Timex’s New Affordable Watch Brand Could Have James Bond Pondering a Switch from Omega

Aston Martin is a luxury car maker. So, like other luxury auto marques, it has partnered with a variety of luxury watch brands to produce collaborative watches.

Aston’s current watch partner is Girard-Perregaux, which also sponsors the Aston Martin Formula 1 racing team. Previously, Aston has worked with both TAG Heuer and Jaeger-LeCoultre. These are all nice, expensive watches that appeal to a similar customer as Aston’s cars.

That’s what makes Aston’s latest watchmaking venture so surprising. For the first time, James Bond’s favorite car maker has launched its own line of watches, but it didn’t partner with a luxury watchmaker. Instead, it handed the keys over to Timex.

Power, beauty, soul, Timex?

Although Timex and its partners generally don’t advertise it, the brand produces licensed watches for several designer brands that are normally associated with far higher price points. Ever see a watch from Versace or Salvatore Ferragamo? Chances are, it was made by Timex.

Aston is the latest high-end brand to get the Timex treatment, but they were at least more up front about the arrangement than most. The two companies even put out a joint press release earlier this year announcing the partnership.

Goldsmiths

Now, the watches have arrived, at least overseas, meaning we can finally see if they exude the kind of class, luxury and performance one associates with Aston Martin. (Spoiler: They do not.)

Goldsmiths, a jeweler and watch retailer in the UK, has the largest selection of Timex-made Aston Martin watches I could find online, ranging in price from £99 (~$132) to £550 (~$736).

Seven of the watches, including the five most affordable and all within the nine most affordable, are branded Aston Martin Aramco Formula 1 and — like recent Girard-Perregaux collabs — sport the racing team’s livery colors of British racing green and highlighter yellow.

All are quartz-powered, with the cheapest being a 40mm resin-cased number with a rotating bezel and 100m of water resistance. Major TAG Heuer Formula 1 vibes with this one — it even says “Formula One” on the dial. There are also three different chronograph styles, two on silicone straps and one on a NATO, all oversized with cases measuring 43, 44 and 46mm across.

Timex Group

Moving away from the F1-branded watches, the most affordable model is also perhaps the best-looking in the entire collection. It’s a 40mm quartz-powered Patek Aquanaut homage with a silver honeycomb dial borrowed from the Rolex Land-Dweller on an integrated black rubber strap for only £180 ($240). If this were branded “Timex,” it’d be a massive hit, but I think the Aston branding is going to make people expect more from these watches, given the previous luxury watch association.

It’s the same with several of these watches. This handsome 41mm quartz GMT (£340), which bears some resemblance to the Oris ProPilot X with its turbine-like bezel, is pretty killer. This 41mm open-heart automatic (£430) also has some charm with its retro, speedometer-inspired dial. Both would probably be more hyped as Timex models.

Goldsmiths

Timex isn’t one to shy away from homages, and they’re plentiful here, too. Aside from the aforementioned Aquanaut and Formula 1 tributes, there are numerous TAG Heuer-inspired chronographs and an automatic Richard Mille knockoff that’s Aston’s priciest watch at £550.

The most problematic is a 42mm quartz sports watch (£230) that looks a lot like the Laureato Absolute Chronograph Aston Martin F1 Edition made by current sponsor Girard-Perregaux a few years ago. The black octagonal case, integrated British racing green rubber strap and yellow seconds hand are all pretty similar. They say imitation is the best form of flattery, but I doubt GP is super thrilled about the similarities.

Goldsmiths, Girard-Perregaux

Overall, I think this collection is better than most of the licensed watches we see produced by the Timex Group, but inferior to a lot of the watches that Timex makes for itself these days.

I definitely don’t get much of an Aston Martin vibe here, but the affordability of the watches does make owning a piece of the brand much more accessible to Aston fans around the world, which I think is commendable.

Goldsmiths

Aston Martin MTIZ1F501

Specs

Case Size	41mm
Movement	Quartz GMT
Water Resistance	100m

• $375 at Goldsmiths

Want to stay up to date on the latest product news and releases? Add Gear Patrol as a preferred source to ensure our independent journalism makes it to the top of your Google search results.

Related Topics