ROGER MOORE’S OTHER BOND WATCH
Live And Let Die (1973)
I know. The topic of James Bond watches has been covered ad nauseam. From Sean Connery’s Rolex Submariner ref. 6535, to Timothy Dalton’s black-PVD TAG Heuer Night Diver and Daniel Craig’s bevy of Omega Seamasters, countless articles, podcasts and Instagram posts can already be found covering the subject. But despite all this, there are still one or two timekeepers in the Bond oeuvre which have, until recently, been largely overlooked.
Chief amongst which is the Tissot PR516 ref.44622 worn by Roger Moore in Live And Let Die (1973). A great outing in the filmography for watch lovers, the main watches seen on Bond in LALD are a Submariner ref. 5513, replete with bezel-edge circular saw and “hyper intensified magnetic field” ‘complications’, and a then-brand-new and state-of-the-art Pulsar P2. Two prop Submariners modified by production designer, Syd Cain and used during filming (one with a compressed-air driven rotating dial and custom ‘saw’ bezel arrangement; the other with ‘sandwich’ cut-out white/red hour markers to indicate the ‘magnet’s’ activation) have made their way to open market. With the ‘saw’ version selling in a 2001 Christies auction, a 2015 Phillips auction and also with dealer, Tom Bolt (@watchguru_). And the ‘magnet’ version selling in a 1998 Christie’s auction.
One of the first consumer products to use a ‘microchip’ and the first electronic digital-display watch, the Pulsar P2, on the other hand, was produced by Hamilton Watch Company offshoot-brand Time Computer Inc.. And, at the time of its release in 1972, had an accompanying retail price greater than that of the Submariner’s. Using a button activated LED system to display the time and a joyously eccentric standalone-magnet system for time-setting, it fast became ‘the’ watch to have, counting the likes of: actors Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson, musicians Mick Jagger and Elton John, industrialist Gianni Agnelli, and boxing heavyweight champ’ “Smokin’” Joe Frazier as wearers.
However, alongside these leading-role watches, the PR516 makes cameo appearances mid-way through the film in the Louisiana ‘aerodrome escape’ and bayou ‘boat chase’ scenes. It looks to have actually been Moore’s personal watch, given its presence on his wrist throughout the movie’s press tour as well. Perhaps an on-location logistics issue with the scripted Submariner or an absent minded prop master gave rise to Moore wearing his own watch on-screen, but regardless of the reason it makes for a welcome addition to the merry band of Bond watches.
An acronym, the ‘PR’ in the PR516’s title stands for “Pretty Robust” (although on occasion Tissot would bend the acronym to fit marketing catchwords “Precision” and “Resistance” as well) whilst the ‘516’ designation refers to its status as the 16th watch in the brand’s 5th/water-resistant series. Whilst Moore’s watch could, arguably, be described as a ‘skin diver’, the PR516 collection at large was designed primarily with motorsport in mind. Housed in a 36mm stainless-steel case, Moore’s watch is powered using a self-winding calibre and has a rotating 60-minute graduated bakelite-material bezel, conventional three-from-the-centre handset, 3 o’clock date window and a handsome aquamarine-colour dial and contrasting orange seconds hand.
Given the watch’s apparent charms, Tissot saw fit to reissue the PR516 last year in the shape of the PR516 Powermatic 80. Driven using the namesake Powermatic automatic movement with Nivachrom hairspring, the size has been upscaled to 38mm and the rotating bezel has been eschewed for fixed. A host of bracelet/strap/dial-colour options are available to boot, too. Granted some may well have issue with the fixed 60-minute scale bezel, but given the PR516 collection’s motorsport heritage, and the pragmatic benefits of fixed timing bezels in this field, not to mention the extreme brittleness bakelite develops with age, so much so that any surviving vintage PR516s with original bezels are effectively fixed position for fear of breaking at this point, I think we can absolve this one.
With vintage examples trading for around the £1,000-1,500 / approx. CHF 1,050-1,600 / approx. $1,300-2,000 mark (though prices are steadily increasing, and less and less are appearing on the open market as more and more people catch on…) and the contemporary reissue priced from £610 / CHF 615 / $750, both new and old PR516s represent an excellent and accessibly priced entry point into the canon of ‘Bond watches’.
