Sir Roger Moore. Image by Allan Warren
“I am now aiming precisely at your groin. So speak or forever hold your piece.” This was a line from The Man with the Golden Gun, one of the seven films that cast Sir Roger Moore as James Bond. Famed for his more humorous approach to playing the world renowned MI6 agent, Moore must have done something right as he eventually became the longest-serving actor in the role, starting with Live and Let Die in 1973 up until A View to a Kill in 1985.
Throughout his time as Bond, we spotted quite a number of different watches on his wrist and although we now know James Bond’s watch to be an Omega, talk to the older generation of folks and they’ll tell you that the Rolex was Bond’s watch of choice. For Moore’s first Bond film, he wore this Rolex Submariner Ref. 5513.
The Rolex Submariner Ref. 5513. For circular saw add-on please contact Q.
Apparently, this marked the first time that a Bond watch was integrated with gadgets added by Q. This Ref. 5513 could be triggered to serve as a circular saw or ironically, even generate a magnetic field.
Funnily enough, Moore’s string of Bond films came at a time where the quartz crisis was ramping up so throughout his career, James Bond was spotted with a Hamilton Pulsar LED digital watch along with various Seiko watches which would be quite the collector’s item if one could still find them today.
They say you can tell a lot about a man by the watch he wears and interestingly enough, the choice of quartz watches at the time was quite indicative of the more casual approach Moore took as James Bond. Whether this was just a by-product of the sudden boom of Japanese quartz watches or a calculated move we can’t really say.
Sir Roger Moore’s death at 89 years of age was announced recently after what his family describes as “a short but brave battle with cancer.” In a quote he gave The Guardian in 2014 “Being eternally known as Bond has no downside. People often call me ‘Mr Bond’ when we’re out and I don’t mind a bit. Why would I?” Even in death, his legacy lives on; rest in peace Mr. Bond.
