Daniel Craig as James Bond in No Time to Die (2021)
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
WARNING! Spoilers ahead!
Background
Happy 00-7th of June! The weather continues warming up as we approach summer in the Northern Hemisphere, and I’m sure I won’t be alone in turning to James Bond for inspiration as I begin rotating summer style staples back to the front of my closet.
To dissect the phrasing of his literary creator, you could say James Bond had lived enough for two lifetimes by the time we find the globetrotting secret agent now retired toward the start of No Time to Die. Approximately five years have passed since he finally left the employ of MI6 and—again, like Ian Fleming—he’s settled into seaside solitude on the shores of Jamaica, the Caribbean island nation where Ian Fleming penned many of his Bond novels and where the film series itself began with most of the action in Dr. No.
“You fell so far off the grid we thought you must be dead,” his old boss M (Ralph Fiennes) would ultimately tell him, and that appears to be just how Bond likes it, isolated in a tropical paradise with little to do but fish, drink, and work through piles of books with adventurous titles like A Sailor’s Tales, The Complete Book of Sea Fishing, Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945, and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
Returning home from a day of fishing, the erstwhile 007 proves that his spy-dey senses haven’t totally abandoned him as the presence of cigar ash—particularly Delectado cigars, as favored by his old CIA pal Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright)—alerts him to a recent intruder. He showers, brushes his teeth, and stows his pistol into his desk before driving his Land Rover into Port Antonio, where he engineers a run-in with Felix and his politically appointed State Department crony Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen), who eagerly describes himself as “a huge fan” of Bond… only to be disparaged as “the Book of Mormon” by his espionage hero.
“It’ll be like old times,” Leiter pitches Bond over drinks on the prospect of reteaming, having specifically selected the retired agent to assist them in finding the missing MI6 scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik). Bond declines the task, choosing to relive his “old times” by going home with Nomi (Lashana Lynch), a mysterious woman he had encountered the club… only to learn that she’s a British agent who threatens him into keeping out of her way.
Nomi: A lot’s moved on since you retired, Commander Bond. Perhaps you didn’t notice?
Bond: No, can’t say I had! In my humble opinion, the world doesn’t change very much.
Evidently, Nomi hadn’t realized that the now-cynical Bond had turned down Leiter’s request and—perhaps hoping to insult him into complacency—she aims to further twist a knife into Bond’s ego by revealing a detail of her relationship with his former employer.
Nomi: By the way, I’m not just any old double-O… I’m 007. You probably thought they’d retire it.
Bond: It’s just a number.
Nomi’s attempt to keep Bond in retirement fails, and indeed may have energized his wish to accept Leiter’s request for a “favor” when he calls the next morning and announces his decision: “Felix, I’m in.” Not a minute is wasted as Bond returns to the helm of his handsome Spirit 46 sailing yacht to traverse the Cayman Trench to meet his contact, the charming young agent Paloma (Ana de Armas), in Santiago de Cuba.
What’d He Wear?
It was April 29, 2019, the day before I was scheduled to leave for a work conference in Toronto. Among the final packing, travel arrangements, and meeting plans, I had received the long-awaited news that filming commenced the day before on the movie we all still knew as “Bond 25″… and that there were already behind-the-scenes photos from the Port Antonio production available online!
Bond fans received a dual treat with the April 2019 paparazzi shots released, not only sharing the first full outfit from No Time to Die but also teasing Jeffrey Wright’s return as Felix Leiter.
Considering that it was Daniel Craig’s approach to Bond’s casual style that drew me into the world of James Bond, I was delighted to see that our first glimpses—albeit unofficial ones—had shown yet another accessible and dressed-down outfit. The instant and intense scrutiny of the army of better-informed Bond style fans than I meant it wasn’t long before the brands were identified. Okay, Tom Ford, Omega, those jibe, but… Sperry? Tommy Bahama? You mean the stuff from my [retired] dad’s closet? (And yes, my closet too.)
As we learned more about the context of No Time to Die, it became clear that we were finally seeing Mr. Bond in retirement and, like so many retirees, he’d abandoned the constraints of dressing for work by favoring the more leisurely style championed by brands like Tommy Bahama. Sure, there may be more luxurious ways to do it, but—in the cinematic closure of a characterization consistent with the more fatalist pathos of Ian Fleming’s James Bond—it feels appropriate see our erstwhile civil servant dressed in more affordable and worn-in garb.
