Laser in the bezel pip. Hand grenade trap-setter from afar. Blinding light generator from the hour markers. Grappling hook from the crown. Explosive detonator in the guise of a helium escape valve. The Seamaster has been associated with the James Bond movie franchise since 1995, and has continued to be so through the most recent iteration – starring Daniel Craig – of Bond in “No Time to Die” in 2020. But let’s back up a bit.
Omega debuted the Seamaster family – like this near NOS and recently serviced Seamaster Professional 300 here, an all original 2007 example, aka the “Bond Seamaster”– in 1948 to celebrate the company’s Omega’s 100th anniversary loosely based upon designs made for the British Royal Navy near the end of World War II, and was, in essence, a “splash-proof” dress watch – it now holds the honor of the longest running model since Omega’s founding in 1848.
By the mid-1990s, Omega Seamaster had fallen slightly out of popularity; however the Seamaster received a major boon when it was selected as the James Bond watch. Although Bond’s author Ian Flemming had Bond with a Rolex watch in his novel (and Flemming wore a Rolex himself), Omega pushed Rolex out of the film as the costume designer noted Omega was more historically relevant to the British Royal Navy and, in turn, the James Bond character.
It was “Goldeneye” production designer Lindy Hemming who switched Bond to wearing a Seamaster. Her personal experience with British military men led her to believe the Seamaster was a logical choice of a more modern James Bond. The first Seamaster adorned by a James Bond was Pierce Brosnan, who wore the Ref. 2541.80, a quartz Seamaster Professional with a blue dial, in 1995’s Goldeneye.
Two years later he wore the Ref. 2531.80 – like the one here, the automatic chronometer version of the watch – in “Tomorrow Never Dies” (1997) and again in “The World is Not Enough” (1999) and “Die Another Day” (2002). Hemming noted, “I was convinced that Commander Bond — a naval man and a discreet gentleman of the world — would wear a watch to match. My father was an RAF man and I remember his naval colleagues visiting us when I was a child. I vividly recall the Omega he wore. On this basis, I fought for the Seamaster to be the timepiece for Pierce Brosnan”
This Omega comes with its original Omega Seamaster-signed bracelet, nylon strap, springbar tool, and Pelican travel case.
