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The Grey NATO – 399 – Drafting James Bond Watches With James Lamdin

Published on Thu, 12 Nov 2026 06:00:00 -0500

Synopsis

Episode 399 of The Grey NATO has hosts James Stacy and Jason Heaton, who is under the weather with a cough, joined by guest James Lamdin of Analog Shift. Lamdin catches up on recent adventures: driving his Aston Martin Vantage on North Carolina's Tail of the Dragon, swimming with humpback whales in Tonga after winning a charity auction item, a trip to New Zealand with a bungee jump and a glider flight, and co-owning a 1959 Cadillac Ectomobile replica that he drove around Manhattan at Halloween.

After a wrist check, the three run a serpentine draft of James Bond watches. Heaton picks the Breitling Navitimer 806 from Thunderball, the TAG Heuer Night Diver from The Living Daylights, and the Casino Royale Omega Planet Ocean. Stacy takes the Skyfall Planet Ocean, the Seiko H558 from A View to a Kill, and the Spectre Seamaster 300 limited edition. Lamdin picks the Goldeneye/Tomorrow Never Dies Seamaster 300, the Moonraker Seiko memory bank, and the Breitling Top Time Geiger counter prop from Thunderball. They also acknowledge the Dr. No Rolex Submariner and the Rolex 5513 as the obvious picks they skipped.

The fourth round is a proposed watch for a future Bond. Lamdin suggests a Benrus Type 1 for a 1970s period piece and a Rolex or Tudor GMT. Stacy suggests a Q-modified Breitling Aerospace for an early-90s Bond and a titanium Planet Ocean or Pelagos 39. Heaton suggests a CWC Royal Navy diver for the 1980s and a Vertex M100 or Aqualion M60 for the future. Along the way they talk about Timothy Dalton's underrated Bond, Craig-era films, and the odd secondary-market prices of 007 limited editions.

For final notes, Lamdin recommends David Zaritzky's Bond Experience, Heaton recommends Royal Film Wear for screen-accurate Bond clothing, and Stacy picks the covert coin as a stocking stuffer. The episode closes with an Ian Fleming quote about saying yes to adventures.

Show Notes

Transcript

Speaker
James Stacy Hello and welcome to another episode of the Great NATO. It's a loose discussion of travel, adventure, diving, driving, gear, and most certainly watches. This is episode 399. And it's proudly brought to you by the Always growing TGN supporter crew. We thank you all so much for your continued support. And if you're listening and thinking this might be three hundred and ninety-nine episodes in, time to jump into the supporter crew, visit thegray NATO.com for more details. My name is James Stacy and I,'m joined as ever by my friend and co-host, Jason Heaton. Jason, how are we doing?
Jason Heaton I'm a little uh under the weather, um kind of a bad cough and I'm sniffling, so uh apologies in advance, but uh other than that, doing doing pretty well.
James Stacy Sorry to hear that you're not feeling so well. Thankfully, we have some support in the uh talking on the mic element today. He has a uh license to kill the next hour or so with us. It's um our good buddy James Landon from Analog Shift. James, how are we doing?
James Lamdin Uh I'm doing great. It's good to be here. And uh last time we did this, uh Jason, you were off trekking somewhere. So it's good to uh be with you guys. I've known you so long. and three hundred and ninety nine episodes, fellas. That's pretty cool. I'm glad to be here. Thank you.
Jason Heaton It's something. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks for joining. It's an absolute
James Stacy treat. We had this idea to do to draft bond watches, like any and all. Yeah. Bond watches a little while ago. And then in a moment we were like, well, sh we can't do this alone. We need more. And we're like, well, it's gotta be James would be right. We pinged you, you were on a great holiday. And as it turns out, you're recording with us a little early because we're gonna run this a week later because Jason's going on holiday. So it's it's good coverage. We've got too many Jameses. Um as these episodes sometimes go.
Jason Heaton Offsets all the Jasons in our in our I
James Stacy I'm very much looking forward to this. We'll get into the draft in um in a moment. But uh James, it's been a while since you were on. Give us give us an update on on what's going on, how was the holiday? You've been on a few adventures that we chatted about over some sushi recently.
James Lamdin yeah. This um I've been trying to do you know, you inspire me, guys. So I try to get out of the office as much as possible and and do some travel over the last few years, which has been really special. Uh this this year was there were two two real highlights. I I got to do a bucket list thing and and drive down to Tale of the Dragon and drive my uh my vantage down there. So a properly uh fitting James Bond adjacent uh road trip. It was pretty neat. Uh it's lots of cool cars down there. uh a lot of the guys down there are running Porsche's and uh you know mostly boxsters and Caymans 'cause they're just perfect for tearing those roads up. Um probably the best car for that road by the way is Miata, uh which is just a
James Stacy spectacular.
James Lamdin It might be. It might be. But the the vantage down there was positively exotic. Uh and it was getting a lot of attention uh for a you know nearly 20-year-old car.
Jason Heaton This is in n North Carolina, just if I can interrupt, right?
James Lamdin Yeah, it's way out um in the western part of North Carolina, you sort of cross into you know Tennessee and it's um part of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It's really stunning. And the road itself is wild. It's got all these amazing corners and whatnot, but it's not a fast road. It's all about that handling. But the parkways nearby, all of these skyways that go up into the mountains and over the valleys and through the woods, uh uh there are just magnificent views. Wonderful time.
James Stacy Is it still uh is it still a lot of motorcycle traffic as well?
James Lamdin Yeah, a lot of bikes. Um yeah,
James Lamdin I mean it it's people mostly
James Stacy well behaved. Yeah. I mean, people
James Lamdin were driving with spirit for the most part. There were a couple of locals that I think were making it their duty to slow people down um to to it a nearly dangerous level. Uh but I think most people were pretty well behaved. Yeah. Yeah.
James Stacy You d you don't want to be the guy on Tale of Dragon in a white Nissan rogue. You know what I mean?
Jason Heaton Or maybe you really do, and I just we'll never
James Stacy see either. It was it was so that was you. I
James Lamdin don't No, definitely not.
James Stacy Never. Um and then I just got back
James Lamdin from one of the most spectacular trips I've ever taken, which was uh a week in Tonga swimming with humpback whales, uh, which was just a spiritual experience. Um, it was just an incredible time. Um, did not exactly know where Tonga was on the map when I booked the trip, and I'm kinda glad I didn't do
James Stacy it.
James Lamdin It is pretty out there, you know, and um most people I guess would probably have heard of it from the the Tonga Trench, which is uh just about the second I think it's the second deepest place on the planet. Um but it's on the migratory uh path for humpback wheels. So every year in September, October, uh there's just this incredible influx of these creatures. And it's one of the few places in the world where with a licensed guide you're allowed to get in the water with them. Uh which was just incredible.
Jason Heaton And was that the goal of that trip like you planned? Like I it was a kind of a bucket list thing for you? Like I want to go to Tonga and swim with whales and you bo you booked it and went.
James Lamdin I did not know that Tonga was going to be the place. Um the longer story is that I went to a charity auction gala uh with a friend of mine as his plus one at the last minute last year. And uh had no idea what the charity was about, had no idea what the event was about. Uh, but he said, Hey, last minute, I'm sorry I have to cancel our plans unless you want to be my plus one to this thing that my law firm bought a table for. And I said, sure, let's go. And I get there and I'm swimming with whales uh was was one of the three auction items and I just looked at him and this strange vibe came over m over me and I said I'm I'm gonna win that.
Jason Heaton Oh wow. And I threw my paddle up
James Lamdin and did not put it down until I did.
Jason Heaton Huh It was
James Lamdin incredible. Yeah, so I I went with this great guy named uh Karim Ilya. He runs a program called Dance with Whales. Um and he's just the coolest guy. He's a wildlife photographer, adventurer, uh and sort of nature trip leader who's worked all around the world, an explorers club member like yourself, Jason. And just a super cool guy. And he we it was a small trip, six six of us who did not know each other. And it was just my wife and I and um and four other people from all around the world. And going out every day for nine hours on a boat looking for whales and when we when we found them we jumped in.
James Stacy That's amazing. Yeah. and
James Lamdin then from there since we were in the neighborhood, I thought I'd better pop down to New Zealand, which was also a a bucket list. And you know, it's true what they say. It's like I I I'm actually thinking I might start a game show, which is like is it AI or New Zealand.
