The Connery James Bond nylon strap WAS NOT a military strap

despite what is nearly universally claimed, the watch strap worn by Connery in “Goldfinger” and “Thunderball” WAS NOT a military strap of any description. It certainly wasn’t a NATO strap:

1. The first specification for the NATO strap - DefStan 66-4 Issue 1 - was published in August of 1968; principal photography for “Goldfinger” began in January of 1964
2. Aside from being one piece nylon straps, there is very little in common between the NATO strap and the Bond strap; the NATO strap has metal keepers while the Bond strap has a fixed nylon keeper, the buckle of the NATO strap is rectangular while the buckle of the Bond strap is horseshoe shaped, the NATO strap uses chrome plated brass hardware while the Bond strap has the duller appearance of nickel plating, the NATO strap was defined as being either “steel gray” or “admiralty gray” (depending on the revision of the standard) while the Bond strap features black (or possibly dark blue) and green stripes with red piping, on paper the NATO strap was either 18.5mm or 18mm +/- 0.5mm (depending on the revision of the standard) while the Bond strap was 16mm

I have access to a strap (pictured) that appears to be almost identical to Bond strap, only with navy blue and red stripes with green piping, and brushed brass buckle (but of the right general shape). The only other difference I can detect is that the Bond strap appears to have had 7 holes, while this strap has 8. This strap has no military provenance, it appears to be just a cheap commercial watch strap, purchased by my dad perhaps 15 years ago at a (now demolished) antique shop in Bothell, Washington of all places.



It also seems highly unlikely that the strap was selected because anyone would have thought of it having a military connotation:

1. At the time, no nation had so broadly adopted one piece nylon watch straps that someone in 1964 would have formed that association. Again, this was over four years before the now famous NATO strap was even invented
2. Military watch straps were near universally monochromatic, not colorfully striped
3. Conversely, colorful 16mm one piece nylon straps were not at all uncommon on the commercial market at time; if anyone had any connotation formed about such a strap it would likely be with these cheap commercial straps
4. There’s little evidence that any serious thought went into the selection of this strap, otherwise they probably would have searched for a strap that better fit the watch. There was no such thing as “freeze framing” in 1964, all sorts of things that would be considered today as highly sloppy were done routinely into the 1980s and later. An example is Luke Skywalker’s lightsaber in “The Empire Strikes Back,” which can clearly be seen to say “Made in New York” in the Wampa cave scene. For “The Force Awakens,” which also used original Graflex flashguns to produce its Anakin Lightsabers, they used foil tape to conceal this marking, but in 1980 nobody cared.

So, why was this strap selected? Here are a couple of theories:

1. The leather watch strap from “Dr. No” and “From Russia With Love” had simply failed by the time production had started for “Goldfinger.” This seems highly possible, as the strap had been subjected to high temperatures, humidity, and repeated submersions in “Dr. No,” and didn’t have an easy life in “From Russia With Love,” either
2. The nylon strap was picked because it fit over the wetsuit in “Goldfinger.” Possible, but in my estimation less likely. For one thing, there is no evidence that the nylon strap was longer than the leather strap. Screen grabs from “Thunderball” clearly show that Connery wore the strap on its absolute last hole on just his wrist, similar to what screen grabs from “Dr. No” showing that the leather strap was at or near its final adjustment. Also, from a story perspective there was no real reason the watch needed to be over the wetsuit, the watch could have just as well been under the wetsuit, as some actual divers actually prefer. There’s no insert close up shot designed to tell us that watch was so worn. While Bond does check his watch in this scene, a setup for the later close up we get of the watch later, Connery could have simply lifted up his wetsuit to do this. I see no strong cinematic reason that would have made the production bother replacing the strap