Freed from his buttoned-up Bond persona, a freewheeling Daniel Craig has been tearing through the sartorial zeitgeist like a knife through butter, trying out different hairstyles, getting wild with his sunglasses, and apparently, wearing a pocket watch fob as a necklace. (Maybe his stylist is trying to outshine Rihanna’s?) Of course, one thing that remains constant in all this experimentation is Craig’s dedication to Omega.
But that doesn’t mean that the ex-007 is only sticking to one model. Au contraire, we’ve seen him tease white-dialed Moonwatches, rock pared-back Aqua Terras, and throw on vintage-inspired pieces. One thing we haven’t seen much of, however, is Craig wearing an actual vintage Omega. That changed this week when the dapper Englishman arrived at the Toronto International Film Festival premiere of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery wearing a genuine oldie-but-goodie: a Seamaster 120 ref. ST 166.073. Launched in the mid-1960s, this watch is a pared-back version of the Seamaster 300, the brand’s flagship dive watch that debuted alongside the Speedmaster and Railmaster back in 1957.
There’s no question that the ref. ST 166.073 in its rare blue configuration—sometimes referred to as a “Deep Blue” by collectors—is among the most under-the-radar of vintage Omega tool watches. (In fact, you can nab one for under $6,000 all day long…though that might be about to change.) Where Mr. Craig picked up the watch is another question: While he’s normally seen wearing brand-new references or teasing as-yet-unreleased pieces, did Omega sneak him—or did he sneak himself, Bond-style—into the brand’s archive for a surreptitious rifle through the ole’ shelves? Perhaps a notable dealer hooked him up, as they are known to do from time to time?
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The design of this particular Seamaster riffs on the defining features of several other pieces in Omega’s archives. The most notable is the case, which is known among collectors as C-shaped because the case’s look resembles two Cs facing one another. This design was actually introduced into the Omega catalog thanks to the legendary designer Gerald Genta. While he’s most famous for making the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak and Patek Philippe Nautilus, Genta designed several other famous models, including the Universal Genève Polerouter and original Constellation for Omega. The C-shape he made eventually seeped its way throughout Omega’s catalog into models like the Seamaster from the early ‘60s to late ‘70s.
Craig’s version of the ref. ST 166.073 beefed things up somewhat: Still boasting a C-shaped design, it measures 43 mm, features chunkier construction than its predecessor, and is powered by the automatic Omega cal. 565 with a date function. The bezel features an uninterrupted run of hash marks, similar to Seamaster 300 references from that period. What makes Craig’s watch an especially good match for the former MI6 agent is that these watches are actually military-grade. The 120s, as they’re known, were issued to the IDF in the ‘70s, as confirmed in extracts from the Omega archives. (It was the deeper-rated Seamaster 300 that was largely issued to British forces between 1967 and 1971.)
Whatever the explanation for Craig’s handsome Seamaster 120, we can’t think of a better ambassador for vintage Omega tool watches. While it’s always cool to see the actor in the brand’s latest-and-greatest, it’s particularly cool when he dips into the archives and gives us reason to talk about an extremely underrated watch.
