In all seriousness, Revolution's bit on Bond watch history mentioned above features a few questions on the material answered by Omega's head of comms Jean-Pasal Perret, who said simply that Grade 2 was used because it has a "very stealthy and dark hue" which better suits the military-inspired trappings of the watch itself. So the reasons were simply aesthetic, and not performance-based, by all appearances.

 

That is one of the thing I don’t like as well with Omega, too many limited editions, it becomes meaningless...

 

This is not a LE

 

Cool renderings. I like your #1

 

I really like this watch. The faux patina, broad arrow integration, lack of a date wheel, mesh bracelet, and use of titanium.

However, the price and lack of a ceramic bezel and crystal casebook take it off my list. Maybe for $6-7k?

 

It is a beautiful watch, but really expensive for sure. If I was going to buy a seamaster with a vintage look, I would rather get the Seamaster 300 Master Co-axial 41 or the trilogy edition for than matter.

 

Can you please apply for the Omega design team for the Apollo 13 50th anniversary

 

After reading all 30 pages I believe this watch have been received with warmer comments than the Apollo 11 50th...
And I think Omega sold all their Apollo, and I think this one will have a good sale rate.

 

For almost 500 years the heraldic " Broad Arrow " sign has been used to mark objects purchased from the British monarch's money, or to indicate government and/or military property. Omega must have got permission to use it... right ?

.

 

Even if Omega have received permission to use the Pheon symbol I would personally feel uncomfortable wearing such a watch, since I didn’t have the honour of serving my country in a military capacity; it would feel rather disingenuous.

Describing this watch as excrement though is silly. It’s a great looking composition. So for me it probably isn’t a candidate unless they can make it a civilian variant and despite purists no-date wishes it would be more practical with.

 

MC: So, what can you tell us about your role in the design of the watch?

Daniel Craig: The relationship has built over the five movies that I’ve done. When I did Casino Royale, I kind of wanted a new watch. I wanted my watch. My Bond watch. Pierce’s watch was very beautiful and I have one and I wear it often. But I wanted one that suited my Bond. The Planet Ocean that I wore in that film, I still have it, felt correct. It’s a big watch. If you were in real trouble, you could wrap it around your knuckles and smack someone in the face with it, which is an important thing. But what was great, was that I started talking to OMEGA and all the people there, and we started having a dialogue, and I suppose I thought, “they’re not really going to listen to me, they’re a watch manufacturer.” I love watches but I know very little about them, but actually the relationship has built and built and built. What’s been amazing is that we’ve had a back and forth and we’ve talked about watches and I’m so incredibly proud of where we’ve got with it. I feel like they’ve listened to me, which amazed me, and I’m very happy they did. This watch is the culmination of all of that. There are many things. It feels like a military watch, but it’s elegant. I had one important thing, which was that my sleeve must be able to fall over the top of it. And it can. So you can wear it as a dress watch, but it feels like a military watch and a substantial watch. And then with the titanium, it’s as light as a feather and it’s sort of magic. I’m so proud and so happy and incredibly impressed with it. It was brought to me right at the beginning of the filming process and presented to me, and I looked at it and said, “there’s nothing I need to say, you’ve done it, this is it, it’s the James Bond watch.” So I just thank you guys so much.

Source: https://www.fratellowatches.com/event-report-the-launch-of-the-james-bond-watch-in-nyc/

 

Nick, you posted some very good points, but I do think this Bond Omega variant looks better as a no-date.

Based on the vintage / desert tones and size of this watch I do not think it will be as versatile as your Railmaster 60th, so perhaps as a more casual "out-of-office" option a date might not be such as key requirement?

A quick personal note...during work days I have been "double wristing" (yes it does sound pornographic). I have been wearing one of my mechanical watches on the right wrist with a cheap and discreet black band Fitibit Inspire on the left wrist, so personally I really have found mechanical date complication to be increasingly less useful.

After having seen more follow-up photos and videos (photos below from Fratello), what I find most impressive on this new Bond 300 is the domed sapphire crystal and the Ti Mesh bracelet.

 

Certainly is better looking without the date, but I had the double Red Sea Dweller in mind when I mocked up that date version.


I’ve also tried the Fitbit thing but gave up after a while, I just prefer checking time, date and day via a vintage wristwatch

without all that USB cable nonsense.

I think I read somewhere that case on the Bond 300M is supposed to be slightly slimmer than the regular version; that and the domed crystal would make for a very handsome profile.

The bracelet looks very “trick” but I wonder if the decision to go for holes rather than an infinitely adjustable friction clamp (think Forstner/JB Champion) might be a missed opportunity.

 

The new Bond 300M is probably slightly slimmer as it does not have the exhibition case back of the standard SM300 diver.

PS. I know this is thread drift...but having the date was not the main reason for the Fitibit adoption.

I have my Inspire model linked to my family and close friends only private mobile line. I actually adopted it so my family (wife, kids, sister and elderly parents) could "buzz" me when needed. I am often taking part in conference calls and on-site meetings where I have my phone silenced and have sometimes missed important calls or notifications.

I have also found it useful as a "home time" watch when I am traveling across time zones with a watch without a GMT complication.

Ref the USB cable issues I have found the battery life to be good for several days...and at US$60,00 I do think it pretty good value for something that will become obsolete in probably 2-3 years time + with the "always off display it just looks like a black wrist band so you do not feel a complete prat wearing it on one arm with your mechanical watch on the other arm

 

@Longbow - nice mockup of a date version, and change to the hands. Your version here makes me wonder what they'll do in the future. This new model being labeled as the 007 edition... wonder if the Pheon symbol may very well expire with the 007 edition (once it eventually runs its course through production, I mean... probably many years of good sales down the road)?

 

@mr_smith I am not at all sure that the Bond 300M will become a design baseline for a new range of Seamaster 300 divers. The new Bond is not a LE so I think Omega will keep this specific design as a one-off, at least until the next Bond movie.

A bit more thread drift from me

I am rooting for this military and vintage inspired Bond watch to be successful, as it could be a motivating factor for Omega to reissue some of their military heritage pieces. I think an Omega Weems reissue would be a hit as well as a dirty dozen field watch.

Omega with their "Olympic" branding and huge dependency on the Asian market might be wary of over exploring the WW2/military association, but I do think this is an area that could open up a whole new product range for Omega collectors. After the 50th Apollo 11 celebration and 2020 Olympics, I do think Omega will need a "new story" to excite their customers for +2021.

 

@Riviera Paradise Oh, I wasn't necessarily thinking a new range of divers... the "007 edition" just makes me wonder if Omega may eventually eliminate the small features that make it a 007 edition (remove the broad arrow, perhaps change the bracelet and caseback). Similar to the 2531.80 and its successor the 2220.80... these were Bond watches and while the actual Bond reference numbers' production were ended, the styling/color was more-or-less kept around (post-Bond) for the following ceramic version (no wave) and the newest wave version.

Agreed on your hope for this to motivate to reissue some others... if I may thread drift for a second as well, my hope is for the Seamaster 300 Master Co-axial popularity to motivate Omega to do a Big Triangle reissue!

 

I hope so as well, would be nice, possibly even without the "aged" lume...

 

I really like the look of the watch with no date and so on.
Have to see in person. Still unsure if I would like to pay double for this version. Or just buy the black standard version.

Still have the Seamaster 300 60th anniversary.
We will see