The well-tailored suits and dinner jacket would come later (this is still a Bond movie, after all), but this sequence in Jamaica feels like a 21st century sartorial update for the James Bond whose author had described items like his line up of Sea Island cotton shirts and a houndstooth suit alternately described as “battered” and “yellowing”.
Perhaps most importantly, the style is not only consistent with Bond’s literary roots but also the less-polished 007 that Daniel Craig had portrayed in his debut, Casino Royale. In that first film, his youthful Bond dressed for a night of poker at the Bahamas’ One&Only Ocean Club in an untucked black-presenting button-up shirt rumored to be from the unsophisticated Alfani label found only at Macy’s. Fifteen years later, the aged and retired Bond echoes that look with yet another untucked black shirt, suggesting a personal predisposition for how he favors dressing in the Caribbean.
One of the first officially released images from No Time to Die depicted Bond’s final moments of true retirement before returning to active duty as a favor to a friend. (Photo by Nicola Dove)
Bringing the conversation back to those better-informed Bond style fans, I always recommend Matt Spaiser’s site Bond Suits as the first place to find the best analysis of 007’s attire, with plenty of other excellent sources from experts and enthusiasts including Iconic Alternatives, James Bond Lifestyle, and The Bond Experience continuing to provide in-depth insights into the clothing, accessories, and gadgets of Bond’s world and wardrobe.
The Black Silk Shirt
After cleaning himself in an outdoor shower, Bond pulls on a comfortable black long-sleeved shirt that flatters Daniel Craig’s athletic physique but still offers a breezy fit, helped by two short notched vents on the sides. Like many Bond fans, I had initially registered considerable surprise to learn that Bond’s shirt had been positively identified as the Tommy Bahama “Catalina Twill Shirt”, but the style appears consistent with Bond’s standards, with a solid color in a luxurious fabric rather than some of the louder prints that Tommy Bahama is known for (and which I, neither sophisticated nor a secret agent, feel freer to wear.)
Per its name, the shirt is made from a silk twill, light enough to wear comfortably in a warmer environment, with a subtle white top-stitch along the edges. In his Bond Suits post about the outfit, Matt Spaiser concluded that the shirt had likely been tailored and shortened by the costume department, in turn reducing the number of buttons up the plain front from eight to six. The shirt buttons up to the neck, but Bond keeps the top few buttons undone, and the way that the one-piece collar presents so well when worn open-neck echoes the “convertible collar” originally developed in the mid-20th century for military uniform shirts to be worn effectively both with and without ties.
Bond keeps the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, but knowing the model of shirt he wears informs us that the mitred cuffs are finished with two stacked buttons to close. The shirt also has a squared patch pocket over the left side of the breast that’s just large enough for him to slip his sunglasses after the sun goes down, providing that rare case of a movie character visibly stowing something in a pocket without it magically disappearing when not in use.
Even Bond has the self-awareness to realize that Nomi’s taciturn self-invitation into his bedroom stretches the bounds of believability, asking that she “cut to the chase?” and disparaging her sense of “professional courtesy” after the damage she caused to his Land Rover. Now that he’s home, he’s presumably taken his sunglasses out of his shirt pocket but you can see them there throughout the Port Antonio nightclub scene, including while he’s drinking with Leiter and Logan Ash.
Years after No Time to Die was released, the shirt has evidently remained a favorite of Daniel Craig in real life as the great Instagram account @whatsdanielwearing spotted the actor wearing it while greeting fans after a May 2022 performance of Macbeth in New York City.
Read more about this shirt at James Bond Lifestyle. You can also buy the shirt from Tommy Bahama, though one should heed David Zaritsky’s word of caution in his excellent vlog to consider a size smaller than you usually wear.
The Gray Jeans
Unless you count the bottom half of Roger Moore’s powder-blue leisure suit in Live and Let Die or the denim-like pants briefly seen as Timothy Dalton’s disguise in Licence to Kill, Daniel Craig had been the first James Bond actor to prominently wear jeans as part of a significant outfit on screen, incorporating cream-colored Levi’s and more traditional dark blue denim 7 for All Mankind jeans among his casual fits in the action-packed Quantum of Solace.
