Everyone knows James Bond is a watch guy. The iconic character wore a watch in the original Ian Fleming novels (an unnamed Rolex model), and he’s worn at least one watch — often more — in every official Bond film.
The best-known Bond watches come from those eternal sports watch rivals, Rolex and Omega. For 007’s first three decades on-screen, the character mostly wore a Rolex Submariner. For the last three, he’s exclusively donned an Omega Seamaster.
But before Omega became Bond’s exclusive wrist outfitter in 1995 with the reference 2541.80 in Goldeneye, filmmakers played it much more fast and loose with the superspy’s choice of watch. Besides their Rolexes, Sean Connery also wore a Breitling Top Time, Timothy Dalton wore a TAG Heuer Night Diver and Roger Moore wore a slew of Seikos, among others.
Then there’s perhaps the least-known Bond watch, the Tissot PR-516. Yes, Bond wore a Tissot, which the brand quietly reissued late in 2024 with significant changes. Now, the budget brand has a new color option for the watch that’s much closer to the one worn by 007.
A Moore accurate PR516
The Tissot PR-516 appears twice on the wrist of 007 in Moore’s first Bond film, 1973’s Live and Let Die. It’s difficult to tell what he has on the wrist on-screen — both appearances are during chase scenes — other than it isn’t the Submariner the character is supposed to be wearing. But on-set photos released over the years have allowed horological sleuths to positively identify the watch as PR-516.
How Bond came to wear the Tissot, however, is a question that remains unanswered. Some believe it was Moore’s personal watch that he forgot to swap out during the scenes (myself included), since he was photographed wearing it frequently on set. Another theory posits that it was lent to the actor by the crew to wear as a close-enough alternative while the Submariner prop watch was still being prepared.
