You can buy James Bond’s Omega Seamaster (kind of).
Prediction markets, a new idea for the Rolex Tru-Beat, and buying indies with monopoly money.
Well.
I wrote a whole letter about Bezel and Kalshi launching watch prediction markets. Then, I thought to myself, “Self, does anyone actually care?”
If I were scrolling through my feed, I’d probably see the announcement, mutter something about the continued downfall of society, and keep moving. So instead I took a close look at the markets right now to see if they’re tradeable (spoiler: Not really):
🎰 For my take on prediction markets, financial nihilism, and how watches are sports now:
In this week’s letter: Pierce Brosnan’s “Bond” Seamaster; my pitch for a modern Rolex Tru-Beat; Berneron, Brette, and the “flipper” threshold; and a few hidden vintage gems at auction.
🔫 Your chance to get Pierce Brosnan’s ‘James Bond’ Omega Seamaster, kind of
An Omega Seamaster with ties to Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond is up at a Hollywood auction. The auction says this is a non-functional Omega Seamaster that’s “an amalgamation of parts from various special-effects watches made and used during this era of the Bond franchise.”
I reached out to the auction and asked if they could provide any further information. They kept the consignor private, but added this:
“We can confirm that it originates from the collection of a crew member on the Bond franchise during the Pierce Brosnan era. We can also state that the watch was assembled from its various SFX parts by a crew member.”
These prop watches are interesting—all those Steve McQueen Heuer Monacos always get headlines—but assessing memorabilia provenance and authenticity is pretty different from watches, so I never know what to make of them. And who knows how many of these prop Seamasters are out there. It seems more suited for a Bond collector than a pure watch collector, but Bond is so closely associated with watches that it might be a chance to own a little piece of history (or something adjacent to history, I guess?).
We’ve seen a couple of other Brosnan-associated Omegas over the years:
A Seamaster he wore in The World Is Not Enough sold for £50k in 2021
There’s also a famous Seamaster that Brosnan gave to a photographer for his birthday.
This Seamaster with no movement inside is at Propstore LA on March 26. The estimate is $2-4k, and the bid has already hit the low reserve. Find it here.
🎯 An Idea for a Modern Rolex Tru-Beat
In April 2025, Rolex filed a trademark for “Tru-Beat.” It’s a model Rolex introduced back in 1954, right when it started making its professional watches, adding a dead-beat seconds so doctors could more accurately track the pulse.
The caliber has a mechanism that ticks once per second (like the quartz watches that’d come later) instead of the smoother “sweep” of a typical mechanical movement. (Interestingly, Omega also introduced its deadbeat seconds, the Synchrobeat, in 1954.)
I love these vintage watches that were made for a very specific purpose. I remember Alton Brown said he used to hate any kitchen gadget that only had one purpose (“unitaskers”), but then realized that was just his lack of imagination. Why not use a panini maker to make waffle cones?
That’s how I feel about the Tru-Beat.
The Tru-Beat ref. 6556 wasn’t super popular—or reliable—so was discontinued by 1960. Mostly made in stainless steel, but insanely rare and pretty in gold. Nowadays, many Tru-Beats don’t even have their original deadbeat caliber because they’re so hard to fix.
Usually, these trademark filings don’t mean much—there are also filings for Bubbleback, Padellone, Space-Dweller, or Milsub. Perhaps, as Rolex gets deeper into CPO, it’s a way to protect its heritage.
But the Land-Dweller did turn out to be real!
I doubt Rolex would bring back a dead-beat seconds (how cool would it be if it did?), but it got me thinking about what a modern, high-precision “Tru-Beat” could be. The patent behind the Dynapulse escapement says it can run at frequencies as high as 10 Hz (the Land-Dweller’s at 5 Hz). Rolex has said this high frequency helps with accuracy. So it make me wonder…maybe a super high-frequency watch could be the modern “Tru-Beat?” It’s a fresh idea for an old name.
Perhaps Rolex could go even further. From the Dynapulse patent:
“Naturally, it can be envisaged to take advantage of the escapement device to sustain the oscillations of any type of oscillator, whether it is a sprung-balance type oscillator as described previously or any other type of oscillator, for example, an inertial element guided and elastically recalled by flexible blades.”
The idea of using flexible blades as an oscillator has been kicking around watches for a while. Remember the Zenith Oscillator from a few years ago? It’s something Armin Strom is also known for.
An amazing technical innovation, but, as a commenter put it just the other day, “It's as if nobody wants half-second accuracy at the cost of wearing a visual seizure on your wrist.”
To connect one final string on my conspiracy board: Guess where Rolex CEO Jean-Frédéric Dufour spent 5 years as CEO until he took the Rolex gig in 2014?
That’s right, Zenith, where surely there was ongoing R&D for its fancy oscillator. Perhaps this is why, when you go to the Land-Dweller webpage, it says:
A glimpse of the future. Reinventing the present to lay foundations for the future.
We’re only about a month away from Watches & Wonders, so I hope you’ll allow the good-natured conjecture. More fun than placing a bet on a prediction market, at least?
FROM THE UNPOLISHED STORE
The Unpolished Canvas Strap is back! It’s now available in 20mm and 22mm (in addition to 18 and 19mm). This is the best canvas strap I’ve ever worn. That’s because it entirely canvas—no padding. It’s only 2mm thick, which means it’s soft and flexible when you wear it for the first time, but gets even better with wear. Shop the Unpolished Store.
The Roundup
If you’re an indie watchmaker, how many resales is too many? A clever GMT from a new microbrand, and a pair of vintage finds.
👀 Another Berneron Mirage 38 hit the secondary market.
It was listed at $240k earlier this week.