Blue denim will always be the traditional cloth associated with jeans, but as they’ve become an established casual staple over the last few decades, other colors and cloths have emerged as alternatives that may regarded as slightly dressier, if for no other reason than lacking the century-old associations with manual labor, gold prospecting, and rodeos.
In No Time to Die, Bond pulls on a pair of light gray cotton jeans with a small black tab on the upper right side seam that has identified them as Tom Ford, the luxury brand that provided much of Daniel Craig’s tailored and casual-wear since Quantum of Solace. Despite the premium connotations of Tom Ford, the jeans follow traditional denim design with five pockets—two curved in the front, an inset right-side coin pocket, and patch back pockets—and nickel rivets, as well as a button-fly. Although the jeans have belt loops, Bond doesn’t wear a belt, in keeping with his more relaxed lifestyle as well as the jeans’ slim fit preventing the likelihood of any wardrobe malfunctions.
After finding unexpected cigar ash, Bond takes the extra precaution of arming himself with his personal Browning Hi-Power that’s never far from his reach, including tucked into his Tom Ford jeans before he stores it in a drawer in his living room. The lower rise of his jeans reveals the top of his black underwear as he pulls his pistol from the front of his waistband.
Read more about these jeans at Iconic Alternatives and James Bond Lifestyle. You can still find similar Tom Ford jeans for sale from retailers like Farfetch, or you could follow the rest of retired Bond’s budget-conscious example by finding light gray Levi’s for a fraction of the price without sacrificing quality.
The Boat Shoes
Boat shoes, or deck shoes, were pioneered in 1935 by New England-based outdoorsman Paul Sperry, who took inspiration from his dog’s paws to develop the now-famous siped sole that gave wearers traction aboard slippery decks. Initially, the Sperry Top-Sider remained limited to those who most needed to maintain their footing at sea, but the popularity slowly crept inland, first among the U.S. Navy who negotiated the rights to manufacture shoes for Naval Academy sailors and among the Ivy League students at universities that encircled Sperry’s headquarters in Waltham, Massachusetts.
“When deck shoes appeared on the cover of Lisa Birnbach’s tongue-in-cheek The Official Preppy Handbook in 1980, it cemented their place in the upper-crust WASP wardrobe as the dressier alternative to sneakers,” wrote Josh Sims in Icons of Men’s Style. Even 007 couldn’t resist the fashionable comfort of deck shoes, which debuted in the franchise when Timothy Dalton sported a pair while jumping across Tangier rooftops in The Living Daylights.
Following that adventure, it took Bond’s retirement to bring deck shoes back into his wardrobe when Daniel Craig was photographed on the set of No Time to Die wearing a weathered pair of Sperry Gold Cup Authentic Original Rivingston boat shoes with full-grain nubuck leather uppers in a shade that Sperry describes as “Titan tan” but I’d be more inclined to describe as light brown. Following traditional deck shoe styling, these have hand-sewn moccasin-stitched toes and a customizable 360° lacing system for each shoe’s single brown rawhide lace entwined through two sets of rust-proof gold eyelets. Cushioned with lambskin lining and a layer of memory foam, the shoes are attached to non-marking latex outsoles with Sperry’s signature Razor-Cut Wave-Siping
system.
“Boat shoe? More like yacht shoe, if we’re talking swag-factor,” describes the Sperry website, making their case simpler as our first look at the retired Bond depicts him cruising in a Spirit 46 sailing yacht… albeit barefoot. And on that note, Sims concluded his piece on the deck shoe by referring to “the sock controversy… to wear, or not to wear—the argument has yet to be won.” For the action-packed sequence in The Living Daylights, Dalton’s Bond had indeed worn socks with his deck shoes, but—for the retired Bond’s moment of relative leisure in No Time to Die—Craig appears to wear his Sperrys sans socks.
Daniel Craig on the Jamaican set of No Time to Die in April 2019.
Read more about these shoes at From Tailors With Love and James Bond Lifestyle. The latter also makes a compelling case for the “non-Rivingston” Sperry Gold Cup Authentic Original boat shoe as a viable alternative, and—as it isn’t the screen-worn model—the tan colorway tends to be more frequently available. Though the screen-worn color is currently out of stock (as of June 2022), you can still purchase the Original Rivingston model from Sperry.
The Omega Watch
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.