Jason Heaton It's unbelievably beautiful.
James Lamdin Uh it's an outdoor lover's paradise. You know, on a at the worst, it's Lord of the Rings. You know? It's magnificent. And there's all this uh I mean just incredible wildlife vistas. Uh we we went up and hiked a a glacier for a day and, you know, flew around fjordland and the seaplane. Um there's adventure sports galore, actually I I guess this is apropos to our uh upcoming draft conversation, but I I I had a two day Pierce Brosnan uh moment. I did it I did my first bungee jump um with golden eye inspiration with the swan dive.
Jason Heaton And uh the next day I went up in a glider,
James Lamdin a you know, Thomas Crown affair. So
Jason Heaton wow. Yeah. Special place. Jeez, you've had a highly representative. Yeah.
James Lamdin Yeah. Wow. And then I know
James Stacy one of your other passions is uh, you know, Ghostbusters. You want to give us a little a little re quick recap of your Halloween activities? I saw at least a piece of this on Instagram.
James Lamdin Yeah. Yeah. It's um probably a longer story for another time, but somehow I have found myself as the co owner of a nineteen fifty nine Cadillac um Miller Meteor Futura Duplex custom bodied uh Ectomobile replica uh of the highest order with my friend uh Nikki uh who runs Gotham Cinema rides out in out in New Jersey and all started because I hired him to to take my uh wife and her niece and nephew around for Halloween a couple of years ago. I just I was just in awe of what he was doing, just like the the positivity that this machine generated for everybody who was in it, everybody who saw it. And I was just like, you know, man, um, if you ever want to get another one of these things and you need a partner, just give me a call. And he's like, sure, sure, right on, man. And I'm like, I'm never hear from this cat ever again. And three months later he called me up and he said, So there's another car available. are you are you in? We found ourselves the uh fortunate owners of a twenty-one foot-long, nine thousand pound uh Cadillac with uh a lot of problems, which
James Stacy fortunately.
James Lamdin Yeah, well this thing's you know, it's so big that by the time you get to the back you get a problem at the front again, kind of thing. Uh was also built by a a questionably qualified uh technician who yeah well let's just say the the great miracle of of the this acquisition was that we got it before it burnt itself to the ground. Um and so uh yeah or uh uh Kevin, who's Nikki's in-useho technician, is a absolute wizard and spent um six months basically making it usable, drivable, and safe. And over the last uh year and a half we've been, you know, rolling it out for various events and some charitable things, some car shows, bringing people on tours around the city. And of course I got back uh sort of right into watch week where I got to see you guys briefly uh here in the city and then, you know, sort of looked up from my desk two weeks later and uh you know, October was almost over. So I decided to take Friday and just uh go get that car and drive it around Manhattan and and again the it's a joy machine. It's a ridiculous, wonderful thing. It's less a car than a cartoon. And it just oh also it you got God powers in New York City. Like you can park this thing anywhere. You can run the you can run the lights. You can park in front of a hydrant. No one's giving you a ticket. The buses stop for you you so can get out. It's incredible. Especially at Halloween.
James Stacy Obviously, if you have a fancy car, that might get you a certain type of intention. If you have an older fancy car, it's like a kinder version of that attention, but people still know that it's a lot of money. Yeah. And then when you get to the um cars that are a character, your Knight Riders, your uh your DeLoreans, your Ecto the Ectomobiles, your Batmobiles. Yeah. It's like a different order of just like none of the rules really apply because you're not you can't really bother somebody. You I'm a guy that's occasionally in a bad mood and in a hurry. I don't know how bad of a mood and in a hurry I would need to be to be like this guy in an ectophob is in my way and I'm gonna like honk my horn or be upset about it. Like I think everybody it it's a there's a little you know a DMZ of chillness that exists around these vehicles, even in a place like you know, midtown.
James Lamdin That's exactly it, James. Other cars in uh come with some sort of attitude um or or some sort of statement about you and even if it is, as you said, an older classic car, there's still okay, there's some money there. And this thing has nothing to do with me. I th when you drive that car around midtown Manhattan, it is everybody's car. And uh you you pull up and 400 people I'm not exaggerating will just congregate around the car. Blocking traffic running across Fifth Avenue um to get a picture, uh, and I'll just stand to the side. And it has nothing to do with the driver, it has everything to do with that character. And it I think when it comes to New York City, it you know, which is arguably the most important character in the Ghostbusters films. You know, it it sort of belongs to New York and I'm I'm thrilled to be a custodian and and get to go driving it and yeah, you can't have a bad day when you're driving it either.
James Stacy We'll have to remake one of those Patek ads where it's like you don't really own a car like this. You just kind of take care of it for the next guy who who will enjoy it enough to share it with people.
James Lamdin That's exactly right. That's exactly right. That's
James Stacy good stuff, man. Well look it,'s really nice to catch up. We do have a very important topic on today's episode. Very good. Before we jump into the draft and what will almost certainly be a laborious explanation of the rules by me, let's do a quick run of uh of risk check. James, uh you want to go first? What have you got on wrist for today's uh you know kind of bond episode?
James Lamdin Well uh you know I'm going somewhat thematic. Uh I'm going with a watch that I only learned the existence of a couple years ago and then subsequently spent every day ripping the world apart trying to find and bought the very first one that I actually found available and it's now on my wrist, which is it's an Omega C Master 300. Uh it's a you know uh early 90s wave dial b,lue wave dial at that. It's a reference 2133.80, and it is everything you'd expect from a golden IC master, except it is solid 18 karat yellow gold.
Jason Heaton Wow. With a blue dial.
James Stacy With a blue dial. I did you. Hold that
Jason Heaton up to the screen. I only know
James Stacy about this watch because of you. I had no idea
James Lamdin this thing existed. I had no idea that existed.
Jason Heaton Wow my gosh, look at that. thing We'll
James Stacy watch a show of that as well. It's
Jason Heaton a ridiculously wonderful. Like
James Stacy what why are they gold watches? And it would be one of one of those would have to be in it. The eighteen karat 40 millimeter uh aerospace would have to be in it. Like there's all these watches you're like, what was gold just really cheap when you guys were banging these watches together? You just had it, you had some land
James Lamdin I mean, you know, I like my the anachronistic thing, the gold sports watch. It's kind of my flavor, but I have developed an a newer appreciation for some of the either unknown it's nobody knew that they were made, uh or unloved sort of neo vintage era stuffs and this has just been the coolest find and it makes me really happy. It's like basically it's goldfingers, Seamaster.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. I love it. That's great.
James Stacy Jason, how about you? Yeah, I went with a bit
Jason Heaton of a a bond deep cut too. I've got the um the pre eight oh six Nava timer, um, the the thrift store find. Uh actually James, we had a connection on this one, I think, because I contacted you when I wanted to take this off the hands of the guy that found it for ten dollars in a thrift store and give him a fair fair amount of money and you helped me value this and uh yeah, I I wear it quite a bit and um I remember that
James Lamdin fondly. I'm so glad you kept it. Oh yeah,
Jason Heaton it's it's it's definitely a keeper. Um and you know, it might show up in my draft pick if if you know it comes to that, if if I uh am privileged enough to get a get a choice before you guys pick that watch. But uh anyway, that's what I've got on. Yeah. How about you, James?
James Stacy That's great. I'm wearing a non-Bond watch, but something that I feel is at least within like the alternate reality of Bond, which is our CWC CWN one. I think if there's you know, if there's that other list of companies that could have been involved with a bond watch at some era, uh I think CWC is one of them, and this being titanium and obviously one link to the show and a watch that I just wear a lot. Uh I figured I'd throw it on. But for me, Bond, all there's always something I and I obviously understand even with James's watch, the the nineties legacy of the skeleton hand, there's that original code of of sort of those MOD watches that I think are are kind of derived from the same space that uh certainly that Bond comes from uh with the with the sword hands. And this is the a very strange permutation off of multiple branches of of time and and and space, uh but I I like it nonetheless. So that's what I've got on. Keeping us on time, everything's looking pretty good for this episode. So why don't we jump into the draft? So today we are drafting James Bond's watches. That could be from films, books, villains watches, bond girls wat watchesches, briefly seen in the movie. it's the widest possible category, but they are Bond watches. We're not doing cars, we're not doing gadgets, uh, or that sort of thing. Um, this will be a serpentine draft with three people, obviously, the the two Jameses, myself and Mr. Lambden and Jason. I will be picking the draft order using the random generator on Ultimate Solver in just a moment. So we'll be going one, two, three, three, two, one, back and forth. We have three picks each, and there'll be a fourth round in which we get to select a proposed future bond watch, which could be whatever we choose. I guess that will be among the least um c sort of contentious or competitive rounds, but perhaps one of the most fun. Uh we had a recent Slack thread on the TGN Slack that went for some time about all the other watches that people thought would would you know kind of work for Bond if they're resetting the franchise with Amazon and with a new bond that we don't know who that human being is yet. Um we've already chatted about that on an episode. It might come up later in this episode, but for now, nothing can be picked twice. Um and then the only thing we really have to decide, and we can argue it out here, I did
Jason Heaton I think we should we can we can still allow the movie because I think that'll i it could bring in some, you know, let's say someone picks the Bond watch. There could be some obscure villains watch from the same movie that could be kind of a fun one to talk about.
