Bond 50th Anniversary - Christie's Charity Auction

Bondmania is well and truly alive.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the Bond movie franchise, Christie's held a charity auction, offering up memorabilia from the Bond films from Dr No to the latest blockbuster Skyfall releasing this year.

Notable results from the auction? The Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean as worn by Craig Daniel in the movie Skyfall went under the hammer for a smidgeon over a quarter of a million dollars. (157,250 pounds) You might think this is a lot to pay for a second hand watch that just tells the time! Its hammer price is even higher than that for the BMW Z8 as featured in "The World Is Not Enough" (albeit a pre-production replica), which went for "only" 70,000 pounds.

The Omega Planet Ocean as worn by Daniel Craig in Skyfall - image from Christie's

However, if you read the fine prints, this particular Omega is a one-off (piece unique) made for the film, in titanium (regular production models are in stainless steel). So I guess this makes it a better value than that second hand piece worn in the movie Casino Royale, complete with dirt, which went for 250,000 CHF ($260,000) at the Antiquorum Omegamania auction a few years back... and it's only on a rubber strap...

The Omega Planet Ocean from the Antiquorum Omegamania - image from Antiquorum

If you want a piece of Bond timepiece, you have the choice of the Skyfall limited edition Planet Ocean, or the Bond 50th anniversay Seamaster Professional, or, if you just want the look without the Bond connotations, there are also regular Planet Oceans and Seamaster Professionals available at your local authorised Omega retailer...

Skyfall limited edition

Bond 50th Anniversary limited edition

James Bond was first issued the Omega Seamaster Professional Quartz in the movie Goldeneye. He then was upgraded to an automatic version in the subsequent missions. When Daniel Craig took over Bond duties for Casino Royale, he wore both the Omega Seamaster Professional and the Planet Ocean. In his latest assignment Skyfall he upgraded to the latest Planet Ocean model powered by the Omega's inhouse movement calibre 8500.

1st Omega Bond watch - screencap from Goldeneye