Omega Seamaster 300 M Chronometer Watch

By: Anders Frejdh

Published:
2004-09-06

Omega Seamaster 300 M Chronometer James Bond

James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) uses his OMEGA Seamaster 300 M Chronometer in Die Another Day, a watch Ian Fleming's cinematic hero have used in Brosnan's previous films as 007 (GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough).

• DIE ANOTHER DAY (2002) - Q: “New watch, this’ll be your twentieth I believe”. Bond: “How time flies”. This was a sly reference by Q (John Cleese) to the fact that Die Another Day is actually the 20th of the James Bond films. This outing saw 007 taking on the arrogant industrialist Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) who was working on Icarus, a diamond-encrusted space weapon that can concentrate sunlight. Graves is developing it with North Korea, which intends to use it to blast the South and re-unite the country. Bond uses the now familiar OMEGA Seamaster 300M model with a few fresh modifications, including a detonator pin replacing the helium release valve (handy when you have a supply of C4 explosive that needs to go off), which is controlled by twisting the bezel. The laser which Bond uses to cut through the ice at Graves’ HQ is newly positioned, too, shooting from the crown of the watch and activated by pressing on the actual face.

DAD also marked the first time that OMEGA issued a limited edition watch, a Seamaster, to celebrate both the film and the 40th anniversary of the franchise.

• THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (1999) - For his third outing as James Bond, Pierce Brosnan must protect the beautiful Elektra (Sophie Marceau) from Renard (Robert Carlisle), an ex-KGB man turned terrorist who is incapable of feeling pain. Renard is planning to increase the price of petroleum by detonating a nuclear device in the waters around Istanbul, destroying a new vital pipeline. The title comes from the family motto of Sir Thomas Bond – ‘Orbis non sufficit’ – who founded London’s Bond Street in the 1680s, and it dates back to Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Bond can be seen wearing his OMEGA Seamaster 300M in the Thames speedboat chase scene, where he in pursuit of Cigar Girl (Maria Grazia Cucinotta), a cat-suited assassin. This Seamaster has built-in illumination – all models feature luminous markers and hands to make reading the watch in low light easier, but this is of a different order. That’s demonstrated when Bond and Elektra are caught in an avalanche, their life saved by an inflatable ski jacket and the OMEGA timepiece’s dial lights bring a welcome relief to the darkness. When Bond is trapped at the bottom of a nuclear bunker inspection pit in Kazakhstan, he unveils the OMEGA’s piece de resistance – a miniature grappling hook, fired by pressing the helium escape valve, attached to a 50-foot micro-filament strong enough to support 800 pounds.

• TOMORROW NEVER DIES (1997) - Bond battles the machinations of an evil media mogul, Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), who plans to trigger a conflict between China and the UK in order to help the growth of his empire. Again, 007 is ably assisted by his OMEGA, which has been modified, not by Q this time but by friendly Chinese spy Wai Lin’s (Michelle Yeoh) techy equivalents. It incorporates a detachable remote controlled detonator, useful when Bond later sets up a booby trap using a grenade and a glass jar. The watch plays a more conventional role when 007 is summoned by phone by Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond). The agent claims he is “brushing up on a little Danish”, - who happens to be blonde - in Oxford, but M’s secretary insists he comes to London. He checks the time on his OMEGA and asks for an hour. “Make that thirty minutes”, Moneypenny says, very definitely wanting to spoil his fun. This time Bond has upgraded to the automatic chronometer version of the OMEGA Seamaster 300M with a stainless steel bracelet, which Brosnan’s Bond would stay with from now on. Incidentally, an X-rayed Seamaster also has a starring role in the opening credits.

• GOLDENEYE (1995) - Pierce Brosnan took up the mantle of James Bond in a story of stolen satellite weapon technology, the disintegration of the Soviet Union and rogue agents. GoldenEye is a devastating device that can fire a pulse from orbit and wipe out a city – and its target is London. Time isn’t on Bond’s side, but an OMEGA watch is, in this case a Seamaster Quartz Professional 300M with a blue dial. When 007 is trapped in the villain’s armoured train, with the seconds ticking away before it explodes, Bond uses the watch’s built-in laser on the bezel to cut through the steel plate, enabling the British spy and the Russian computer programmer Natalya (Izabella Scorupco) to leap free in the nick of time. His OMEGA is also seen in the brilliant ‘Arkangel’ pre-credits sequence, again involving a very big bang - although this model is on a dark leather strap rather than a stainless steel bracelet - and then again later when it is used as a detonator (the control button replaces the normal helium-escape valve, a device used by professional divers in diving bells or other submersible who may be breathing “artificial’” atmospheres). Even treacherous Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) has a Seamaster, such OMEGA watches being standard MI6 issue to 00 agents.

Editor's note:
For more James Bond products presented on From Sweden with Love, click here.

For more posts about Pierce Brosnan on From Sweden with Love, click here.

For more information about Omega's James Bond watches, visit the official website:

www.omegawatches.com

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#die_another_day

#james_bond_lifestyle

#products

#watches

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