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AML81
·Overall, the new blue Bond edition doesn’t really appeal to me, whereas I do like the black Spectre one:
1. The blue Bond
I think that the combination of blue and metal works well, and this dark blue —similar to the 60th Anniversary model— is elegant and attractive. However, I don’t like the bezel. Its rough texture looks rather coarse and unrefined to me, despite being titanium. By comparison, the titanium on the NTTD manages to look both refined and modern.
I’m also not keen on the Bond family coat of arms at 12 o’clock. Nobody, not even Bond fans, really associates that crest with 007. I might have preferred a gun-barrel pattern on the dial instead of the waves, as on the platinum-gold version, even if it were a simpler interpretation.
The caseback feels like a missed opportunity. Why do you have a display and open backsiee if you then obscure almost the entire movement? I would have loved something along the lines of the 60th Anniversary caseback, with an animated efect—perhaps a different design, but still an animation.
Between the new blue Bond and the blue 60th Anniversary model, I would choose the 60th Anniversary without hesitation.
2. The black Spectre
To my eye, this is clearly the more successful design. My two most obvious reservations are the absence of waves —or another pattern, perhaps suggesting the octopus’s tentacles, as on the platinum-gold version— and the rough texture of the bezel. That said, the texture works much better aesthetically in black than it does on the metallic bezel of the blue Bond. Perhaps a polished black ceramic bezel with polished raised numerals, something in the spirit of the Yacht-Master, would have worked very well. Overall, though, the combination of black dial and black bezel is convincing, without going as far as the Seamaster Diver 300M Black Black.
My main criticism of the new Spectre is undoubtedly the caseback: it lacks subtlety. Would a smaller Spectre emblem, leaving more of the movement visible, have been so difficult? Better still, an animated sequence in which the Spectre logo gradually appeared, or something along those lines.
To me, subtlety is part of elegance. An oversized, conspicuous logo feels intrusive rather than refined.
So, this time, I prefer Spectre to Bond. Among the Bond-related models, my shortlist would now be the new Diver 300M Spectre, the 60th Anniversary and the NTTD, whose colour scheme I find both modern and elegant. And, of course, the original Seamaster 300 Spectre, with its vintage styling.
1. The blue Bond
I think that the combination of blue and metal works well, and this dark blue —similar to the 60th Anniversary model— is elegant and attractive. However, I don’t like the bezel. Its rough texture looks rather coarse and unrefined to me, despite being titanium. By comparison, the titanium on the NTTD manages to look both refined and modern.
I’m also not keen on the Bond family coat of arms at 12 o’clock. Nobody, not even Bond fans, really associates that crest with 007. I might have preferred a gun-barrel pattern on the dial instead of the waves, as on the platinum-gold version, even if it were a simpler interpretation.
The caseback feels like a missed opportunity. Why do you have a display and open backsiee if you then obscure almost the entire movement? I would have loved something along the lines of the 60th Anniversary caseback, with an animated efect—perhaps a different design, but still an animation.
Between the new blue Bond and the blue 60th Anniversary model, I would choose the 60th Anniversary without hesitation.
2. The black Spectre
To my eye, this is clearly the more successful design. My two most obvious reservations are the absence of waves —or another pattern, perhaps suggesting the octopus’s tentacles, as on the platinum-gold version— and the rough texture of the bezel. That said, the texture works much better aesthetically in black than it does on the metallic bezel of the blue Bond. Perhaps a polished black ceramic bezel with polished raised numerals, something in the spirit of the Yacht-Master, would have worked very well. Overall, though, the combination of black dial and black bezel is convincing, without going as far as the Seamaster Diver 300M Black Black.
My main criticism of the new Spectre is undoubtedly the caseback: it lacks subtlety. Would a smaller Spectre emblem, leaving more of the movement visible, have been so difficult? Better still, an animated sequence in which the Spectre logo gradually appeared, or something along those lines.
To me, subtlety is part of elegance. An oversized, conspicuous logo feels intrusive rather than refined.
So, this time, I prefer Spectre to Bond. Among the Bond-related models, my shortlist would now be the new Diver 300M Spectre, the 60th Anniversary and the NTTD, whose colour scheme I find both modern and elegant. And, of course, the original Seamaster 300 Spectre, with its vintage styling.
