IAN FLEMING THE AUTHOR AND CREATOR OF JAMES BOND, MADE THE HERO WEAR A ROLEX, THE SAME WATCH HE WAS WEARING. SO HOW DID JAMES BOND END UP WEARING OMEGA TODAY?
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DATOKEEHUACHEE@GMAIL.COM
When the rivalry between Omega and Rolex extended to the silver screen.
Ian Fleming made James Bond wear the brand that he was wearing himself: Rolex[1] .
The Most British of Swiss Watches
In today’s terms, Rolex could have been described as a boutique brand at the time. Started in 1905 under the Wilsdorf and Davis Company in London, England, it was outsourcing its production to Switzerland like many boutique brands do today.
Omega was one of the incumbent monarchs of Swiss watchmaking at the time and with their 57 years head start they could easily have scoffed at the humble British company.
Rolex founder and managing director Hans Wilsdorf, image via Rolex
By the time Fleming published his first Bond book, Wilsdorf’s marketing acumen had made Rolex a British-born rising star. James Bond was not the type to follow protocol, so it reinforced his character to make him wear an underdog brand such as Rolex.
Today that would be like making James Bond wear a Bremont.
At some point during the 1950s and 1980s, Rolex overtook Omega in the Premium Core segment, rose to the Superpremium segment and left them in a trail of dust. I remember the mid-1990s when there was not much to differentiate Omega’s products from Longines or (God forbids) Tissot.
Omega’s Rebirth
Luxembourg-born Jean-Claude Biver left a product manager position at Omega by the back door, bought the Blancpain name for the price of a German sedan and turned it into a powerhouse.
Following this, he was offered a seat on the Board of Directors of the Swatch Group. Who said that “no prophet is accepted in his hometown”?
Biver worked with Amit Arora (famous for outlining the 8 P’s of luxury marketing[2]) and from 1993 to 2003 he worked on creating a template for putting Omega back at the helm.
When the 1990s reboot of the Bond franchise was in the works, Biver offered $1 million to place Omega’s product[3] , thus cementing James Bond as an Omega persona.
In Casino Royale (2006), there is a train scene in which Vesper Lynd and James Bond take turns at sarcastically profiling each other after having just met for their shared mission.
Vesper Lynd: …former SAS types with easy smiles and expensive watches. Rolex?
James Bond: Omega.
Vesper Lynd: Beautiful.
It could not have been more “scripted”. For the Rolex afficionado this is a direct jab at Rolex’ history with military watches.
The subtle irony is that Omega is presented here as the cool underdog and Rolex is being presented as the boring old fashioned incumbent brand, when it has historically been the other way around…
After the turnaround initiated by Biver, Omega has been using every trick in the book to catch up with Rolex.
Over the last two decades, Omega has been:
- Gradually moving away from stock ETA movements
- Adopting Daniel’s co-axial escapement (which had been turned down by Patek Philippe[4] and collaborating with key players (of which Rolex) to restrict through patents the use of silicon balance springs to the Swatch Group, The Hans Wilsdorf Soundation and the Richemont Group.
- Creating a certification that is in theory open to any brand, but that in practice only Omega can pass[5].
- Using all the above technological updates to justify price increases, which gradually brought them within Rolex price segments.
The challenges for Omega remain that:
- Rolex is one of the most recognised luxury brands[6] in absolute.
- Rolex makes 2.2 times more profit than Omega. Subsequently, Rolex can spend more than twice than Omega on advertising.
- Rolex has almost moved beyond the point where it needs personas. It’s not people who look the part that wear Rolex: wearing a Rolex IS looking the part. Rolex IS the persona. In comparison, Omega still needs to rely on personas like James Bond.
Whether worn on the wrist of James Bond or not, as long as Rolex keeps playing their cards right they will probably keep Omega in their rear view mirror.
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