuckleduster, as Bond switches his watch to his right hand and loops the band around his fist so that the heavy metal and crystal watchcase sits atop his knuckles. Bond makes unorthodox use of his superlative chronometer as he kills a chalet guard, punching him so hard that the crystal shatters against his jaw. Of course, Rolex aficianados may wonder why Bond's Rolex doesn't have the standard acrylic crystal, but Bond was well-equipped with specially-modified Q Branch accessories.
The so-called "James Bond" Submariner was first seen on Bond's wrist in "Dr. No." It is featured prominently in "From Russia With Love" when Bond checks the time while conteplating a "quickie" on the Thames. The watch is worn on a strap. In "Goldfinger," Bond is wearing a 6538 with oversize crown on a nylon strap.
The original Rolex Submariner, model 6204, was introduced at the 1954 Basel fair. The 6204 looked similar to the model 6202 Turn-O-Graph introduced the same year. However, unlike the Turn-O-Graph, the Submariner bezel lacked minute markers and the hands were the "pencil" type seen on early bubblebacks. The 6204 was powered by the A296 movement and lacked the protective "crownguard" of later models. While the Turn-O-Graph was a commercial failure, the Submariner appealed to those looking for a "bulletproof" everyday watch. The 6204 was also offered under the name "Sub-Aqua" and these models are highly sought-after by collectors.
In 1956, the 6204 was replaced by two new models, the 6538 and the 6536, which both featured Mercedes hands, a heavier case, gilt lettering and minute markers to 3:00 on the bezel. The model 6538 soon acquired a new chronometer movement, ref. 1030, while the cheaper model 6536 still relied on the A296. The model 6538 featured an oversize "Brevet" (French for "patented") crown, the predecessor to the modern Triplock crown, and an improved ref. 1530 movement. The Brevet crown model 6538 is considered by Italian collectors to be the "true" James Bond Submariner as it was shown on Bond's wrist in a "Goldfinger" close-up. The 6538 also boasted improved water resistance to 660 feet.
In 1959, Rolex introduced the model 5512 featuring crownguards and white lettering. Rolex promoted the new Submariner through the exploits of Jacques Piccard, who took a specially-modified version to depths of 35,798 feet strapped to the outside of his bathyscape Trieste. The model 5508 remained for several years as a cheaper, no crownguard model, though it was upgraded with the ref. 1530 movement.
From time to time you'll have to do more for your image than show off your Rolex or expel cigarette smoke through your teeth with a quiet hiss. People will get tired of just admiring your rather cruel mouth. In the end you won't be able to get out of saying something with it. For those occasions here are some tips on how to impart a more distinctively 007-ish flavor to your talk - with one or two preliminary cautions about chat in general.
All discussions, whatever their topic may be, are out. If your audience includes anybody who knows anything about anything -- from unarmed combat to Mozart -- you'll be out of your depth in no time. So stick to generalizations, thrown-off remarks, and dark hints; conversation stoppers, not starters. More effective as well as safer.
Now master and rehearse the following:
1) "The leader of a band of gipsies once told me he'd always give me a job - taming his women and killing for him [FRWL 17]. A great compliment to a gajo."
"Sorry, to a what?"
"Sorry, to a foreigner. Turkish word."
Approach via either "The nicest thing ever said to me" or "If I ever get the sack from the service" or both.
2) "The only invisible ink I ever use is the oldest one in the world. Comes from a rather personal source [OHMSS 16]."
You're in no danger of being asked to amplify this one.
3) "This bit of flesh in the palm of your hand below your thumb. The Cayman Islanders call it the Love Mount. They say a girl's good in bed if her Love Mount is well developed [DN 4]. Like yours."
You won't mind amplifying this one.
4) "You probably couldn't find ten non-squeal killers in France [CR 1]."
Or wherever you happen to be. Difficult to refute.
5) "My education was mostly in Latin and Greek [YOLT 11]. No help in ordering a cup of coffee in Rome or Athens."
Or anywhere else. A good cover for your total ignorance (as we take it to be) of all foreign languages except French and German. These - while we're on the subject - you're supposed to have a first-class command of [YOLT 21], but if, like most of us, you're shaky on them, cover up by refusing to speak a single word of either, not seeming to understand anything more complicated than 'Bonjour' or 'Danke', and explaining that you don't want too many of the "wrong sort of people" know about your linguistic abilities.
6) Your eyes have the rare quality of chatoyance [DAF 5]."
"Sorry, of what?"
"When jewels have chatoyance the colour in the lustre changes with movement in the light."
To be used on Bond Street and other thoroughfares with opulent window displays.
7) When you're very frightened, you know, your hair really does stand on
end. Mine did, anyway, when somebody put a poisonous centipede in my bed [DN 6]."
Lead into this via "It's funny how true these old cliches are." In your environment you shouldn't have to wait long for one to turn up.
8) "A friend of mine who's head of French Counter-intelligence once said to me, 'I enjoy strong sensations [CR 10].'
Our founder talked about the Deuxieme Bureau here and used the French phrase for the bit about sensations, but see remarks on Remark 5.
9) Choose one:
a) "Few Asiatics are courageous gamblers [FRWL 17]."
b) "The highland Turks are all right. The Turks of the plains are no good [T5]."
c) "They're a tough, forgotten race, the Chigroes [DN 6]."
"Sorry, the who?"
"The Chinese Negroes of the West Indies."
Use not more than one or at the most two of the above in any one evening.
10) "For me, the right ingredients of an exciting adventure are physical exertion, mystery, and a ruthless enemy [DN 7]."
Smile when you say this one. Done too straight it might cause an embarrassed snigger.
11) "Before a man's forty, girls cost nothing. After that you have to pay money, or tell a story [DAF 23]. Of the two it's the story that hurts most. Anyway I'm not forty yet."
You can adjust the 'forty' a little, if required, but on no account stretch it beyond sixty-five.
12) "What you need is a course of T.L.C. [G 23]"
"Sorry, of what?"
"Tender Loving Care treatment."
"When's it going to start?"
"Now."
As your mouth comes down ruthlessly on hers.
