James Bond’s Next Watch Has Been Revealed. And It’s Not What You Think.

TOLGA AKMEN2 min readWe may still be waiting to discover who will become the next James Bond. But we now know what 007 is wearing on his wrist.And no, it’s not an Omega.In King Zero, Charlie Higson’s new Bond novel that releases today, a contemporary 35-year-old 007 wears an original wartime Vertex Cal. 59, inherited from a great-uncle who served with the 6th Airborne Division at Pegasus Bridge on D-Day.Vertex.Higson describes the watch as holding “a host of memories” for Bond and, as “a solid reminder of the real world,” bringing him back to his senses.It’s a deep-cut choice, but a good one.Vertex.The original wartime Vertex Cal. 59 W.W.W., the watch worn by James Bond in Charlie Higson’s King Zero.Penguin UKKing Zero by Charlie Higson is out now.Founded in 1912, Vertex was the only British member of the “Dirty Dozen,” the 12 watchmakers commissioned to produce watches for the British military during the Second World War.When I interviewed Vertex owner Don Cochrane for Esquire UK’s About Time newsletter, he described the wartime W.W.W. (as it was known) as perhaps “the first proper tool watch”: waterproof, shock-resistant, luminous, and built for occasions when getting the time wrong could have considerably greater consequences than missing your train.“‘Be there by this time’ or, ‘be away from this area by this time,’” Cochrane told me. “It’s definitive decisions. And it had to work.”Vertex.Cochrane, who revived the company founded by his great-grandfather in 2016, says Higson’s choice came as a complete surprise.Vertex.Vertex.“I had no idea Charlie Higson had chosen to make his Bond a Vertex wearer until I was contacted out of the blue by the publishers,” he says. “For Vertex to become part of that legend by sitting on Bond’s wrist in King Zero is beyond anything I could have imagined when we set out to bring Vertex back.”Vetex.Rather fittingly for Bond, his new watch already has a pretty good war story."For England, James?"vertex-watches.com