Shortly before TAG's takeover of Heuer in the mid-1980s, it produced a line of legendary divers, first in Monin, France, with automatic movements, and subsequently in Switzerland with Swiss quartz movements - the example here is one of these divers, a full serviced Heuer 982.013 "James Bond" pewter-cased dive watch.
Of note, the Heuer 982.013 pewter diver was worn by Timothy Dalton's James Bond in "The Living Daylights" (1987) - per Hodinkee, "The 1980s were a time of transition for James Bond, in terms of watches (and a lot of other things). During that decade, Bond wore a variety of watches, but for his very first outing as Bond, in 1987's "The Living Daylights," Dalton wore a Heuer ref. 982.013 – a classic quartz diver's watch with a no-nonsense vibe that matched Dalton's hard-edged take on Bond. The Heuer is as much a classic of the era as Dalton's Bond was of his – an exercise in pure, utilitarian design, from the last decade in which wristwatches were commonly worn out of necessity, before the emergence of cell phones in the 1990s."
This no-nonsense Heuer tool watch was produced between circa 1981-4. For a brief history of these amazing Heuer divers, as noted in a fascinating Hodinkee article, “A Personal Note: Marking Time With A Humble Heuer” - “In 1980, Heuer decided it was time to build a proper dive watch. Sure, years earlier, it had fitted its 'Automotive-Aviation' Autavia chronograph with a diving bezel, but the brand was largely focused on motorsports watches, which is where it had built its reputation."
But in the late '70s, as Jack Heuer tells it in his autobiography, Heuer was at a sporting goods trade show in Europe and was approached by a diving equipment company that was having trouble finding quality dive watches that could be co-branded, G. Monnin. And the rest is history...
The Heuer diver would go on to become one of the company’s bestselling models ever, even lasting into the early '90s under the new TAG Heuer banner. After a year of outsourcing to Monnin, Heuer took over the manufacturing of the ref. 844, re-named the 980.xxx, and sold in a myriad of versions, with different case sizes (refs. 980, 981, and 982) in gold, steel, or even pewter, with a PVD version (both black and camo green), and orange, black, and full-lume dials, all with bracelet or rubber strap.
This 982.013 diver comes on a stainless-steel dive bracelet, and with nylon strap, springbar tool, and rugged travel case.
1983 Heuer Ref. 982.013 "James Bond" Pewter Dive Watch
DIAL: Sharp original grey dial; date display at the 3 o’clock position works as designed. Matching “church” hour, minute, and second hands - note the handset is from the full lume dial Heuer Ref. 982.113.
CASE: Grey pewter case measures 37.5mm (41mm w/crown) x 45mm, with matching Heuer caseback. Bezel insert is likely aftermarket, but fits the design of the Heuer quite nicely.
CRYSTAL: Crystal, aside from a small chip near the 10:30 mark, is crack and deep scratch-free.
BAND: Heavy stainless-steel generic dive bracelet, which will fit an approx. eight inch wrist; this Heuer also inclues a black and red nylon strap.
MOVEMENT: Heuer ETA 536.121 quartz movement. We have performed a full service on this watch.
CROWN: Unsigned stainless-steel screw-down crown.