Because Bond loves wearables just as much as us
Everyone knows that James Bond is fond of his gadgets but, look closer, and you’ll see that it’s wearables that he really loves.
From the second film in the famous franchise all the way up to Spectre, which was released today, there’s only been one 007 adventure not to feature our kind of tech. Don’t believe us?
Here’s the ultimate Bond wearable list to tell you otherwise. Let us know if there’s any we’ve missed
Wrist dartgun (Moonraker)
From the titillating moment when Bond pierced the canvas of one of the paintings in M’s office to the moment that it finally dispatched the main villain Drax, the wrist-mounted dartgun from Moonraker is a 007 wearable classic but maybe not one you’ll ever end up sporting yourself.
Garrotte watch (From Russia with Love)
Used by burly henchman Red Grant in a training exercise to kill a fake Bond and then later by the real Bond to kill Grant himself, this classic look timepiece came with a garrotte wire included which pulled out on a retractable system if you tugged on the crown. As if to add insult to deadly injury, 007 walked off with the watch as a souvenir which later appeared in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
Rolex Submariner magnetic watch (Live and Let Die)
Bond has quite a few tricks up his sleeve with his Omega in Live and Let Die. Whether for snapping up a compressed gas bullet for Kananga’s grizzly demise or simply as a way of unzipping the back of an evening gown, it certainly played its part.
Seiko text watch (The Spy Who Loved Me)
With the switch to a digital watch came a curiously analogue detail that’s possibly more dated than anything on this list. The Seiko from The Spy Who Loved Me could receive a text message but it wasn’t quite SMS. “But James, I need you.” “So does England.”
Seiko radio/message watch (For Your Eyes Only
An improvement on the previous model from the previous film but one, Seiko took SMS to a slightly less laughable digital level with an LED-based messaging system. It also contained a handy two-way radio for full Dick Tracy-like action.
The car was the gadget star in Goldfinger but Bond did get a couple of toys to keep him safe. Most notable were a pair of homing devices. One was larger, magnetic and could be used to track a car on 007’s own Aston Martin console and the far smaller was a beacon that sat in a compartment in the heel of the secret agent’s shoe.
Biometric fingerprint scanner and fake fingerprint (Diamonds are Forever)
Two wearables in one scene here in Diamonds are Forever. When Tiffany Case needs to verify the identity of smuggler contact Peter Franks, she uses a handy fingerprint comparison device in her dressing room. Just a pity for her that 007 had a biometric of his own in the form of fake thumb print prosthetic.
Seiko homing watch (Octopussy)
Bond had two smartwatches to play with in Octopussy and the first of the Seikos was fitted with a tracking device used in conjunction with a homing unit stored initially in 007’s pen and used keep tabs on the Fabergé egg.
Seiko TV watch (Octopussy)
The more culturally significant of the two timepieces, though, was the Seiko TV watch which was a real, available product and thought of as the smallest TV in the world at the time. It featured an FM radio plus VHF and UHF tuners meaning that you could catch your favourite 007 in micro format. For Bond, though, it was more important for, well, other views.
Jaws’s teeth (The Spy Who Loved Me / Moonraker)
There’s no real mention of how or why Jaws ended up with his steel teeth nor whether or not they were removable. Either way, they made for one of the most iconic wearables in the franchise and a certain place in cinematic history for the late Richard Kiel.
Homing Pill (Thunderball)
Ingestible and, according to Q, quite harmless, this homing pill that Bond was expected to swallow was, in fact, radioactive. Hmm. Not sure that would be the first choice of tracking tech these days but you can’t beat the franchise for its predictions of the future.
Tee-Hee’s mechanical arm (Live and Let Die)
When not used to throw chicken carcasses at hungry alligators, Tee Hee’s mechanical arm is certainly a grim-looking, if not entirely effective, wearable. Sadly – well, for Tee Hee – it was also his ultimate undoing as Bond uses it to clamp him to a curtain rail to keep the henchman nice and steady while he boots him out of the window of a moving train.
Why, oh, why did Bond not wear these things all the time? And why were they not able to see through underwear too? These X-Ray specs were just the best when it came to figuring out who was packing what and where before 007 decided to rough them up a little.
Polarizing Glasses (A View to a Kill)
Not quite as sophisticated nor nearly half as fun as the set that Brosnan got to use, but still handy for seeing through darkened glass when you want to know what’s going on behind apparently closed doors.
Camera ring (A View to a Kill)
A pinky ring with a camera inside that Bond uses to take pictures of Zorin while cruising around at a champagne reception in a typically Moore white tux; the cad.
Bell Rocket Belt (Thunderball)
The Bell Rocket Belt was a genuine, military-funded project for a jetpack that was eventually pulled because all it could manage was 21 seconds and 120m-worth of flight before it was spent. Still, that was all that Bond needed to get from the roof of a château to his Aston Martin DB5.
Dagger shoes (From Russia With Love)
One of the original gadgets from early Bond are these dagger shoes which were a popular piece of wardrobe for Spectre agents appearing on two different sets of feet during From Russia with Love. Inspired by the famous and real-life ricin-tipped umbrella, one poke from these kickers is all it takes for a nasty end.
Odd Job Hat (Goldfinger)
Another classic Bond wearable is Odd Job’s steel-rimmed bowler. Just in case the 16st and stocky as mustard Olympic weightlifter turned actor Harold Sakata didn’t look mean enough, they thought they’d better fit him with this hat that’s tough enough to break the necks of statues and fleeing damsels alike.
Walkman Garrotte (The Living Daylights)
Alarm bells should have been raised when the milkman in The Living Daylights was in the kind of tall muscular, Aryan shape that you simply wouldn’t get from driving an electric cart around all day. Funnily enough he was an assassin with the nouse and exploding milk bottles to match. He also wore a deadly set of of headphones that doubled as a garrotte with which he dispatched the cook in the MI6 safe house.
