Feels like I ought'ta start this
entry with an introduction along the lines of Quint to the city counsel
in Jaws. "You all know me, you all know what I do."
In
this case, I'm the guy who
went out on a limb with the Planet Ocean as James Bond's watch
in Casino Royale. And, in the interests of full disclosure here,
I need to acknowledge that as of today,
the last official word from Omega SA remains merely to acknowledge just
one 007 watch for the film: Its venerable Seamaster, in
trademark blue.
Yet we now have the November 2006
issue of Premiere featuring a cover shot of Daniel Craig so
clearly into the James Bond 007 character that we not only have the
tuxedo, but an additional shadow of his image behind with an assassin's
pistol.
As
you can see in the close-up image on the watch at right, here, he's
clearly wearing the Omega Planet Ocean.
Again: Merely an oversight?
Inside, page 11 gives us another
highly stylized studio photo of Mr. Craig in formal attire − with any
possible view of his timepiece (if indeed he's wearing one), wholly
tucked away in his trouser pocket. Page 60 and a wardrobe change: No
watch to be seen.
So I'm gonna say that the
conspicuously placed Omega Planet Ocean in the cover shot is no
accident. And when you add to this the fact that Omega SA bought
the back cover of this issue to promote its latest James Bond Limited
Edition Seamaster (model 2226.80, a/k/a 22268000), it's hard for me to believe that the product
placement folks from the watch supplier weren't just as involved or more
so in this cover shot, in addition to whatever input was forthcoming
from the actor's people, the producers, studio, and film distributors.
Last month, Daniel Craig made the
cover of Esquire (in black and white, no doubt alluding to the
controversial filming style purportedly used for the pre-title sequence
in Casino Royale).
I don't think we were supposed to see
a watch in that photo, then. So we didn't.
Timing is everything. Especially in
the watch business.
With barely over a month now to go
before Casino Royale opens in theaters, anticipate a Planet Ocean
model from Omega SA to hit with it's own "October surprise" here.
Esquire
<LINK>
Premiere
<LINK>
