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Old 1 June 2020, 01:15 PM   #41
77T
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Real Name: PaulG
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Ian Fleming’s 1016 Explorer Movement and SN? Quandary? (v2)

I know we are getting way off into the weeds on the background but I hope it helps add some context.

I can’t tell from that picture what watch Ian Fleming is wearing but let’s don’t judge by the bracelet. That’s because Fleming clearly liked flexible ones like Speidel made.

That evidence is seen in some of his novels where some Rolexes are described on interesting bracelets. I only drew out the excerpts. And some other interesting parts - his Rolex “ticks” loud enough to be heard, has “big phosphorus numerals” and his acrylic crystals “disintegrate”.

I don’t think we’re talking about any model but an Oyster Perpetual Explorer.

From “Thunderball”
(Referring to a character that isn’t Bond)
It was time for younger men to provide the heroics. And all his life he had had a passion for owning things—flashy, exciting, expensive things. He had most of what he desired—a couple of gold cigarette cases, a solid gold Rolex Oyster Perpetual Chronometer on a flexible gold bracelet...

From “On Her Majesty’s Service”
Bond relaxed his thoughts and went out and back to his desk. He sat down and bent to his paperwork and tried not to listen to the hastening tick of the Rolex on his wrist...
Bond surveyed his weapons. They were only his hands and feet, his Gillette razor and his wristwatch, a heavy Rolex Oyster Perpetual on an expanding metal bracelet.
Gillette through the fingers of the left hand and the Rolex transferred to his right, the bracelet clasped in the palm of his hand and round the fingers so that the face of the watch lay across his middle knuckles... Bond’s right flashed out and the face of the Rolex disintegrated against the man’s jaw... Bond let go the girl’s hand and slipped the shattered Rolex back over the knuckles of his right hand. He had gathered enough strength, mostly from the girl, to have one more bash at them!
Bond lifted his left wrist. Remembered that he no longer had a watch. That he would certainly be allowed on expenses. He would get another one as soon as the shops opened after Boxing Day. Another Rolex? Probably. They were on the heavy side, but they worked. And at least you could see the time in the dark with those big phosphorus numerals.
He glanced at the new Rolex on his wrist—the shops were still shut and he had had to blarney it out of Q Branch—and guessed they would be on time.




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