Why will James Bond be forever associated with Omega?
The extraordinary story of how Biver influenced our choice of watches and why James Bond is now associated with the Omega brand.
Three times no
When Jean-Claude Biver was working for Omega, he received an interesting offer by phone to feature his watches in an upcoming film. It was supposed to be a new James Bond movie. JCB replied that he was not interested in placing watches in a film that was mainly a hit with the older generation. Sean Connery was the best 007 ever, but he belonged to a bygone era. Biver's marketing department was looking for something completely different and, above all, much fresher for its new watches. No, I'm not interested, was how the first conversation ended.
The second conversation was very similar, except that he had already learned that the new 007 agent would be the promising Pierce Brosnan. However, even that did not convince Omega to consider a collaboration. JCB received a third phone call, to which he again replied no. Fortunately for us, he came home and began to think that he was, after all, an older man and should take advice from the younger generation. So he got on a plane and flew to L.A., where he met with people from Eon Productions at Universal Studios to agree on specific terms.
He paid 16 times what he should have
JCB was given the opportunity to showcase its new watch on James Bond's wrist for what was, even at the time, a ridiculous $60,000. However, Biver responded at the meeting that he would accept, but wanted to pay $1,000,000! Yes, you read that correctly, but for that amount, he expected much, much more. So in the end, he got a 60-second film edited from the actual movie, in which the Seamaster DIVER 300 model played the leading role. In addition, Omega received the rights to broadcast the trailer six months before the actual premiere in cinemas and was even allowed to communicate official materials in pre-selected print media.
In his first Bond film, GoldenEye, Pierce Brosnan wears an Omega Seamaster Professional 300M (reference 2541.80) with a blue wave dial, quartz movement, and blue aluminum bezel. nbsp;The effect was fantastic, as people were able to absorb the advertising six months before the film's release, the hype was incredible, and Omega's profits immediately skyrocketed.& nbsp;It can be said that this move launched Omega as a company, because when JCB joined, the company had 20 percent less turnover than TAG Heuer, for example.
Although Ian Fleming's original 1953 novel only mentions Rolexes, and Rolexes, Breitlings, Gruens, Pulsar Seikas, and TAGs appeared in the films, James Bond will forever be associated with Omega.
"Rolex?"
"Omega."
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