James Lamdin totally agree. Totally agree. let's keep it weird.
James Stacy the only exclusionary factor would be the reference slash or or uh the bond watch that bond wore, that sort of thing. The watch itself. The rest will remain open. Let's go to the round pick. Uh we have it set up here. Picking first will be Jason. Okay. Then me, then James Lambden. So James Lambdon is in the hot corner. That means he will get two picks when it comes to his round. Something to consider. But Jason, if you would like to kick it off with your first Bond Watch pick for the TGM Bond Watch draft.
Jason Heaton All right. Well, I got my wish because I'm going to go with the Brightling Navitimer reference 806 that appears in Thunderball, which also happens to be I think it's close with Casino Royale, but I think Thunderball is my favorite Bond film. At least kind of old Bond film, let's I guess we can make that distinction. Um, in that movie, uh, the Navatimer actually plays a fairly important role in the movie because it's worn by the NATO pilot uh Francois uh Derval, who is the brother of Domino, the the the heroine or or you know Bond's romantic partner in this film. Um and he's actually spoiler alert for a movie that came out in nineteen sixty five, but he's actually murdered and and an imposter named Angelo takes his place and wears his Nava timer as he steals this uh this uh Vulcan uh NATO bomber for the bad guys to to take the the nukes off of it. And it the the watch actually turns out to be proof of her brother's death because Bond uh I believe he uh he dives uh on the wreck and then actually takes it off his wrist and then d shows it to Domino later and it's kind of proof that this was her her brother's watch. And uh it's just it's a great thing. I mean, y you don't think of uh an Avatimer in a Bond film. Um but you know certainly in the sixties a NATO pilot would have been very appropriate for him to be wearing it and uh that's my first pick and it also happens to be a later version of the watch that I'm wearing today. So I'm really happy about that about getting the first pick. Yeah.
James Stacy Lambdon, what do you think about that Brightling? I know you're a fan of obviously vintage watches. you've devoted a non-small portion of your life to it. Uh where does the Nava timer land for you both as a bond watch and as just a vintage watch in general?
James Lamdin As a vintage watch in general, it very highly. Very highly. I love an eight oh six. The only thing that passes an eight oh six for me is an eight oh nine so the cosmonaut variant with the twenty four hour timekeeping. I I think that I had forgotten for a long time that it played that role in Thunderball, you know, which is a huge blind spot on my part, uh, given everything that I love about watches and and Bond and that where they connect, it's just not one that I often associate. But you're uh the way you described that, Jason, is it's spot on. I I do of course remember and recently watched Thunderball as you do and was uh really glad to see it play a prominent role. Um it's peak Cold War Connery James Bond.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And uh it's just it
James Lamdin I love that. I love that. And so
Jason Heaton it's quite funny that he takes it off the wrist of of a pilot underwater and you know, when we know about what happened to Scott Carpenter's cosmonaut and how it just totally
James Lamdin And there's the movie Magic. I was actually
James Lamdin gonna about to say that is that the problem, the only real problem I can point at uh any
James Lamdin early Navatimer cosmonaut is that if you have a wet sneeze, you will definitely have water damage on your watch.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Like they had a positive, you know, uh a positive water resistance. Like you had to keep it a meter above of the surface of the water or something. Right.
James Lamdin Like a spaceship. Yep. Yeah. Right.
Jason Heaton Yes. Yeah. Well that's
James Stacy great. Good pick and a great way to kick us off. Um I have the second choice um for this first round and I I am a little bit conflicted. Um, but I am gonna go with what I think is my favorite of the modern era of Bond, and that would be the Skyfall 42mm Planet Ocean. And most interestingly, the one actually worn in the film was titanium,
Jason Heaton huh? Uh, which was made for uh
James Stacy for Daniel Craig and then later auctioned by Christie's at their fiftieth anniversary of Bond. You know, this isn't really where the Planet Ocean starts. I don't want to give anything away, but I do like this sizing on him. You know, seven years later you're now at uh Skyfall in 2012. It's the 42mm. Still a watch that I kind of check on eBay two, three times a year just to see if the numbers feel kind of soft. Like there might be a play to make there. I think it's a real winner. And it's the one where I think it it's where you we really saw Daniel Craig kind of come into a pretty solid script. Obviously there are storylines within Skyfall that are unrealistic, but it's bond. Um, but the core, the core of him, you know, escaping the city, taking the DB5 up north, visiting, you know, kind of this reverse origin story, fighting his quote unquote sibling in some ways underneath M and uh at the time, you know, Judy Dench's M. Uh it's it's a very interesting convoluted script and story, but the aesthetics are so strong in this film, and there's just something about the the jacket, the shotgun, the watch, the old house that all just kind of really works for me.
Jason Heaton And it becomes this piece of a
James Stacy painting. Um I'm I'm almost positive that's a deacon's
James Lamdin it it is uh because I ha I have a um I have a a print that he shot on set of uh of Judy Dench's uh shoes in her in her actor's chair uh perched up next to the D B five on that road.
Jason Heaton Wow. Fantastic. Yeah, he signed it for me.
James Stacy to go. There's a few others. There's a couple really noticeable ones that may go to James very quickly here in in his two two pick round uh for the end of round one and the start of round two. But that's one where I had to go with my heart rather than with kind of the bond watch in many ways, at least from the vintage era. So uh yeah, if there's if there's no further Jason, any s I know that you've owned uh Planet Ocean in the past. It was an early, early sort of totem in your dive watch career. Uh
Jason Heaton yeah. what did you think of this one? The kind
James Stacy of the evolution from Casino Royale to to Skyfall?
Jason Heaton I mean, you know, not to give away a future possible pick of mine, but um the earlier um Casino Royale Planet Ocean remains my favorite. I just love that Gen 1 Planet Ocean, but I think I had forgotten about the 42mm gray bezel um titanium from Skyfall. That's a bit of a sleeper. Um I need to revisit that watch, but it's it's good one. Yeah, I like that pick a lot.
James Stacy It's been years since I had one on my wrist. Yeah.
James Lamdin I'm wondering if I'm confusing,
James Lamdin but I I know there was a Planet Ocean Warn in Quantum of Solace, right? Which was the the middle act.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And I I know there is
James Lamdin a mid-size version of that watch that's 42 millimeters. I know this because I own it. What I can't remember is whether or not he wore a 42 in Quantum of Solace or if he was still wearing the full size in Quantum of Solace before they went down to the 45 or from the 45 um in Skyfall. I uh it's I think it's a 2201. He wore a 42 on
Jason Heaton a bracelet in in um in uh quantum of solace
James Lamdin yeah okay that's it that I have that watch and I love those uh proportions it's
Jason Heaton great but the 42 is good I mean it w they
James Stacy still wear like quite a large watch, but super modern while still having those nods to kind of old. And then if you if you think back to 2012, their line was actually a little tighter than it is now in terms of other watches that made reference to the early 60s and um and I think yeah these ones do stand out. Quantum of Solace doesn't stand out necessarily in the lineage of of the Craig films, but there are some moments that are really good in that film.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Totally. 100%.
