Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time to Die (2021). Photo credit: Nicola Dove.
Vitals
Daniel Craig as James Bond, retired British secret agent
Jamaica to Cuba, Spring 2020
Film: No Time to Die
Release Date: September 30, 2021
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Costume Designer: Suttirat Anne Larlarb
Background
Happy birthday, Daniel Craig! Born March 2, 1968, the English actor celebrates his 55th birthday today. I had been debating how to sartorially celebrate Craig, especially considering his stylish reprisal of detective Benoit Blanc in Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, but my upcoming Jamaican honeymoon encouraged a return to his style in No Time to Die as a now-retired James Bond, living a life of comfortable solitude in Jamaica.
Bond fans are well-aware of the significance of Jamaica to the 007 series: it was at his Goldeneye estate on Oracabessa Bay where Ian Fleming wrote the first novel (Casino Royale) in 1952, most of the first movie (Dr. No) was set and filmed in Jamaica, and Roger Moore’s first Bond film (Live and Let Die) was also filmed extensively in Jamaica. There’s very much a “where it all began” association between Bond and this scenic Caribbean nation, making it all the more appropriate that No Time to Die establishes it the setting for Bond’s retirement, specifically a secluded home on Jamaica’s northeastern coast near Port Antonio.
Bond returns home from a tranquil day of fishing on his Spirit 46 sailing yacht, quickly detecting that he’s had an unplanned intruder. Having fished out a Browning Hi-Power, Bond stalks through his comfortable seaside villa until encountering the remnants of a Delectado cigar… suggesting his visitor had been his old CIA pal Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright).
What’d He Wear?
Since a tuxedoed Sean Connery first introduced himself as “Bond, James Bond” in Dr. No more than sixty years ago, agent 007 has been intrinsically linked with an aspirational wardrobe of tailored suits and luxury clothing. We’ve seen Mr. Bond go rogue on several occasions, but once he seems to have hung up his shoulder holster for good, Daniel Craig’s retired Bond dispenses with the need for the sharp duds associated with the character as he spends his seafaring retirement in a tattered T-shirt and inexpensive shorts. (You can read more about this outfit at Bond Suits and James Bond Lifestyle.)
Of course, this is still Daniel Craig’s Bond so the T-shirt is a product of British luxury brand Orlebar Brown, specifically the “OB-T” model in light gray melange “super-soft” jersey-knit cotton, currently retailing for $115 as of March 2023. (Despite the franchise’s reputation for conspicuous product placement, the shirt was modified for the screen with the telltale red-lettered “O.B.” tag removed from the hem.)
The short-sleeved T-shirt’s tailored fit shows off Craig’s well-maintained physique, though the shortness of the rounded hem suggests that it’s still undersized, adding a lived-in, washed-and-worn quality to the shirt also characterized by the fraying along the edges and the tears along the seams of the round crew-neck and around the set-in arm holes.
The Orlebar Brown "OB-T" tailored fit T-shirt worn by Daniel Craig in No Time to Die can be purchased from several outfitters:
- Marissa Collections ($115)
- MR PORTER ($95)
- Orlebar Brown ($115)
Based on the aquatic context and the water-repellant synthetic fabric, I initially assumed Bond was wearing navy-blue swim trunks, but the excellent Instagram account @whatsdanielwearing identified these as Jed North “Agile” shorts, specifically intended for athletic endeavors like bodybuilding, running, and lifting.
Made from a soft, stretchy, and sweat-wicking blend of 90% polyester and 10% spandex, these unlined shorts have a drawstring waist, black zip-up side pockets, and a short (4″) inseam. As with the T-shirt, these were modified to conceal their maker by removing the neon green “Jed North” logo from the left thigh and replacing the matching neon drawstring with a much more subdued dark navy drawstring.
You can read more about these shorts at James Bond Lifestyle, including a primer on how to modify them from the stock version to resemble the screen-worn shorts.
His big catch in one hand and speargun in the other, Bond strides up the dock to his seaside Jamaican home. Note that his Orlebar Brown T-shirt had its hem shortened (thus removing the brand tag) and the Jed North shorts have also been de-branded.
After wearing Persol and Tom Ford sunglasses, Craig’s Bond landed on Vuarnet as his preferred eyewear brand after wearing their glacier goggles in his previous film, Spectre. Bond rotates between two pairs of Vuarnets in No Time to Die, beginning with these Vuarnet Legend 06 sunglasses that he wears in Jamaica. Vuarnet advertises these as “James Bond’s choice” and, like so many other items from Bond’s screen closet, they’re also a real-life favorite of Daniel Craig.
The frames come by their sleek retro design honestly, as French star and style icon Alain Delon had popularized the Vuarnet 06 when he wore a black nylon pair in the 1969 thriller La Piscine. A half-century later, these Vuarnets have been appropriately renamed the Legend model before they received the star treatment in No Time to Die when Craig wore a brown-framed pair with Brownlynx mineral glass lenses, suspended around his neck on a blue neoprene Croakies® strap.
The end of Bond’s employment with MI6 evidently doesn’t mean the end of his preference for wearing Omegas, as the new model specifically designed for No Time to Die debuted during the scenes of Bond’s Jamaican retirement.
“When working with Omega, we decided that a lightweight watch would be key for a military man like 007,” Daniel Craig explained in Omega’s official announcement. The resulting product is the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Master Chronometer (210.90.42.20.01.001), worn on a metal “shark mesh” or “Milanese” bracelet that closes through an adjustable-fit deployable clasp. The 42mm case and bracelet were made from a lightweight yet durable and anti-corrosive Grade 2 titanium that offer a tactical advantage given the resistance to reflecting light.
