Sir Roger Moore is my personal favorite James Bond actor. Sadly, last month, on May 23, Roger Moore passed away at age 89, losing his battle with cancer. Moore was not only an actor but also an author and very involved in UNICEF (United Nations Children’s Fund).
It is hard not to be enticed by the smooth talking, villain-wrangling British spy that we all know and love. He is quoted as saying, “Of course I do my own stunts. And I also do my own lying.” Roger Moore is credited as the longest ever 007 actor. Of the seven movies he starred in, my two favorite are Live and Let Die and Octopussy. He also starred in The Man with the Golden Gun, The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only, and A View to a Kill.
In Live and Let Die, Moore’s James Bond debut, he is seen sporting a Rolex Submariner 5513 throughout the movie. Although a Rolex Submariner does not actually have a magnetic force or a buzz saw bezel as in the movie, it is still arguably one of the most fashionable and popular watches ever made.
We are fortunate to have a collection of James Bond movie posters here at the National Watch and Clock Museum in our James Bond Wore the Quartz Revolution exhibit curated by Dell Deaton. In fact, in June of 2010, Deaton curated another exhibit and a weekend-long event that showcased Sir Ian Fleming’s Rolex Explorer that he wore himself and described as James Bond’s watch of choice in the original manuscript, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.