Partners

OMEGA’s own mission began in 1848. For 170 years, the prestigious Swiss watchmaker has delivered renowned products that have become synonymous with excellence, innovation and precision.

With an adventurous spirit, OMEGA has also been defined by its pioneering explorations, demonstrated by conquests of the oceans' depths and space. In fact, since 1965, the OMEGA Speedmaster has been a part of each of NASA's piloted missions including all six moon landings.   

As well as this, no brand is more actively involved in sports timekeeping. In addition to partnerships in golf, sailing, athletics and swimming, OMEGA has served as the Official Timekeeper at 28 Olympic Games.

With such a special and varied history, OMEGA is now worn by some of today’s most famous names in film, sport, fashion and exploration. And of course, perhaps the most iconic person to wear the brand’s watches is James Bond.

OMEGA has been worn on the wrist of James Bond since GoldenEye in 1995. On every dangerous adventure since then, the spy and his watch have been inseparable.

It was Lindy Hemming, the costume designer who worked on all the Bond films between GoldenEye in 1995 and Casino Royale in 2006, who proposed that 007 should wear an OMEGA. Talking about her choice of the Seamaster, she said, “I was convinced that Commander Bond, a naval man, a diver, and a discreet gentleman of the world would wear this watch as opposed to the one everyone expected me to use.”

Hemming was quite right in linking OMEGA with the British Royal Navy. During the early days of the Second World War, OMEGA delivered more than 110,000 pilots’, navigators’ and soldiers’ watches to Great Britain’s MoD. In fact, more than 50% of all of Switzerland’s watch deliveries to the United Kingdom during the war came from one company, OMEGA, with all other brands sharing the remaining 50%.

It is entirely plausible then, if Commander James Bond was a real character, he would most probably have been issued with an OMEGA watch. A suitably iconic timepiece for the world’s favourite spy.

Bogner and James Bond, a 50-year relationship.

In the 1960s, Willy Bogner, German Olympic competitor and fashion entrepreneur, decided to turn his passion for films and cameras into a second career. He was the first film producer to combine skiing with music.

The top athlete and filmmaker was considered a pioneer of sports film, even back in the 1960s, thanks to the success of his film “Ski Fascination 1964” and his involvement with Claude Lelouch for the Grenoble Olympia documentary film in 1968. At the time, Willy Bogner was the first skiing cameraman to descend the Grenoble ski slope behind a female downhill skier.

Producer Cubby Broccoli became aware of Willy Bogner’s skiing film expertise and brought him on board as a director and cameraman for a total of four James Bond skiing sequences.

Willy Bogner celebrated his debut as a cameraman with the film On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969). He was the first cameraman on skis to successfully capture exciting and breath-taking sequences during the descent. The stunt sequence in which he travelled through an ice channel at 80 kilometres an hour with a special 30-kilo camera in front of his body remains unforgettable. It was not just behind the scenes where Bogner played a role – 007 was dressed in a stylish blue Bogner jumpsuit.

In the 1977 film The Spy Who Loved Me, Roger Moore as 007 wore an iconic yellow Bogner ski suit, followed by villains and Willy Bogner with a Panavision camera.

In 1981, Willy Bogner filmed spectacular sequences for the Bond film For Your Eyes Only, culminating in an impressive ski chase through the Cortina D‘Ampezzo bob run, with James Bond in a blue Bogner ski outfit.

Willy Bogner’s most impressive appearance as a cameraman, skiing title sequence author and director was in A View to a Kill (1985). This sequence shows a stuntman crossing a lake on a snowboard. Although snowboarding was still relatively new at the time, it gained global fame thanks to this scene. 007 wore an Arctic White Bogner ski suit here.

Also, in 2018 Bogner and Bond are working together: the Munich-based company is equipping the 007 ELEMENTS team with bespoke ski and lifestyle outfits.

In 2022, Bogner and James Bond celebrate two anniversaries with an exclusive partnership: Bogner is turning 90 years old and the James Bond franchise will celebrate 60 years since the first 007 film, Dr. No (1962), was released. A joint James Bond 007 capsule collection will be launched in Fall 2022.