Synchronise Your Watches! Bond Returns 50 Years After Dr No.

It was touch and go, they say, given the financial troubles of MGM Studios, but surely there can never really have been any doubt that this latest episode would take flight.

The tougher, more troubled Bond incarnated by Daniel Craig has been box office gold since he debuted in Casino Royale, which racked up nearly $600m around the world. Quantum of Solace ran it pretty close

What is more, 2012 marks Bond’s fiftieth anniversary since Sean Connery immortalised him in Dr No, and in Hollywood, as in the real world, fiftieth birthdays are opportunities not to be missed.

The same, naturally, goes for luxury watch brands, which are not only anniversary addicts but which have a relationship with Bond unlike any other in film history.

Though various Bonds have been spotted wearing various high-end brands, including Tag Heuer and Breitling, over the years, and though Swatch has even put out a Bond “Villain” line, the industry’s love affair with 007 really only comes down to two men’s watch names: Rolex and Omega.

When it all began, Rolex was the marque of choice for Bond’s creator Ian Fleming and so for the man himself. The relationship began in Dr No, with a Rolex Submariner the perfect amalgam of toughness and good looks for Connery’s impeccably ruthless secret agent. Rolex stayed around long enough to flatter a string of lesser Bonds.

But it was not to last. With Pierce Brosnan’s 1995 movie GoldenEye, Omega finally elbowed Rolex aside with the Seamaster, which has held firmly onto 007’s wrist ever since.

In Quantum of Solace, Craig extended the tradition by sporting the Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean, even if it had a black face rather than the usual blue. Truth to tell, it still looked right, sporty enough to complement Craig’s athleticism, refined enough to offset his brutality.

That doesn’t mean, of course, that Omega can feel altogether safe with Bond. A fiftieth anniversary is a powerful incentive for any watch brand that wants to home in on the legend. And temperament aside, Bond is already changing in other ways.

Tom Ford designed much of his look in Quantum of Solace and it was visibly less formal, more rugged, more hip, more modern than ever before. Who is to say his next watch won’t reflect a similar sensibility. What price Bell & Ross