007>>50
Fleming had in mind in the novel was a Rolex Explorer I, which indeed was the only Rolex model that the author himself ever owned. Fleming was famous – or notorious – for blending his own life and preferences with that of his hero. Bond, for example, was a Royal Navy man; Fleming had served in the Naval Intelligence Division in World War II. Unravelling the storyline of Bond’s watches becomes even more complicated on-screen, when liberties are regularly taken with the novels’ plots. Dr No, for example, was the first “official” Bond movie, but it was the sixth novel, having been published in 1958. It is well known that Fleming regularly visited the filming and engaged in something of a power struggle with director Terence Young about how Sean Connery was to portray 007. Crucially for Bond’s image, Young, an ex-Irish Guards officer, took the Scottish actor to his Mayfair tailor, Anthony Sinclair, to have his formal James Bond wardrobe created.
THE BORROWED ROLEX When it came to the secret agent’s watch, a Rolex was desired but, as was usual, the Swiss company declined to supply one for free. As the movie budget did not run to buying one, co-producer Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli sportingly handed over for Connery’s use his own Rolex Submariner 6538 with a dark leather strap that is usually described as “black crocodile”, although it sometimes looks brown in the film.
While this Submariner is clearly seen when Bond is in casual short sleeves on Dr No’s Caribbean island (in the unforgettable company of bikini- clad Honey Ryder, played by
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“IN CHAPTER 16 OF IAN FLEMING’S 1964 NOVEL ON HER MAJESTY’S SECRET SERVICE BOND SEES THE POTENTIAL FOR HIS ROLEX AS A KNUCKLE DUSTER”
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