The Golden Gun (The Man with the Golden Gun)
Not only is the Golden Gun clearly the finest gadget of the Bond franchise, not only was it the weapon of the choice of the eponymous antagonist of the piece as played by the late, great Christopher Lee, it also happens to be a wearable – at least partly anyway. That’s because this one-shot firearm is made from a pen, a cigarette case and, most importantly of all, a cuff-link.
Geiger counter watch (Thunderball)
The only one of its brand ever used in the Bond films, this Geiger counter was based on the Breitling Top Time and its purpose was to locate one-eyed bad guy Largo which was something of a giveaway what with him having stashed a couple of stolen nuclear warheads in his yacht. Simple really. Interesting side note to this one is that the original prop watch used in the film was rediscovered by a Bond fan at a car boot sale many years later subsequently sold at auction for £100k.
Virtual Combat Simulator (Die Another Day)
At the beginning of Brosnan flick Die Another Day we see Bond on a shooting spree in MI6 headquarters, of all places, only to find out that it was all a dream thanks to the realisation that he’s in fact in a VR training suite which John Cleese’s Q describes as the Virtual Combat Simulator. It’s basically as sophisticated as the holodeck out of Star Trek and totally impossible for another 100 years or so but, hey, who’s counting, eh? Us!
Omega Seamaster laser watch (Goldeneye)
No one wants to be locked inside an armoured train packed with explosives set on self-destruct. Fortunately, Q division had handed old JB this rather useful watch fitted with a laser strong enough to cut through the floor. A quick flick of his wrist and it was off to Cuba for the finale.
Bracelet Piton (Tomorrow Never Dies)
Chinese People’s External Security Force standard-issue gadget which secret agent Colonel Wai Lin uses to grappling hook her way onto a metal post and thus string her way to safety. Quite an attractive bangle as it goes too. Nice to see the Chinese getting wearables right by designing for aesthetics first. Advanced.
Microchip implant (Casino Royale)
Oddly, it took the franchise 21 films to go implantable but it was in Casino Royale that our hero was fitted with a chip that could send live information on Bond’s vitals and whereabouts straight back to MI6 HQ. It all came in rather handy in possibly the most gripping sequence when 007 finds himself on the wrong end of poisoned vodka martini leaving him and the audience both shaken and stirred.
Quantum earpiece (Quantum of Solace)
Could this wireless communicator earpiece have been some kind of early implementation of bone conduction? Hard to say, but it was a clever piece of kit that allowed two-way radio conversation simply by sticking the thing on your ear. Ideal for coordinating a group chat with some powerful baddies at an operah.
Omega Seamaster laser watch (Die Another Day)
Another appearance for the classic Omega to mark Bond’s 20th Eon screening and the franchise’s 40th anniversary. This particularly variant is fitted with a remote detonator and a laser cutter amongst other tricks and tools.
Earring lock pick (Tomorrow Never Dies)
If you can get away with wearing an earring – not sure that Bond could – then it may as well be some kind of wearable. In Wai Lin’s case, at least one of them doubles as a pick to break your way out of a set of cuffs. You’ll just have to trust us that she’s got one under that hair.
Rappelling belt (Goldeneye)
A standard issue 00 wearable. Looks like a normal belt, obvs, but tucked away inside is 75ft-worth of cabling with a piton at one end which, when fired out, sticks into whatever surface you require and then auto-winches you to safety via a window and all with time to boot a Russian soldier square in the chops on your way through.
Pushkin’s smartwatch (The Living Daylights)
It’s not only Bond that gets the fancy wearables and top KGB bod Pushkin had a smartwatch of his own in The Living Daylights. A little tap of the crown alerted the bodyguard waiting outside his mistress’s hotel bedroom. Bond, being wise to these things, natch, managed to disarm the henchman, strip the mistress down to her undies and deliver a swift karate chop to Pushkin’s ribs for trying to out-tech him in the first place.
Rocket launcher leg plaster (Goldeneye)
One of those nice little teaser gadgets from a visit to Q division is this rocket launcher leg plaster. Far from the skiing accident that Bond suggests, this is one wheelchair user that’s getting full access whether anyone likes it or not.
Walther PPKS 9mm short (Skyfall)
There’s not an awful lot that Bond does get to play with in Skyfall but his trusty Walther PPKS 9mm short does come fitted with some bio-sensing tech. It has a micro-dermal identifier coded to 007’s palm print meaning that it won’t fire for anybody else.
Sonic agitator ring (Die Another Day)
An ultra high frequency sonic agitator unit whose pulsing is intense enough to shatter even toughened, bulletproof glass in an instant. Handy if you’re cornered in a room with a big glass floor.
EM RPM controller ring (Diamonds are Forever)
A gadget that Q himself had been itching to try out until he finally got the excuse to give it a go on the slot machines of Vegas. You press on the case with this electro-magnetic delivery system when the symbols you’re after appear on the roll. This causes the rotation of the cylinders to stutter at the precise moment needed to…and we never found out the rest. However it worked, it was jackpots all round.
HONOURABLE CHEAT: Volcano lair (You only live twice)
Aside Dr No – ‘no’ for virtually no gadgets – ‘You only live twice‘ is the only James Bond film without a single wearable. Now, that said, we also cover smart homes here at Wareable as part of the connected self and kitted out with full intercom speaker system, rocket launch facilities, retractable walkway over the top of a killer piranha fish tank and its own damn monorail system, surely Blofeld’s Spectre volcano HQ is one of the finest examples of a 1960s smart home in cinematic history? We’ll leave that one with you.