James Lamdin I thought it was a solid middle act and it just it was a it was a middle act for a trilogy that didn't actually get finished because Skyfall took a different direction, which and turned out to be, you know, an incredible film, but it left a lot of
James Stacy Yeah, I think Kwan Rosol has kind of suffered from just trying to do too much, which like with Bond films are genuinely usually pretty maximalist, but Skyfall largely walks this fairly straight tightrope. Um I mean again, third act notwithstanding, um, but it's an interesting piece nonetheless and and certainly uh pulls on a lot of themes um from that world. So all right. James, you have the final pick of round one and the first pick of round two. Give us your first one.
James Lamdin Well, I'm gonna cheat, but uh I I have a reason for it. Um the the official pick is also an omega. It's the reference twenty five thirty one eighty,
Jason Heaton which is the Tomorrow Never Dies uh
James Lamdin Seamaster three hundred. But I'm gonna cheat a little bit 'cause I'm going to include it 'Cause as an item as a prop it',s supposed to be the same from Goldeneye, which of course was a quartz version, the twenty one twenty five forty one eighty. So as a prop, it's the same watch in theory, right? We're in movie world. As a watch watch, uh I,'m gonna put preference to the automatic, but I'm going to say essentially the first James Bond Omega, so the golden eye tomorrow endeavour dies version. And that watch to me, you know, I've uh it was the first James Bond movie I saw in the theater, Goldeneye, and I've seen every other one ever since, you know, opening night and the whole thing. Um that watch was uh you know, it defined omega for a generation and it kick started um the thirties uh plus years of of collaboration in uh in james bond. So to
James Lamdin me, it's an iconic
James Lamdin piece from a time um in that sort of nineties malaise era, which is elevated because of its association with James Bond. Um the marketing was all there. Pierce Brosnan, you know, was was sort of my first James Bond. Not the first movie I saw, but my my first sort of live experience of him. Um
James Lamdin and then also the gadgetry,
James Lamdin right? The you know, this watch in the films had a laser and a detonator and a grappling hook, and it was a grenade. Like I mean, I think the I think that movie magic element, the the sort of classic old school, you know, the roots of the James Bond films with the gadgets and the cars and the exploding gas bombs and the attache AKs and all of that, it found its feet in admittedly a slightly more tongue-in-cheek way as the films progressed. But in Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies, it felt like you know, whatever m m elementary, middle school may thought maybe this could have been incorporated into these watches.
Jason Heaton Sure. Boy. Uh
James Lamdin and then of course uh the added element of it being the you know, the pause uh menu on the uh Goldeneye Nintendo sixty four game. Fabulous.
Jason Heaton Yeah. So yeah, I'm cheating.
James Lamdin I'm cheating, but there it is. It had to
Jason Heaton it had to be on the list. I mean the this watch had to be on the list. Yeah.
James Stacy And we've talked about this even just on the the episode we talked about um the next bond and that sort of thing. Like the these are depending on your scope of watches, if you weren't like necessarily a watch collector or huge watch nerd in the 90s, and it was a lot harder to be those things in the 90s than it is now. But depending on your perspective, this was the luxury watch of the 90s. At least the latter half of the 90s, 95 onward. It was one of the first quote unquote expensive watches I ever knew about. I was nine years old and. uh, you know, at the time, I don't think I knew anything about any watches. I I had a Timex. Same one I've still got. It's a great watch. But this was on a whole different level. And Brosnan had such a stranglehold on like being Bond. He did like he he he filled out every little edge of it within s one ep one one movie. Whereas a lot of other bonds, and Craig to some extent too, I don't think people were fully convinced that he fit the mold until he busted through that drywall. You know, one hundred percent seven or eight minutes into casino right now.
James Lamdin I mean most most of the vitriol like I'd thrown it at Daniel Craig uh before they saw the film was that he was, you know, blonde.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Which is, you know, of course an absurd
James Lamdin thing in retrospect. But everybody was freaking out about that. I mean I I I saw that film Layer Cake um maybe six months before they made the announcement. And I remember watching Layer Cake uh with my roommates at the time and I just I remember saying this guy could play blonde.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm. The blonde thing was
James Lamdin said. Somebody in the in the room said, Yeah, but he's blonde. Come
Jason Heaton on, we've got two omegas already. Wow.
James Lamdin Off to a good start. But James, you've got
James Stacy the first pick of the second round. Uh lock in another great choice for us.
James Lamdin Okay. I'm gonna go uh I'm gonna go into the equally quirky, uh equally gadget laden, uh, wonderful Roger Moore era.
Jason Heaton And I'm gonna throw in the moonraker watch,
James Lamdin the Seiko M three fifty four fifty nineteen memory bank.
Jason Heaton Oh, nice. Uh, which was also
James Lamdin uh filled with little plastic explosives. And
James Lamdin you know, that movie is so
James Lamdin ridiculous, totally jumped the shark, and um the digital, you know, James Bond watch era, I think was was a fun one, but also
James Lamdin in you know, life imitated
James Lamdin art and from the messaging, you know, printing out the ticker tate, you know, from um from the spy who loved me to the you know, popping open the case back and having a little bit of a uh an explosive coil to to utilize. It felt um like that all kind of came true to some degree later. Hopefully not with the explosives, but you never know.
Jason Heaton Yeah, this is uh I mean like a classic pick,
James Stacy an oddball choice. I I think it's noteworthy that I'm we don't have to say the watch necessarily unless we want to play the game, but like it's noteworthy that a certain watch didn't make the first round. uh I was thinking the
James Lamdin same. Yeah. So that's
James Stacy still on that's still on the table. I've got my next pick. Um I think people who who've been listening to the show long enough know that I'm not gonna go for uh for a classic for my second pick. I'm going for an oddball from an oddball of a bond film that I only recently saw for the first time, and I kinda understand why it's both weirdly a bit of a cult favorite and an absolute bomb when it comes to the critics. Uh that's View to a Kill,
Jason Heaton which is currently maintaining something in the 30%
James Stacy approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But uh and and apparently as often I don't I this one I'd have to watch all of them and come back, but worst-rated Eon produced bond film on record.
Jason Heaton Wow, possibly. I don't know how it performed at the
James Stacy box office. I didn't go that deep into it, but I am taking, perhaps unsurprisingly, the Seiko H five five eight. So we've got uh Annie Digi dive watch worn by Roger Moore uh in the film. It's uh a goofy watch for kind of a goofy movie. These watches obviously had had a place in pop culture in the eighties. Uh the a watch connected to Schwarzenegger and that sort of thing. Um I really love this watch and uh and obviously I I have a huge love for both Seiko's and anti Digi. So that's that's the pick for my uh for my second round. I'll see if I can get something sneaky in on on my third.
Jason Heaton That's great. And I think people forget that um I mean there was definitely a Seiko era for Bond um and kind of showed Seiko's strength during the 70s and 80s where he that popped up in some of these movies, but um there was a time there was a movie um that uh Roger Moore was in it was in 1980. It was called North Sea Hijack or Fulks with two Fs. It's I think it's a Welsh. Oh yeah. I
James Lamdin remember. And he plays kind of a commando who or
Jason Heaton kind of a quirky eccentric ex commando, maybe, who lives in a castle, and he's called on to help um free some hostages on a like an oil rig or in the North Sea or something like that. And um
James Stacy He's retired, but they get him back for one more time. I've yeah, it's the first time.
Jason Heaton Surprise. What a what a novel idea. Um but he wears like a tuna seiko diver. And so it it it's kind of interesting to see, you know, Roger Moore's connection with Seiko for for quite some time. You know, we associate him so much with the the live and let die uh fifty five thirteen Rolex, but uh he was a Seiko guy for quite a quite a few movies.
James Stacy I also think there's there's just a there's something about Bond especially the the late 70s and then probably up until Brosnan that an anti DigiWatch really aligned I think Brosnan was a little bit more of um male model, super handsome debonaires sort of type, and a lot of everything kind of had more of a an analog feel. Um, but there was something about that era of the eighties where the the anti diggy stuff, whether it's the the Seiko or or otherwise there there are other options that really kind of resonate for me and and date hard into the movie themselves like it does when you see them in you know Commando or Predator or or that sort of thing. But uh yeah, I wonder if we hit w I wonder if we could quickly um draft a sub draft here of our favorite movies that start with the protagonist having retired and left the industry and and they come in for come in for the long it's a
James Lamdin long list. But uh Roger Moore's
James Lamdin I think Roger F uh Roger Moore's uh greatest outing uh has to be the cannonball run, right? When it when he he plays himself pretending to be Roger Moore. Right.
