The Omega James Bond Commander's limited edition

Looking over the Omega Diver 300 series, the Omega twenty-two year association with the James Bond franchise has brought about some limited release watches. Dedicated to the role of product placement, the Commander series is one such timepiece. But really, I'm not sold on a watch based on a fictional movie character; at least with the TAG Heuer Senna series, Arton Senna was a brand ambassador before his tragic death.

Omega had the chance to design something special, the white face is different to the existing series, the scalloped bezel is standard Diver 300 with ceramic insert. I have never been a big fan of the NATO strap but on this occasion I think it works, the colour scheme is related to the military insignia. What really irks me is the 007 counterweight on the second hand; to my thinking, this is really crass and this single feature prevents me from ever purchasing this timepiece.

Unfortunately, the 007 also spells LOO when the secondhand moves through a portion of the arc when the secondhand is inverted; an engineering oversight if ever I have seen one. The date has a red 7 numeral with the remainder of the date numerals coloured blue, this is somewhat pretentious in my view.

The display caseback allows the wearer to view the partial in-house 2500 co-axial movement; I say partial as the 2500 is designed on the base ETA 2824-2 movement within the Swatch Group. As such, the technical aspects of this timepiece is identical to any Diver 300. The standard Diver 300 is fitted with the solid laser etched case back.

Unlike a standard Diver 300, the Commander's watch is fitted with a display caseback. The caseback ring is etched with the limited edition Commander's markings and build number, this is fine as this is worn against the wrist only being identified when inspecting the watch.

There are 7007 watches to be produced within the series with a further 007 gold cases manufactured; that's just a plain 7 gold case timepieces to the rest of us. No doubt the Commander's series will be well subscribed on a worldwide scale - it just won't be me.