Alpha Males And Omega

I'm thinking that I might have to buy this Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean, which apparently is featured in the new James Bond movie, Skyfall.  007 wears it on the steel bracelet, or so I've read, but I would wear it with the rubber strap.  I'd prefer to wear it with a NATO strap, but it's much too thick for that.

If this watch were just a few millimeters thinner then I'd've purchased one months ago (long before I ever knew about its being featured in an upcoming Bond installment).  It looks super badass (you'll get used to the weird hands if you look at it long enough; also, those unnecessarily beveled lugs that Omega so stubbornly insists on work much better on a diver than on any other model) and it has a particularly accurate, rugged, and innovative movement (including a silicon balance spring that never loses its shape), much superior in precision and durability to the hideous Rolex Submariner's caliber 3135 (which, by the way, will cost a fellow a couple thousand dollars more than the Planet Ocean's rather sensibly priced co-axial 8500).

It's just so ridiculously thick, though (16.3mm!).  Such thickness might not be so bad on the 45.5mm-diameter version, I guess, but, given my modest wrists, I'd surely have to wear the equally thick 42mm-diameter version.

My point here is that I have a massive wad of watch money burning a hole in my pocket, but I can't seem to find a watch that I really, truly want.  My mother, who lives in poverty, could probably put the money to good use and I do feel guilty, but I need a new watch, something super fresh and totally kick-ass.

Don't get me wrong: my trusty IWC Mark XV pilot watch is exquisite and I'll always love it.  But I need something less elegant and more macho (i.e., bigger...I'm looking for 3-4mm more diameter than the levelheaded and understated Mark XV's 38mm diameter).

Nowadays, all the bigger IWC pilot models (except for the so-called Big Pilot, which is clearly way too big for my wrist) are abominations aesthetically due to their absurd date displays.  The only cool-looking IWC diver is the retro Aquatimer, which (a) has an inner rotating bezel...so inconvenient, (b) isn't very waterproof at all for a diving watch, and (c) is, if we're being honest, definitely too big for me with its 44mm diameter.

Jaeger-LeCoultre makes a cool-looking and nicely sized retro diver, but it doesn't have a date function.  Only a fool or a wastrel would ever buy a watch without a date function.  I could see James Bond wearing Jaeger-LeCoultre, though.  I'm pretty sure that Bond's always worn Rolex or Omega in the movies, but I could see him wearing JLC.  Clive Owen, that British actor who was in The Bourne Identity, happens to be a sort of spokesman for JLC (they call 'em "friends of the brand"...George Clooney is Omega's friend, as is Cindy Crawford) and I've heard that he was almost cast as James Bond.  In fact, I think maybe I read that Daniel Craig got the part after Clive Owen turned it down.  I can't remember.

I suppose that if I didn't care about the date, I'd consider getting a sporty, flashy Rolex Milgauss.  James Bond would never wear a Milgauss, though, and not just because it lacks a date (let's not forget, after all, that Sean Connery was sporting a no-date Sub in Dr. No back in the 60s when Submariners were cool).  The design of the Milgauss' indices, hands (especially the seconds hand), and crystal (especially the green crystal) is too futuristic and science-nerdy for someone like James Bond, who requires something more traditional and more virile.

From the TV commercials for Skyfall, it looks like Q is now a young, hipster type.  If so, a Milgauss might be perfect for Q.  But remember the old Q, that old guy from the 70s and 80s Bond flicks who always wore tweed and disapproved of 007's cavalier attitude?  I'm sure that geezer very much cared about what the date was.  That guy was hella uptight.  I wouldn't be surprised if that old stickler carried a pocket watch around on a fob.  The old Q was a full-on goofball, as pompous as you like, and I can't imagine that anybody ever gave the slightest shit about his watch.