Jason Heaton I don't remember that. That's crazy. Oh
James Lamdin yeah. Yeah, he played I think I
James Stacy saw that movie twenty years ago. God he he really took
James Lamdin the piss out of himself on that one and uh he's running the race dressed as you know, in the tuxedo with a D B five, and his mother's like, you know, Steven, you have to stop pretending to be Roger Moore. You're not double O seven. Yeah, really, it's worth a watch.
Jason Heaton Oh, that's great. I mean, when it's when it's
James Stacy done well, another thing that could be a draft on an entirely different podcast, but when it's done well when someone plays themselves but a totally unrealistic but because nobody maybe knows that real human being, you know, like Michael Sarah in This Is the End or or something like that. And you go, where did this come from? Who thought this out of the unbearable weight is a
James Lamdin unbearable weight of massive talent with Nick Cage.
Jason Heaton Oh my goodness. Yeah. Incredible. Legendary.
James Stacy All right. Well, look, that's uh that's my uh second pick and mine for the second round. Jason, you've got uh the end of the second round and the start of the third round. You've got two coming up. Give us your first
Jason Heaton one. Um first one here is there's
James Stacy tons of stuff left. Oh gosh. Um I'm
Jason Heaton gonna go with uh a Timothy Dalton film and this is The Living Daylights and it's the Taghoyer Night Diver reference 980.031. Um it's a it's a watch that I have a fondness for. You don't see much in the movie. But one of the cool things about this was is there's a real crossover between my interests because it shows up prominently in the beginning of the film uh when he's dispatched to Gibraltar to root out like an infiltrator to an SAS unit that is, I think, trying to do something nefarious at the military base there. And he has this harrowing and really well filmed, well shot I don't know if you call it a chase scene, but um he there's a there's a series three Land Rover, military Land Rover that's barreling going way too fast for what that vehicle' capsable of down this precipitous winding road in Gibraltar and he's clinging to the top. And I think he comes through the can
James Stacy This is a good action comes a great scene.
James Lamdin It is a great scene. and you know, there's parachute,
Jason Heaton you know uh, skydiving involved and land rovers and a taghoyer night diver on a on a you know bracelet of presumably you know PvD back then. Um it's just uh it's it's a it's a cool watch and you know, I remember when in a Basel World, however many years ago it was when when Tag brought back kind of their modern version of the Night Diver, I almost I almost wanted to get one of those just for the connection with this movie. Um they did kind of a nice job. It didn't look much like the original, which was in kind of a Monin style, you know, case, uh smaller watch um with the loom dial. But uh yeah, that's my that's my pick.
James Lamdin Very hard to find them. Um very hard to find a good condition original, you know, with the PvD. A lot of the uh steel ones have been converted to
Jason Heaton to black finishing, I think, uh reasonably.
James Lamdin Um what was the Spionum? Death despise. Oh
Jason Heaton yeah. Yeah. God, I love that. I love that
James Lamdin movie. Yeah. Yeah. It's a good one. I mean,
Jason Heaton Dalton's remains so underrated as a bond. And, you know, I think even It was
James Lamdin just before his time. Even George Lazenby,
Jason Heaton who only had one and she was kind of a disgruntled bond, um, that movie uh on Her Majesty's Secret Service was was just a great film. Everybody kind of agrees on that one. But Dalton had two two outings that I think were a little uneven, but he himself is a great actor and he played kind of a brooding darker bond ahead of his time..
James Lamdin Totally Yeah, I I think he formed the template
James Stacy that would that they would they would kind of finish cooking for Craig's era.
James Lamdin Yeah, one hundred percent.
James Stacy Like a guy a guy that had like some real danger, wasn't just known to be dangerous, but like could sit down and be like, Yeah, everything all the chips are against this guy currently. He's tied up to a chair, things are looking pretty bad. He's still probably everyone else should be worried about it.
James Lamdin Yeah. You can laugh at like he's a secret
James Stacy agent with like a a known name that all the bad guys seem to know, but at the same time they know it 'cause they're terrified of him.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. So yeah.
James Stacy I uh I I think it's a good one. I think it's a great pick. I think that's a watch that has aged. So that era of tags. Divers has aged so well. And every now and then, you know, we'll be we'll be doing a happy hour or whatever with with watches Switzerland at Soho and someone will have one on their wrist. They're a delight to see. They're not typically a fortune. If you go for certain ones, they they're priced according to their cult of of interest. But some of them are still fairly s accessible. They're a nice size. They wear really well. They have that 90s bracelet that like isn't good, but at the same time is perfect once it's clipped onto your wrist and size correctly and you just don't think about it anymore.
James Lamdin It sounds like a Jason Heat and Peace uh in defense of jangly old bracelets.
Jason Heaton Oh yeah. Yeah. I quote
James Lamdin that all the time. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I love that
Jason Heaton piece. Thanks. Yeah. All right,
James Stacy Jason, you've got the first pick in the third round. Uh hit us with uh with your follow up to the uh the tag from uh the living daylights.
Jason Heaton All right. Well my third pick um coming back to Omega and I just, you know, I'm trying to I tried to kind of pick watches that I had a connection with. You know, the Living Daylights, it was more of the Land Rover connection, so a bit tenuous. But this one is squarely in my wheelhouse. This was the inspiration for me getting into watches in a big way, and that was the Casino Royale 45.5mm Planet Ocean reference 2900.50.91. You know, no big surprise. I assumed one of us was going to pick this, and I was hoping I could be the one, but it was um uh it's just uh it I I can't overstate how kind of important that watch was in my whole journey. Um it's the watch I I bought after seeing that movie and just seeing this this big beautiful dive watch on a rubber strap. I think that's what struck me was it was this high-end watch on a rubber strap that not knowing anything about watches at the time, I just I wasn't aware that that was even an option. And I remember going to Jared Jewers, buying, you know, getting on one of their store credit card things or whatever, buying that watch on like an evening in the winter, and and wearing that thing forever. And then it it just um it's what led me into diving and the rest is history. But it's uh I just I love that watch. it was perfect for Craig. You know, you mentioned earlier James the the scene where he breaks through the drywall and that opening chase scene. Like he's wearing that watch with a short sleeve shirt open, kind of unbuttoned.
James Stacy I mean it's just it's and he's yeah it's perfect.
Jason Heaton It's perfect. It's perfect. Yeah. So that it's all tied up in that. and it it it is probably my number one Bond film as well. So easy choice for
James Lamdin Okay, so my only question for you, Jason, is um when you walked into Jared to buy this watch, did you pronounce it omega?
Jason Heaton No, I did not. We're
James Lamdin you know, we're owned by a a British company and uh I think it's I think it's just a an English ism. U allh of the all of the uh my teammates in the UK all say Omega. But I think it started in that scene, in that train in Casino Royale.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right, right. Just a mispronunciation that suddenly caught on. Yeah.
James Stacy What a great scene. I mean, a uh a bit of a goofy, you know, direct call to the watch, something that people can tease, but the rest of the dialogue in that exchange is fantastic.
James Lamdin Fantastic. I love it. That's a top three film for me as well. It's just
James Stacy more because I know it's not as good that I don't think the script is good. I don't think the bad guy is as good. I don't think um I don't think the third act is anywhere near as strong as what you get in in in casino royale. I just like Skyfall a lot. Um but they're nothing wrong with that. really, really, really good movies. Even if those are like I don't do James Bonds, but you could you could watch just one or two of those and have a pretty good time.
James Lamdin Totally. Yeah. Who doesn't like James Bond? Why are they listening to this
James Lamdin podcast? I mean now you have another question.
Jason Heaton The second question is is the pin for
James Stacy sure. All right. So we've got uh now two Planet Oceans have have made the cut uh for uh today's drafts, uh two of the great Craig ones. So next up I have my pick for the third round. Uh this will be my last pick of the the classic watches from the uh Bond era It's a
James Lamdin pregnant pause if I've ever heard one.
