You may also have noticed that the name James Bond comes up when the subject of crownless escort submarines comes up. Although “Dr. No” was the first film in the series, Ian Fleming mentions the Swiss company’s iconic watch twice in the series; once in his second book, “Live and Let Die,” published in 1954, and again in his 11th book, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” published in 1963. The second book describes the “large luminous numerals” Bond glimpsed while lazily glancing at his chronometer at midnight, “a heavy Rolex Oyster Perpetual with a swollen metal strap”. Moreover, the author himself had worn a Rolex Explorer.

But what actually happened outweighs all the literary criticism of Fleming and his namesake. During the filming of “Dr. No,” the budget did not allow the team to purchase a real Rolex for 007, probably because movie commercials were not like they are today (read: Daniel Craig drinking a Heineken) and Rolex was not willing to provide one.

So Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, one of the film’s producers, took the Submariner off his wrist and gave it to Sean Connery. What does all this have to do with 6536? Many people think that the 6536/1 is the replica luxury watches Connery wore in Dr. No (as we said, the 6536 and 6536/1 are often discussed together), but in fact, it was a Submariner 6538, which was made with a large crown (8 mm).

James Bond 007 Dr. No Rolex Submariner 6538
Submariner 6538 “James Bond”
Aptly nicknamed “James Bond” by Rolex, thanks to its appearance in “James Bond”, the 6538 was produced from around 1956 to 1959. This watch is a “Big Crown” submariner, as it has an 8 mm Brevet crown; as such, it is water resistant to 200 meters.

Generally speaking, there are two main versions of the Submariner 6538 “James Bond”. One is the chronometer-certified version, with four lines of text on the dial to accommodate the “Officially Certified Chronometer” inscription. Then there was the non-chronograph version of the Submariner 6538, with only two lines of text on the dial. Rolex produced both a chronometer and a non-chronograph version of the Submariner 6538 at the same time, both versions with a lustrous gold-plated dial with a chapter ring.

There was also a Submariner 6538 with an explorer-style dial featuring numerals at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock. These swiss replica rolex watches were only produced for one year in 1956 and are, therefore much harder to find in today’s vintage market.

The version worn by Sean Connery’s James Bond in Dr. No is the Submariner 6538 Doublet. What’s more, instead of the usual Oyster strap, the super-spy is wearing a striped NATO-style strap that looks a little too slim.

Bond’s Submariner 6538 reappeared in a number of subsequent James Bond films, including From Russia with Love (1963), Goldfinger (1964), and Breaking Bad (1965).

While James Bond eventually wore other watches in the films, including Rolex and other brands, the vintage Submariner 6538 will now forever be known as James Bond’s watch.