An earlier post about a Lemania-powered Tissot chronograph talked a bit about how I’d bought another – lesser? – watch which came with the correct bracelet for the chronograph, so I could swap it over. An eagle-eyed reader pointed out that the PR-516 dive automatic style watch had some famous association – namely that Roger Moore had worn one while filming Live and Let Die.
On a Twitter thread, a discussion took place about Sir Rog wearing his own Tissot, though I think the author got the slightly wrong model – I believe it’s not a 44554 “Visodate” Seastar, but a visually similar PR-516 Automatic.
Here’s mine:
Since I bought it as a donor for the bracelet to fit to the chrono, I’ve switched it to a tropic-style strap (as it suits the dive-watch vibe).
I think Moore’s watch is a similar variant, though with no day – just a date window. I reckon I can see the 2-line AUTOMATIC / PR-516 (with the numbers in red) in some publicity pictures of Roger during the filming of Live & Let Die:
It’s somewhat ironic that during Live and Let Die – the first Bond film which made a big deal about his watch, it being a Rolex Submariner with a super-strong magnet, that features prominently – the props people somehow let Moore away with wearing his own Tissot during filming… even though earlier in the same scene he used his magna-Rolex to try to break a boat free from its mooring.
Here’s a similar one, found on Pinterest –
… and it’s also photographed fairly extensively on a Swedish watch forum – Avslutad – Tissot PR-516/Seastar “Roger Moore”. | Klocksnack and on TZ_UK
It’s likely that the non-day version is a similar reference number but I’ve yet to see inside one – Tissot certainly used nnnnn-xx as a reference number format, where the last two digits defined variants of the same case/movement.
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An update of sorts – Fratello’s TBT – https://www.fratellowatches.com/tbt-the-underrated-bond-tissot-pr-516-watch/ – has unearthed some more detail on the Live & Let Die watch, supposing that it’s a 44622 – the date-only version, whereas mine is a 46622 – the day/date one. There are catalog shots from ~1970 showing the 46622 price at DM230 and the 44622 – described as “same model but without weekday” at DM210.
https://static.fratello.com/2021/01/Tissot-PR-516-Bond-Moore-00001.jpg
Amó esté reloj ! Tengo uno en perfecto estado. No sabía que lo uso Roger Moore en Bond y en su vida diaria, ahora me gusta más 😄
Gorgeous watch….everytime I read one of your articles I get the urge to buy another watch. As I have one Bond watch, why not another?
I have this exact watch, date only version, it was my Dad’s, purchased in the mid 70s.
It no longer keeps good time (gains about 30 minutes every 12 hours); can anyone recommend a good place to get it serviced? Thanks.
Any competent watch maker should be able to service it – though I used one guy who made a boo-boo when he put it back together, so the date and day changed 12 hours apart from each other. Not a problem on your watch, I guess…