James Stacy Yeah. It's a it's a big pause. Uh I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna leave a little bit of space for our guest to to run wild with something that I think is maybe more him than me. Um, and I'm gonna go with the Spectre 300 meter, uh, with the 12-hour bezel, uh, uh, the LE. This is probably my favorite of the Bond L E watches, like the ones that were directly linked to a film. Um, you know, especially in in a row world where we didn't get that uh skyfall in titanium. Um in this case, uh I remember going to the Vancouver boutique the day after you know seeing the film uh to to take photographs of the watch. And it's you know it's a more compact size than you'd have in the planet oceans. And then you have this 12-hour bezel. I'm huge sucker for a 12-hour bezel. I like the modified seconds hand. I I just think this is a cool watch. I never see them. I just simply never see someone show up to a a hangout with one. Um I don't specifically remember how many were made. Uh you know, Omega's usually pretty broad in their uh production of uh of LEs. Uh but this is one that has always resonated with me. I like the sort of sandwich style dial. I like the depth of the watch, and obviously I like, you know, I like the callback to the 60s styling uh from Omega's past. So yeah, that's that that would be my third. Um it wasn't an easy choice, but it is one that I I I mean, I'm kind of listing the watches I would go out and buy that are from past past uh past Bond movies, and uh I dig this one a lot.
James Lamdin Yeah, that's gonna get a nod from me. Uh I the I think they did this sort of retro thing perfectly on this watch.
James Stacy And on the NATO. For sure. You
James Lamdin know, the NATO, the the case design, the sandwich dial, the the tonality of the loom, and I think my favorite part of this watch has got to be that lollipop seconds hand.
Jason Heaton Yeah. It's very cool. and it has a function. It has a we're back to gadgets.
James Lamdin Uh-huh. Um was this the first
Jason Heaton Craig era watch with a with a function? I think it is. Beyond timekeeping. I think it
James Lamdin is. I think it is, right? I think they wanted
Jason Heaton to do that. I think there was this kind of growing desire for people, you know, they they wanted to kind of bring Bond back to a a little less serious and what you know, they wanted to introduce some of that gadgetry. And I think um they, you know, I wasn't my favorite gadget for it. I mean, but it it it's very much almost a direct link back to like a Roger Moore era or the the Brosnan. You know, you mentioned uh James about the um you know the the detonator or whatever. I mean you turn the bezel, everything turns red, and if it goes, you know, boom, it goes. So yeah.
James Lamdin Was it in it was in Skyfall, right? When he meets up with Q at the museum and he's like, Here's your uh your kit. It's a gun and a tracking device. What were you expecting? an exploding pen. We don't really go in for that kind of thing anymore. Yeah, right,
Jason Heaton right. Yeah. It was good. Yeah. That's
James Stacy a great that's a great scene with the you know looking at the old ships and you know, them kind of saying that a war he could fight a war without getting out of his pajamas. Yeah. Who pulls the trigger and all that kind of stuff. Another great great piece of writing. Uh yeah, this one, this one I think has aged really well. I'm looking at a picture of it now and I like it even more than I did in my memory from the picture I looked Yeah,
James Lamdin but you're right, you never see them. And they've got big prices on the secondary market.
James Stacy I think it's just a great looking watch. Actually,
James Lamdin almost this is something that uh I
James Lamdin wasn't planning on saying, but um now that we're talking about I have to say I have always been shocked, truly, by the secondary market value on a uh uh limited edition 007 omega. Like categorically, especially given the quantity that they generally produced, I don't get it. Um I love it. I I understand the desire for the watch, but some of these numbers are are really big.
James Stacy Yeah. Well, it's cult pricing, right?
James Lamdin Yeah. I mean it's and it's a it's impressive
James Lamdin because they do sell there. Yeah, it's it's it's
James Stacy a it's a neat thing where a watch that might be at its core have a bunch of enthusiasts now has a double stack where you might be a watch enthusiast, you might be a bond enthusiast, and goodness sakes I feel bad for if you're both and this is in your market because yeah you you pay a premium to be that that type of a nerd for sure. As you do with certain versions of the Aston Martins from the last few years and uh and that sort of thing. I mean, I've I've been watching every YouTube video on the market about Z3s, and none of them start without a mention, right? You don't
James Lamdin remember.
James Stacy So it's good. The most underutilized
James Lamdin Bond car ever. Just well that or
James Stacy the Ford Mondeo in the behind. I sat in that car
James Lamdin earlier this year. I sat in this car. Yeah. The actual prop car. Out in the Midwest and uh it's it's mostly prop. It was a pre production car, so it had like um it had a sticker for the radio and all kinds of things. Yeah.
James Stacy little awkward bulky holder for your Sony Ericsson device. Well, that's good stuff. Uh, but yeah, that was my pick, the Spectre Edition Se Master 300. Uh a watch I still like, a watch I would happily wear, a watch that I kind of think they could make a non-bond version of today and people would snap it up. I think it would be it would be popular. I think it's probably been enough time since Spectre to pull that off. Uh but finally uh we have uh the the final pick of the first three rounds before we get to our future bond uh round. Uh James Lambton, what's your uh what's your final pick for the Bond watch?
James Lamdin It's a Brightling, but it's not an 806 Navatar. We're gonna get
James Stacy a lot of heat for what's still on the table. I know, but hey, I think
Jason Heaton that we can give that we can give that two minutes and
James Lamdin a second. As a as a watch, uh, this was not really a watch. It was a prop. But also from Thunderball, um, it was a top time reference two thousand two that was custom case in this enormous steel cushion case. And it was a part of Q's kit as a Geiger counter for trying to locate the bombs on that Vulcan uh airplane. And I just think it's like a wonderful mashup of real life watch design and um it it just looks like something that Adam Savage would make for you know on on
James Stacy you know it it's a it's a real like kit bashing
James Lamdin kind of prop. And I think this watch also sold at auction um and it was like famously found at a garage sale for ten dollars or something. Oh, yeah. Um, you cannot activate the pushers because they're basically hidden by the case. But it's such a cool moment when he puts on this enormous thing, right? That feels proportionally like a plow pro
Jason Heaton Yeah. Uh because it sort of was, but
James Lamdin it was a prop. And so I I had a feeling that uh this was be gonna be a contested and and very uh tricky draft. So I picked a weird one, but I'm glad with my choice because I think it's in a way it's just referential to the whole thing that we love about Bond and that and it's sort of this escapism world particularly in the early days with Connery where you have this pre-digital era. And uh I think it's I think it's so cool. I wish it worked.
Jason Heaton So I I gotta I gotta ask like in the making, you know, the pre production time before Thunderball, I mean, w the the the prop master must have just walked into like a Brightling retailer, right? 'Cause we've got two Brightlings in that movie.
James Lamdin For sure. Um both both that end up underwater.
Jason Heaton Um which is quite funny. Which is so
James Lamdin chronographs that should not be there. Yeah, exactly.
Jason Heaton Um and I I you know I I only just registered. I was reading about this watch in preparation for this episode because it was on my list too, but um I you know, it didn't register to me that that giant ugly case that's over the the rest of the watch was just there for I don't know, waterproofing or or whatever. I mean it's just i because it the the top time is actually quite a pretty sort of mid-century beautiful, you know chronograph. Um I mean th those are nice looking watches. Um but I think
James Lamdin a thirty five millimeter watch. Yeah, right. Uh
James Lamdin with you know twin register layout, yeah, you know, bumper
James Lamdin uh pusher barrel pushers and
James Lamdin you know, little little shaped lugs. It's a it's a lovely watch. And then they bury it in this giant steel hunk and it's cool.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. It's great. Good pick.
James Lamdin You do you do you wanna do you wanna mention the elephant in the room, Stacy?
James Stacy Yeah, I I I think we probably have to before we get into future watches. Um look we're Jason and I are never ones to just play the hits. You know, brown eyed girl can go away. Uh if if if you have to. You know, we're we're always true to ourselves as much as possible with the playlist. But yeah, what we didn't get to, of course is Doctor knows Rolex Submariner. Sixty-five thirty-eight big crown.
James Lamdin Or fifty-five ten, depending on who you ask, is also it's no one's really sure if it's a 65-38 or 55-10. There's so much back and forth on that issue.
James Stacy Ah, well, there you go. That's a very early uh you know, sort of take on a sub, uh, one that's become truly iconic. And I I probably in some ways at least from the fandom would it be J James and Jason, would you think I'm wrong in saying like kind of establish the idea of a bond watch being like a thing?
James Lamdin Well before that he was wearing a gruen Precision
Jason Heaton five ten. But
James Stacy the Gruen kind of suited just a as a watch for a character.
James Lamdin And that was allegedly Sean Connery's personal watch. Allegedly.