“I also suggested some vintage touches and colors to give the watch a unique edge,” Craig shared in the announcement, no doubt referring to the unique “tropical brown” unidirectional bezel and dial, made from a weight-saving aluminum and providing an attractive alternative to Bond’s usual black and blue dials. The hours are indicated by luminous non-numeric markers, with a “broad arrow” just above the 6:00 marker that James Bond Lifestyle reports was “used by British Armed Forces and visible on some vintage watches issued and owned by the British Ministry of Defense (especially the W.W.W. watches from the Second World War).”
The watch is powered by Omega’s self-winding Co-Axial Master Chronometer Calibre 8806 movement with a power reserve of 55 hours and resistant to magnetic fields reaching 15,000 gauss. In addition to the screw-in crown, the Seamaster has a helium escape valve extending from the side at the 10:00 position.
You can purchase the No Time to Die Omega from Amazon and Omega… or check out the more affordable alternatives for both the watch and the mesh bracelet identified by Iconic Alternatives.
Bond finds the remnants of Felix’s cigar.
After tossing his black 30.5″-bladed Riffe Defender fins on the dock upon disembarking his fishing yacht, Bond spends the rest of the scene barefoot, though behind-the-scenes photography show that Daniel Craig wore mustard-colored Havaianas flip flop sandals with blue straps on set.
The Guns
Bond emerges from his fishing yacht carrying a Riffe Euro E-55 speargun, as identified by James Bond Lifestyle. These are designed specifically for underwater spearfishing, though Bond has also improvised using a speargun for defensive purposes, as seen when Sean Connery’s 007 used one to swiftly dispatch of the silent henchman Vargas in Thunderball.
Spearguns typically fall into two categories: air-powered pneumatic spearguns and rubber band-powered elastic spearguns. Bond’s Riffe is the latter, propelled by two heavy-duty black-coated rubber bands. The E-55 has a 32″ low-profile teak stock that houses the actual spear, with a stainless steel two-piece trigger mechanism and spring-loaded safety.
Bond’s speargun skills landed him a hefty haul.
After a spot of cigar ash tips him off to a potential intruder while he was away fishing, Bond arms himself with a Browning Hi-Power that we can assume is his personal pistol after he likely had to turn in his MI6-issued Walther PPK following his retirement. (We don’t see where Bond had fished it out from, but fans of The Sopranos may be suspicious of why he had been carrying that large fish in the previous scene…)
“Bond is a man of heritage, of classics, and of familiarity,” explained my friend Caleb Daniels, who manages the Commando Bond website and Instagram, previously quoted in my post about Bond’s black Tommy Bahama shirt in the subsequent scene. “A retired 007, whether a ‘former SAS type’ or SBS, would have been very familiar with this firearm. It only fits that when reaching for a dedicated home defense firearm, he would reach for a functional classic like the Hi-Power.”
This production photo of Daniel Craig, armed with his Browning Hi-Power and noirishly illuminated by the Jamaican sun filtered through his blinds, was one of the first official images released from No Time to Die.
The Hi-Power design dates back to firearms pioneer John Moses Browning, whose protégé Dieudonne Saive brought the pistol to fruition after Browning died in 1926. In 1935, the Belgium firm Fabrique Nationale (FN) produced the first P-35 Grande Puissance, or “Hi-Power”, named in reference to its then-unprecedented 13-round magazine capacity. Given that the pistol was chambered for the 9x19mm Parabellum cartridge, the Hi-Power was a precursor to what firearm writers would eventually dub the “Wonder Nine”, though this term would be more traditionally applied to double-action/single-action (DA/SA) pistols that appeared decades later.
With its single-action trigger and short recoil operation, the Hi-Power echoed the functionality of Browning’s iconic 1911 pistol design, though even the designer had to work outside of that earlier design since he had sold the 1911 rights exclusively to Colt. Despite this obstacle, the Hi-Power has ultimately emerged as a well-regarded pistol in its own right and has been continuously produced by FN Herstal since 1935, aside from a short four-year hiatus when production ended in 2018, only to be resumed this year as the modified “FN High-Power”.
The Hi-Power had long been the designated service pistol of the British military, beginning with the 1950s when it was designated the L9 as the replacement for the aging Webley and Enfield revolvers; an upgraded Hi-Power was re-designated L9A1 during the following decade.
With his service record as a Commander in the Royal Navy and possibly the Special Boat Service (SBS), Bond would have been intricately familiar with the Hi-Power. The character’s iconic Walther PPK was a suitable choice when Bond needed a pistol that could be easily concealed, but his lifestyle in Jamaica would have reduced his armament needs to something reliable that he wouldn’t need to worry as much about carrying outside of his home. With its double-stack magazine loaded with the universally obtainable 9mm ammunition, the hardy Hi-Power would have been the perfect choice for his updated needs.
Read more about the firearms of No Time to Die at IMFDB.
How to Get the Look
Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time to Die (2021)
An abused gray T-shirt, gym shorts, and Croakies may not be an outfit you’d expect from James Bond, but you have to admit it’s pretty perfect for a fit fiftysomething spending his retirement fishing in solitude off the Jamaican coast.
- Gray heathered cotton crew-neck short-sleeve T-shirt
- Navy polyester/spandex short-inseam athletic shorts with navy drawstring waist and two black-zip side pockets
- Vuarnet Legend 06 brown nylon-framed sunglasses with Brownlynx mineral glass lenses on blue neoprene Croakies®
- Omega Seamaster Diver 300M Co-Axial Master Chronometer 210.90.42.20.01.001 titanium 42mm-cased self-winding watch with “tropical brown” aluminum dial and rotating bezel on titanium mesh bracelet
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Check out the movie.
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