Navigating the open sea presents the perfect context for Bond’s newly designed Omega which, particularly one with enough vintage design to echo the aging character himself.
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.
The Sunglasses
Following phases wearing Persol and Tom Ford sunglasses, Craig’s Bond seems to have settled 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 and—like so many other items from Bond’s closet—had already been a favorite of Daniel Craig’s in real life.
The frames come by their sleek vintage 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 and appropriately renamed the Legend, these Vuarnets again received the star treatment when Craig wore a brown-framed pair with Brownlynx mineral glass lenses in No Time to Die.
Bond’s Vuarnets battle the setting sun as he cruises into Port Antonio at the wheel of a vintage Land Rover.
You can still buy these glasses from Vuarnet, advertised as “James Bond’s choice.”
The Baseball Cap
For his cross-sea journey to Cuba, Bond pulls on what may be the least characteristic part of his costume: a dark blue cotton baseball cap. Plain baseball caps have recently emerged as an unlikely status symbol associated with wealth, an image popularized by shows like Succession, albeit the Roys favor expensive cashmere caps that “subtly telegraph their affluence”, according to Wall Street Journal‘s Jacob Gallagher.
With his wardrobe of expensive tailoring from Brioni, Brunello Cucinelli, and Tom Ford, some may expect Craig’s Bond to favor $500 Loro Piana caps à la the insufferable Kendall Roy, our Tommy Bahama-wearing retiree instead opts for the considerably more practical American workwear brand Carhartt, albeit de-branded for the finished movie. An “empty” square of stitching on the front suggests where the costume team would have removed the prominent brown leather Carhartt brand patch.
Made from a washed dark navy cotton canvas, the Carhartt cap follows traditional baseball cap styling with six triangular panels, each with a small ventilation grommet and top-stitched where sewn together, and an adjustable back strap.
In his Bond Suits analysis, Matt Spaiser observes that his plain navy baseball cap makes the character look more American—specifically like Craig’s style idol Steve McQueen as he appeared while piloting a glider in The Thomas Crown Affair.
You can read more about the Carhartt baseball cap at James Bond Lifestyle, which has identified the Carhartt “Odessa” Cotton Canvas cap as the likely contender for the screen-used version.
To buy similar caps, you can get the same “Odessa” with the prominent front branding that was removed for Bond or, if you want to avoid modification, the “Visor” with a plain front but a smaller Carhartt-branded tab sewn onto the left side.
The Waxed Jacket
In this sequence featuring brands both new and old (to Bond, anyway), the former agent introduced yet another Bond heritage brand to the outfit when pulling on a Barbour jacket for his unofficial mission to Cuba. This has been identified as the Barbour x Engineered Garments “Graham” jacket, a trimmed update of the classic Barbour Beaufort jacket designed in collaboration with Daiki Suzuki’s Engineered Garments with a waist-length cut and snap-up front that reminds me of a heavier-duty coach’s jacket.
This jacket perfectly suits the context, consistently casual like the rest of his outfit and in a neutral navy color that doesn’t threaten to clash while also evoking Commander Bond’s naval background and expertise at sea. The unwashed waxed cotton material would make for a comfortably lightweight layer in the tropical climate while still providing enough water resistance that would be an asset while sailing across the western Caribbean.
Like traditional deck jackets and other outerwear intended to resist the elements, this Barbour jacket has a wide storm-flap fly that fastens with five blue-finished snaps over a two-way brass-zipper with a circle pull. A substantial throat latch hangs under the left leaf of the wide collar, which closes over the neck by connecting to an exposed snap post on the right leaf should the wearer turn up his collar.
The full cut and raglan sleeves, left plain at the cuffs, offer Bond a substantial range of movement while navigating his boat. In addition to the wide-welted slash pockets, a large game pocket extends across the lower back with a vertical zip-entry on each side.
With his Barbour jacket now worn open, Bond meets his contact Paloma (Ana de Armas) in Santiago de Cuba, kicking off what the movie’s fans and detractors alike seem to agree would be a highlight of No Time to Die.
The “Graham” jacket has been discontinued (but still occasionally appearing on places like eBay), but—as of June 2022—the Barbour x Engineered Garments “Covert” jacket has generally adopted the same styling and can be purchased from Farfetch and MR PORTER.