Jason Heaton But it feels like when you when you get into the submariner, then
James Stacy you get into all these other watches we've talked about, the watch becomes
James Lamdin The big crown submariner on a regimental NATO strap that is too small for the lugs, right? Uh I think it's an 18 millimeter strap on a 20 millimeter lug, something like that. And
James Lamdin it's become an icon. It
James Lamdin is an icon. There's artwork produced of this watch. I know people who are passively James Bond fans who, you know, lust after this watch. What I can say about that particular Samariner is that what it did single handedly is make it okay to wear a sports watch with a tuxedo and a dinner jacket. Like that changed everything. Before that black tie rules had to apply. James Bond said that doesn't. So there you go.
Jason Heaton Yeah, it's it's um uh it's interesting too because it it that watch actually also shows up in, if I'm uh correct me if I'm wrong in Dr. No, when he gets in the boat with Quarrel to go out to Crab Key and he wants to he also there's a Geiger counter in that scene as well where he's sitting in the boat and he waves it across the dial By the radium. And um he I believe he's wearing it on like a black leather strap in that movie or kind of a black rubber strap or something like that. But y you're right, James. uh you know, this is this is such an icon and it just sets the mold, it creates the mold. It it's part of everything with Bond. it's is e it's equal to the Tuxedo, it's equal to the Aston Martin, you know, it's it's one of those things. And I think speaking for myself, I didn't choose it because it was the obvious choice. I mean, I there's so many more deep cuts, and I think we
James Lamdin totally you know, as nerds, we like deep cuts.
Jason Heaton I mean, look at the the memory b memory bank from Moonraker. that's the ultimate
James Lamdin I mean listen the we also gotta at least
James Lamdin give a give a nod to the fifty five thirteen, right, with its um its magnet, which uh can unzip a zipper or or deflect a bullet and uh and of course the saw bezel, which is arguably the single coolest gadget, um short of a laser uh in a watch for for our favorite secret agent there. Yeah, I I agree. I think, you know, it's interesting to have seen the fact that Omega has owned the James Bond world since the nineties. Um and it's so well represented here from all three of us. Uh I think that's a big thing, but there's still this knowledge that, you know, James Bond's watch has uh historically always been a Rolex, despite the Seiko era and the Tag Hoyer era and the Omega era. Uh Submariner will always make you a little James Bond.
Jason Heaton Yeah. For good reason. Yeah. Yeah.
James Stacy No doubt. I think that's a good, a good spot to kind of wrap up the first part of the draft, the the first three quarters of the draft, which were Bond watches that already exist. Now we're gonna get into the proposed future Bond watch. And for that, uh James, you get a chance to kind of kick us off. What do you think Bond should wear in the future?
James Lamdin So I'm I took this word very literally and uh future, right? And so I uh having s some interest in the future of of the James Bond world, uh, you know, I know there's some additional projects coming out, not just a film. And one of the things that's been highly rumored and possibly even confirmed but uh by the time that this uh podcast is published, is uh at least a s a mini-series or a shorter film on on Amazon, that's a historical piece, sort of like a prequel or a origin story, anew, which is allegedly going to take place in in period. And so I like the idea of a period watch. So if James Bond as a period piece happened, I'd like to see um I'd like to see something from the seventies again that's uh not a Seiko. I'd like to see something sort of on the heels of the Vietnam conflict and I like a Benress type one for this.
Jason Heaton Mm-hmm I see a world where you know he
James Lamdin meets he meets Felix somewhere in the South Pacific and he hands him a CIA-issued, unlabeled, you know, totally uh sterile CIA issued Benrist type one. I like that.
Jason Heaton Okay. That's it. Like, no, no, he's not gonna be wearing it an um distinctly American special forces kind of watch, but that's that's a good backstory for that.
James Stacy Wins it from Felix in a bed or they
James Lamdin can call me if they still need a screenwriter. Um and then for the future, as much as I love a submariner, I think you all know I'm at heart a a GMT guy. And so if we saw a return to Rolex or even Tudor, uh a Black Bay GMT or a Rolex GMT as a world traveling uh slightly fancy, you know, but rough and tumble guy, I think a GMT does everything a submariner does um with the added element of having a second time zone, which I just dig.
Jason Heaton Yeah. And that GMT hand could also be some sort of an instrument, some sort of a hidden function too, you know.
James Lamdin Totally. Oh yeah. Maybe a gadget.
Jason Heaton Yeah, right. Yeah. good picks
James Stacy all around. Uh I I think that's uh that's smart. I was also kind of thinking of of a past and a few like if if we were going back to a certain era. So I have two prepared. This worked out well. I'm not the first one's a big departure from yours, the second one less so. If we're going to the past, I think I would love to see a another bond kind of set in the early 90s, late 80s, something like that. And for that, I think uh you might have to bend the timeline a bit, but maybe they have the tech before everybody else does. And this would be my only chance to get an aerospace on Bond's wrist. But imagine if the aerospace in this case, uh, you know, just one of my all-time favorite watches for sure. But imagine it in this case if you you didn't really have to change that much about the watch, but now suddenly it operates like a pager, which would have been very novel functionality in in that timeline. You could get a little message. Money penny could let him know something in the midst of a high tense sort of scenario. Maybe it has special tracking abilities. You know, it's an aerospace, it's got little screens. You could you could kind of movie magic, a lot of things into that. But a Q modified aerospace, it it would bring us into the uh Bright Link space, which of course has a lineage in the film, so not that weird as far as a call-out. And I think there would have been like I think an aerospace on Dalton would have made a lot of sense to me.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Totally agree. That's cool.
James Stacy And uh and yeah, may maybe don't have it on, you know, put it on a cool on one of the older like roly bullet style bracelets um with the with that kind of thing and then just you know have it play a pop point or maybe just have them use the chronograph to time something important. Maybe it's a countdown timer that leads to you know the ultimate moment um and we get a couple glances at the watch. But yeah, that would be that would be my past dream. And then the future one, I mean we we talked about this a bit on a on the episode that actually kind of fueled this one. A titanium, like a full titanium spec of the current PO, the new 42 uh PO with the integrated bracelet, I think would be quite just just I don't want to tell I don't want to like mix brands or genres here. I don't want to the uh you know Nike shoes with an Adidas sock or whatever but um imagine if you pelagosized the rather shiny luxury spec of the of the planet Ocean now and just kind of matted it out, went with a nice flat kind of everything. Maybe not the numerals. I do I like kind of the basically take the current one and just derive some of the finishing from the one from two thousand five and maybe put it on a c a rubber strap like we had in in Casino Royale and I that that's the route I might go and if we're if it's you know, to to give people an i uh an answer that isn't the one I gave from a few episodes back, Pelagos thirty nine, uh titanium,
Jason Heaton true simple dive watch, ready to
James Stacy go, a good fit. I I still enjoy, and I know this became a contentious topic on the Slack, but I still enjoy Omega and Bond. I think that they still feel linked to me. That you know, obviously these things can change. But that's uh that's kind of my scope on it as far as uh the past and the future vibe.
James Lamdin I dig it. Yeah. Yeah. Good one. I I um
Jason Heaton was thinking I was thinking of going tutor pelliagos for a future bond. I th I I think it would make a lot of sense, especially you know, my my go-to watch these days is the FXD, and I think that would be a very fitting choice. But um uh yeah, my two choices are are gonna be a little different um i probably not different for anybody that's heard me before or heard these kinds of discussions um I'm also gonna zip back to the 80s um maybe it's Dalton.be May instead of that Taghoyer night diver, it's something in a similar case. I think it kind of calls to that era that he would be wearing a Royal Navy diver from CWC. I think especially with that scene where he's infiltrating, you know, or or kind of parachuting into Gibraltar with the SAS and trying to find the the infiltrator. Um I just feel like uh it's such a logical choice. Like he's he is a a former you know Royal Navy commander um who likely would have maybe had been issued that watch during his training or during his time in whatever maybe he was in SBS or something like that. And uh it's not much of a different choice, I guess, than the watch that Dalton wears. I mean the night diver is I believe, you know, that case was probably made by Monin or MRP, you know, whichever the the the French company that was making that style case back then. So um that's my choice for kind of the past. I had to get a CWC in there. I'm not sure it's a fitting for the future bond, but for the past, I think it would have been perfect in the 80s.
