One of the best photographs from Thursday night’s (September 10th) MobLand premiere in Leicester Square is a shot Omega could not have orchestrated better. Pierce Brosnan, wearing a double-breasted pinstripe suit and dark glasses, is being embraced from behind by a firm tattooed forearm – swallow tattoo on the hand, skull on the forearm and on the wrist of that arm is an Omega Seamaster Diver 300M. The particular model is in titanium, a brown tropical dial, and on a striped NATO strap. It’s the “007 Edition”, the watch Omega made for Daniel Craig in No Time to Die. And the owner of that arm is Tom Hardy.
Hardy has been tipped to be Bond for the best part of a decade. He’s never confirmed an interest in the role, nor ever denied one, and he’s spent the years since Venom and Mad Max building a powerful physical on screen presence. Meanwhile Brosnan is a former Bond and importantly was Bond when Omega first started their partnership with the Bond franchise for GoldenEye in 1995. For the role Brosnan famously wore the Seamaster 300M Professional. It was the beginning of a partnership between Omega and Bond that has now lasted for more than three decades.
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So Tom Hardy, the lead of MobLand wearing a Bond watch while hugging a former Bond is either good luck, incredible planning or an in joke between the actors. On the red carpet Hardy turned up looking louche and relaxed in a Summer silk bowling shirt, white trousers and trainers next to Brosnan in an elegant suit and tie. The watch looked the most planned part of his outfit.
The Omega 007 edition was launched in 2019 for the film No Time to Die it is a 42mm Grade 2 titanium Seamaster with a brown aluminium bezel and dial designed to look like it has faded in the sun for forty years. Omega’s word was “tropical” on the mesh bracelet or, as Hardy wears it, on the grey, black and gold NATO strap. The caseback carries the “0552” military numbering from the film. It’s not a limited edition, it’s still available and in the catalogue: it retails at around £9,500 ($11,300 in the US). Hardy’s weathered strap looks like he’s worn his for years. The point is this was not a loan, it’s his, he wears it, owns it and clearly loves it. The Omega Seamaster 300m 007 watch was designed with input from Daniel Craig himself.
In the MobLand show Hardy wears something a little flashier and decidedly more gangster – a discontinued solid gold Rolex GMT Master II on an Oyster bracelet. Hardy is a huge watch collector – his personal collection extends to a Rolex Submariner, Rolex Explorer II, Rolex Sky-Dweller, a Rolex Datejust Turnograph as well as a Bvlgari Bvlgari rose gold chronograph.
Brosnan’s own wrist is harder to guess. He’s wearing a round gold watch on a brown strap, mostly hidden under the cuff. But it’s a fair bet that it says Omega on the dial. Anson Boon, who plays the Harrigan grandson Eddie, wore a Tag Heuer Carrera Astronomer Automatic 39mm with a sunray dial.
The jewellery worn by the Harrigan wives was by Bvlgari. Joanne Froggatt wore high jewellery earrings in platinum; two oval diamonds, six pears and thirty-two fancy cuts, 10.26 carats in all, price on application with a Serpenti Viper ring in white gold and pavé diamonds. Lara Pulver wore all Serpenti pieces – Viper pavé earrings with a single Viper hoop stacked above, a Viper bracelet in white gold set with 118 diamonds (5.02 carats), and two Viper rings. Meanwhile Helen Mirren, 81, wore the smallest earrings on the carpet and a single bracelet, a decidedly understated moment. In direct comparison to last weeks the Gentlemen it all looked very deliberate, putting the acting above the show.
MobLand’s second season arrives on Paramount+ on 18 September, with the Harrigans at war and, by every account, Hardy’s Harry Da Souza in the middle of it. Guy Ritchie’s gangsters wear their money on their wrists on the screen; the joke of Thursday night is that the fixer turned up in the most understated watch of the lot. Or was there some further hidden message about the next actor to play Bond?
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