Feature: What Do Cinema’s Other Secret Agents Wear?
Every successful movie secret agent needs a watch, whether it’s to be on time for a clandestine meeting, carry out a meticulously planned assassination attempt or meet glamorous femmes fatales in high-rolling casinos. Of course, if you’re James Bond, they can also saw through rope, shoot laser beams and undress women.
Alas most spies in the cinematic world don’t have access to MI6’s Q branch and its ingenious technology. But thanks to the wonders of brand product placement they do get to wear some pretty incredible luxury timepieces.
We take a look at the watches worn by other movie secret agents.
Kingsman The Patriot
Like the James Bond franchise, Kingsman is a quintessentially British creation. Unlike Bond, however, the lead characters wear British watches, at least in the first film. Three Bremont chronographs—the Kingsman Collection—were commissioned for Kingsman: The Secret Service and were worn by characters played by British thespians Colin Firth, Mark Strong and Taron Egerton.
A limited edition rose gold Bremont chronograph from its Kingsman collection
In the sequel, Kingsman: The Golden Circle, TAG Heuer took over watch duties, replacing Bremont's mechanical models with the special edition Connected Modular 45, a battery-powered smart watch.
Johnny English Wears… Swiss
In Bond spoof Johnny English , Rowan Atkinson plays the titular character, an MI7 spy who is an incompetent, accident-prone buffoon—everything his watch isn’t.
English, at least in the third film of the franchise, Johnny English Strikes Again , wears a no-nonsense IWC Mark XVIII edition. We’re not sure its completely true to the character but it would certainly withstand the many high-risk escapades he finds himself in.
Hapless spy Johnny English, played by Rowan Atkinson, wore an IWC like this model
Mission:UnShockable
While Mission impossible superstar Tom Cruise is partial to a nice analogue watch off-screen, wearing brands including Panerai, Cartier and Rolex, his character in this film franchise is digital quartz through and through. And not just any digital watch but a robust, practically invincible Casio G-Shock.
A robust Casio G-Shock is Ethan Hunt's watch of choice
G-Shock’s creator Kikuo Ibe used to test the watches by dropping them from a multi-storey office block, making it the perfect timepiece for Ethan Hunt, a man known for abseiling down skyscrapers and leaping out of airborne helicopters.
The Bourne Horology
Jason Bourne, played by Matt Damon, is a secret agent like no other, more likely to be found in jeans and a hoodie than a tuxedo, and as rugged as Bond is suave.
The Treadstone hitman wears a relatively modest TAG Heuer Link chronograph in the film franchise, a sporty choice that’s tough enough to withstand a succession of brutal fistfights and worse.
This TAG Heuer from its Link range is almost identical to the one worn by Jason Bourne
That said, if the movies were true to the Robert Ludlum novels they’re adapted from, Bourne would have worn a Girard Perregaux—a watch he steals before trading it in for a more character-apt Seiko chronograph.
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