James Stacy No doubt. Quartz for
Jason Heaton sure. For the you know, mid-80s. Um And then for future bond, this is this is a long shot. Um, but I think we've we've had this discussion, especially in that recent uh episode that we did where we learned that uh the vertex caliber fifty nine was being f featured as the watch in King Zero, the the latest Charlie Higson novel. And um, you know, we have soft spots here for for Vertex. And I think to go to a future bond, w either an M one hundred or I think the Aqualion M sixty diver, which is just such a superior modern dive watch with the British connection, you know, with the broad arrow mark on it. Um it just it it just feels like a great uh a great watch for Bond. And I I don't think Don our buddy Don over at Vertex has the the money to put up for you know to get a a placement in the film, but um, you know, stranger things have happened and and that'd just be so fun.
James Stacy Yeah, I think uh I think those are great picks for sure. And uh yeah, the the we talked about this again on on that previous episode about the possibility like the CWC speaking to Bond's true sort of start and what he might have just been given, yeah, depending on his age and and what age you were presenting Bond as in this the new whatever the new one will got. And then look, I I've said it before I I think the vertex is currently my favorite steel dive watch. You can just theoretically go out and get. They've been sold out for a little while, but I think they are somewhat gettable.
Jason Heaton Um, I just think it's a ton of watch for the money.
James Stacy Uh I wear mine a lot. It's really beefy. It's it does all the steel watch sort of stuff, especially as my taste is like largely pushed titanium in the last little while. To go back to this, it's just an absolute tank that still wears really well. The loom's ridiculous. The bezel's great. All that kind of stuff.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got to get me one of these.
James Lamdin They're cool. Yeah, they're good.
James Stacy All right. Well that's the uh that's the full round, uh all four rounds for the uh James Bond drafting bond watches vibe we had going today. Uh but that's been a lot of fun. You know, we're pushing well up into an hour here, so why don't we jump into a final notes? And I like that without necessarily chatting it over, we all picked the same theme, not a surprising element, uh, but these all have sort of a bond uh sort of tie-in. Uh James, you want to go first on this one as well?
James Lamdin Uh for final notes, yeah, I would just say that if you if you're into
James Lamdin the James Bond conversation, I don't think there's anybody on the internet who does it better than David Zaritzky over at the Bond Experience. He's got an incredible channel uh on YouTube, his Instagram is chock full of cool stuff. Uh this guy is living uh the ultimate bond enthusiast life and he is sharing it with everybody. He's a great guy. Uh and he's doing lots of cool events and product collabs, and yeah, he's a good guy. Give him a follow if you don't already at uh the Bond Experience.
James Stacy Yeah, the YouTube channel's um uh excellent and it's it's remarkable anytime you do a Bond story on anything, how often the links, the first five links are are from the Bond experience. So uh shout out David on that one, uh making some good stuff.
Jason Heaton Yeah, he's great. I uh and and James, you spent some time with him in Jamaica, right? Didn't you go to Goldeneye uh on a trip with him?
James Lamdin Yeah. Yeah. I went to I went to I went to Goldeneye with with David and a whole bunch of other crazies um last September and you know I say crazies. I gotta tell you these are totally wonderful, normal, warm people. And
Jason Heaton um it's not an inexpensive place
James Lamdin to go. And uh
James Lamdin I there were thirty forty people who came on this trip. So there's a real appetite and um there is a culture of you know real appreciation instead of um what could have been a lot of toxicity. And David does a really good job of of exploring the world of bond um with a decidedly healthy view and the people who follow him and join him on these adventures and through his through his uh activations are are really cool people. I've gotten to know some good guys and gals.
Jason Heaton Yeah. Thanks. Jason, how about you? Yeah, well this is adjacent to the Bond experience because it's I think where I learned about this. Um I've never actually bought anything from them, but you know, never say never to use it. Pardon the pun, never say. Again. Uh this is this is a website called Royalfilmware.com. Um where spelled uh W-E-A-R, Royalfilmware.com. And um it's it's a company that started specifically to create alternative versions of the actual kind of screen-worn clothing that uh appears in in different Bond films. So we're talking about the peacoat that he wears in Shanghai, and then um you know the swim shorts that he wears in the pool there, Quantum of Solace, the suede jacket that he wears, or sorry, No Time to Die, the the suede jacket.
James Stacy Dude, the Madagascar shirt is sick.
Jason Heaton This stuff is not cheap necessarily, the Madagascar shirt, 129, so not bad. Um, but some of the stuff it does get up there, but it's far cheaper than actually getting you know, like a Billy Reed peacoat, um you know, which is probably two or three times the cost of this three hundred twenty-nine one dollar one that that he's got. So um if you kind of want want the look of bond from the screen, um I think this is probably your best bet uh to get truly accurate stuff.
James Lamdin They do a really good job. I have the Bolivia
James Lamdin jacket and the Cuba jacket, and I have to tell you, they're very, very well made.
Jason Heaton Huh. Nice. That's good to know. I I've never known anyone with firsthand ex experience other than uh our friend David Zaritsky there that you mentioned, but uh Yeah, David turned me onto
James Lamdin them and I had to give it a shot. Madagascar shirt would
Jason Heaton be a fun one to get. I'm tempted by that one of those. Christmas Christmas
James Lamdin gifts for the both of you. That's
Jason Heaton great. Well, speaking of Christmas gifts, that's
James Stacy why I picked this one. Um it,'s not a fortune. It's a great stocking stuffer. I don't know. I I'm I'm okay with some pushback on the actual um like usefulness of this thing, but uh I'm not so much any uh any pushback on how cool it is. This is a covert coin. Uh, there's a lot of these um available from various. You can get them on Amazon as well. Um, this one specifically is from Shomertech, and uh and you can get it in quarter, half dollar, nickels, dollar, penny, Australian, British, euro, and Israeli coins. They're about 20 bucks, $25, $30, depending on the size of the coin. And it's essentially a uh a very accurate coin that has been milled out to make a tiny amount of space. It can hold like uh the what they always show is a micro SD card. So you could have your whatever details, your your secret files or whatever, and then you need a little tool to open them. So they're almost, you know, they claim a covert coin is is a machine from an actual coin to create a secret interior compartment. Once closed, they're absolutely indistinguishable from regular coins to the naked eye. I think for twenty-five dollars for the right person on your on your Christmas list, this is very cool and a lot of fun. Um I've I don't think I mean not that I would know if it was closed, of course, they're indistinguishable, but I don't think I've come across one of these in real life, uh like at a store or something, because I think I would have bought it just on the premise of I'd like to support people who make silly things like this. Uh but yeah, the covert coin uh is is my pick. And you you can get in for like it looks like twenty to thirty bucks.
James Lamdin Yeah, that's pretty cool. that's really cool. I love
Jason Heaton that. I I I would just I would be so paranoid that I would mistake it or I would forget which coin it was and I would spend it or something with my micro SD card in it.
James Stacy This is why you and I maybe wouldn't have made great spies.
Jason Heaton You gotta get obviously you gotta get a coin that's
James Lamdin not your local currency. Good
Jason Heaton point. Yeah. But then somebody who is going through
James Lamdin your pockets would be like, Oh, what's this Euro doing there?
Jason Heaton Yeah. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. Well,
James Stacy still a fun thing. Maybe something more for the desk. Uh I'm I'm not sure how often I have to obscure or obfuscate a uh an SD card, but uh who knows the the the day could come and and now we've got the solution. So that's uh that's my final pick for this episode. And that means that we've come to the end. And uh James, I can't thank you enough for being on. This was an absolute blast.
James Lamdin No, guys. Thank you. This is uh a pleasure. Always good to see your faces, hear your voices, and and I'm always uh glad to help out however I can. So thank you.
James Stacy Well, it's a treat to have you on. It's only been uh a couple times in four hundred episodes, so uh but I appreciate it a lot and uh and we'll be sure to uh link out to your Instagram. People can check out the Ghostbusters elements and watches and everything else on there, and otherwise, uh, you know, thank you so much for listening. If you'd like to subscribe to the show notes, get into the comments for each episode, or support the show directly, maybe even grab yourself uh access to the Slack or a new TGN sign NATO, please visit thegreynato.com. Music throughout is Sies by Jazzar via the Free Music Archive.
Jason Heaton And we leave you with this quote from, fittingly, Ian Fleming, who said, Never say no to adventures. Always say yes. Otherwise, you'll lead a very dull life.