You can learn more about the jacket from The Bond Experience, Iconic Alternatives, and James Bond Lifestyle.
The Gun
Dating back to many Ian Fleming novels and the first time Sean Connery introduced himself as “Bond, James Bond,” the Walther PPK had been well-established as 007’s duty weapon to the point that even many unfamiliar with firearms could identify this German-designed handgun as Bond’s preference. Originally chambered for the .32 ACP cartridge, the Daniel Craig characterization updated the compact pistol for a higher-caliber world by arming 007 with the slightly more powerful .380 ACP ammunition and the occasional modification of a PPK/S with a palm-print safety. Of course, once Bond is no longer in MI6’s service, he can no longer rely on the agency to equip him with firearms.
When Bond responds to a possible intruder in No Time to Die by arming himself with a Browning Hi-Power, we can assume that this is his personal pistol, perhaps having been stashed in a safe-house or privately purchased once MI6 demanded he hand in his latest Walther. “Bond is a man of heritage, of classics, and of familiarity,” explained my friend Caleb Daniels, who manages the Commando Bond website and Instagram. “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.”
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 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. With its double-stack magazine loaded with 9mm ammunition, the hardy Hi-Power would have been the perfect choice for his updated needs.
Caleb shared more about the specific Hi-Power that Bond wields on screen:
While we only see it for the briefest of instances, we can see that Bond’s pistol is interesting, as it is outfitted with a “commander”-style ring hammer and plastic grips which are typically found on MKIII Hi-Powers. This blending of old and new may just be a prop department accident, but I think it speaks well to Bond’s personal preferences. Ring hammers are popular on the Hi-Power platform as they prevent the dreaded hammer bit caused by the pistol’s short beavertail and aggressively sharp hammer. The newer production grips are a jet black polymer, and are detailed with a diamond stipple pattern and arched finger rests.
Bond, in his supreme confidence, carries this pistol inside the waistband at the appendix position (AIWB) without a holster or belt, for the briefest of moments, and then proceeds to lock it away in a concealed drawer prior to leaving his home to meet Felix Leiter. While I was disappointed to see Bond carry in such a way, it seems to have been just to briefly conceal the firearm, as he had not identified his mystery visitor as of yet, to provide an element of surprise if needed.
The curvature on the grips suggest the Mark III variant, which was introduced in 1988, though Bond’s Hi-Power could just be an older model modified with Mark III grips.
As its name implies, the Browning Hi-Power had been based on designs by firearms pioneer John Moses Browning in response to French military criteria, though Browning died in 1926, nearly a decade before the pistol was completed. It wasn’t until 1935 when his protégé Dieudonne Saive completed the design and Belgian firm Fabrique Nationale (FN) produced the first P-35 Grande Puissance, or “Hi-Power”, named after 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”.
Through its long lifespan, the Hi-Power had also undergone the cosmetic and functional updates one would expect of a nearly century-old design, including the Mark III variant introduced in 1988. Daniel Craig had previously handled another Browning Hi-Power as Bond when, in Casino Royale, he grabbed a Mark III from an embassy official’s desk in Madagascar.
Caleb concluded his points to me by remarking on the artistic parallels of this armament, pointing out that “Bond liberates the pistol in Casino Royale from the desk drawer of the embassy worker attempting to draw it on him, and, in No Time to Die, he returns it to a drawer that is filmed and styled suspiciously similarly. It’s such a small detail—the angle of the camera and the light on the gun as it rests in the drawer—but it feels right to see it at both the beginning and the end of the explosive and emotional tenure of Daniel Craig’s James Bond, 007.”
Read more about the firearms of No Time to Die at IMFDB.
The Vehicle
Although we know he keeps access to at least one Aston Martin stashed away overseas, Bond embraces the rugged nature of his off-the-grid lifestyle in a weathered blue 1977 Land Rover Series III, a canvas-roofed SUV designed for off-roading.
In addition to the aforementioned ’85 Aston Martin, the Land Rover could be considered an additional—if less obvious—vehicular flashback to The Living Daylights, in which Timothy Dalton’s James Bond clung to the canvas roof of an OD Landy full of assassins before sending it off the side of the Rock of Gibraltar.
Bond nimbly handles his open-topped vintage Land Rover as he powers into Port Antonio.
The Series III was the final and most-produced Land Rover generation, with more than 440,000 vehicles manufactured from 1971 to 1985, the last year for “series” Land Rovers as the brand continued more widely expanding its lineup. Two- and four-door models were produced on both 88″ (short wheelbase) and 109″ (long wheelbase) platforms, and Mr. Bond drives an SWB two-door model produced in 1977, right in the middle of the Series III run.
Among these dimensional options, each “series” Land Rover also offered both diesel and petrol engines, though I suspect Bond would have be driving the latter, generating 62 horsepower from its 2.25-liter Rover inline-four engine. Unlike his Aston Martins, Land Rovers weren’t intended to be high-performance vehicles, instead gaining a well-earned reputation for durability and longevity as the first mass-produced four-wheel-drive vehicles for civilian usage.
Bond drives his blue 1977 Land Rover Series III through Jamaica.
1977 Land Rover Series III (SWB)
Body Style: 2-door off-road vehicle
Layout: front-engine, four-wheel-drive (4WD)
Engine: 193.4 cu. in. (2.25 L) Rover OHV I4
Power: 70 hp (52 kW; 71 PS) @ 4000 RPM
Torque: 119 lb·ft (161 N·m) @ 1500 RPM
Transmission: 4-speed manual
Wheelbase: 88 inches (2235 mm)
Length: 142.4 inches (3617 mm)
Width: 66 inches (1676 mm)
Height: 77.5 inches (1968 mm)
Read more about this Land Rover at James Bond Lifestyle and IMCDB.
What to Imbibe
Skyfall established Heineken beer as Bond’s retirement beverage of choice, seen again in No Time to Die as he enjoys a round of the distinctive Dutch pale lager with Felix Leiter and Logan Ash… arguably enjoying the beer more than the latter’s sycophantic company.
The last time we saw Bond drinking Heineken, he was “enjoying death” in self-exile in Skyfall. One could argue he’d enjoy actual death more than a conversation with Logan Ash.
Either the prospect of returning to active service or Ash’s excessive grinning sends Bond back to hard liquor, so he sidles up to the bar and orders simply “Scotch,” though we don’t see what the bartender pours him.
Returning home with Nomi, he prepares a drink of Blackwell Black and Gold dark rum, neat. Presumably, he was also going to pour one for his new houseguest, but she had sauntered into the bedroom before he could even produce a second rocks glass for her. You can read more about this rum at James Bond Lifestyle, which quotes founder Chris Blackwell explaining that “James Bond has been a big part of my life, from my childhood lunches with Ian Fleming at GoldenEye to being a location scout on the first movie, Dr. No. It was a pleasure working alongside the No Time To Die production team in Jamaica providing our iconic rum for the set in James Bond’s house, which has made this very special relationship come full circle. This is a rum that celebrates Jamaica, my friendships, and also my family legacy.”
Bond reaches for the Blackwell rum, identifiable by the lowercase “b” on the label around the bottle’s neck.
How to Get the Look
Daniel Craig as James Bond during production of No Time to Die (2021)
James Bond illustrates how even a secret agent dresses both affordably and comfortably in retirement, remaining true to his character’s overall sartorial philosophy… if understandably less polished.
- Navy-blue unwashed waxed cotton waist-length jacket with large collar, snap-closed throat latch, storm flap with 5-snap/zip fly, raglan sleeves with plain cuffs, slash side pockets, and zip-entry back game pocket
- Barbour x Engineered Garments “Graham Jacket”
- Black lightweight silk twill long-sleeved shirt with convertible collar, breast pocket, 6-button plain front, 2-button mitred cuffs, and short side vents
- Tommy Bahama “Catalina Twill Shirt”
- Light gray cotton five-pocket jeans
- Tom Ford “Slim-Fit Selvedge Jeans”
- Brown full-grain nubuck leather two-eyelet moc-toe boat shoes
- Dark navy washed cotton canvas baseball cap
- Vuarnet Legend 06 brown nylon-framed sunglasses with Brownlynx mineral glass lenses
- 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. I also recommend watching David Zaritsky’s exclusive interview with Daniel Craig for The Bond Experience, discussing Bond style, No Time to Die, and more!
The Quote
You didn’t get the memo. I’m retired.
The post No Time to Die: Retired Bond’s Caribbean Casual Style appeared first on BAMF Style.