YARD-O-LED unveils Ian Fleming Casino Royale pen

YARD-O-LED and the Ian Fleming Estate have revealed a limited edition luxury writing set celebrating Casino Royale, the first James Bond novel.

The most incredible feature of YARD-O-LED’s new masterpiece is the built-in timepiece, directly inspired by Fleming’s famously punctual approach to writing.

The pen is presented in a beautiful box containing an exclusive new collector’s edition of the Casino Royale book, a set of unique Ian Fleming playing cards and a leather pen case.

And in a subtle nod to 007, there’s also a bottle of blood red ink that releases a realistic smell of gun smoke as it flows onto the page.

This exclusive writing instrument is available starting September 26th, 2026 at YARD-O-LED.

This edition will be limited to 253 fountain pens and 253 roller ball models to reflect Casino Royale’s April 13, 1953 publication date.

Inspired by Fleming’s punctual approach to writing

Starting in 1952, Fleming wrote a book a year, resulting in 12 bestselling novels and two short story collections, created as part of a structured daily writing routine.

Fleming famously described his routine in great detail in a Playboy interview: “I write for about three hours in the morning - from 9.30 till 12.30 - and I do another hour’s work between 6 and 7 in the evening. At the end of this I reward myself by numbering the pages and putting them away in a spring-back folder. The whole of this four hours of daily work is devoted to writing narrative.”

What could be more appropriate for such a routine-orientated wordsmith, than an elegant silver writing instrument, with a built-in timepiece that he could have checked without his flow being interrupted?

Ian Fleming mainly used a typewriter - a gold one - a reward to himself for completing his first Bond novel.

However, the idea of a time-telling pen appealed to YARD-O-LED, and it appealed to the Ian Fleming Estate.

With Casino Royale as the logical starting point, the creative team looked back in the extensive YARD-O-LED archives and discovered a pencil pen from the 1920s that incorporated a miniature clock.

The idea was on its way. Swiss precision meets British craft. Only the finest instrument would do for a man of taste such as Ian Fleming.

Here the YARD-O-LED owners drew on their horological experience - as founders of Britain’s Bremont watch company - to collaborate with storied Swiss experts ETA SA, who have been producing fine calibres for the watch industry since 1793. The result is a pioneering fine quartz movement small enough to fit into the cap of a pen.

The story then heads back to Britain, to the YARD-O-LED workshop in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. Here their artisan craftsmen created the exquisite handmade 11mm diameter silver dial using traditional engine turning techniques, the sterling silver contrasting with blued steel hands for instant legibility.

To maintain each pen’s elegance, a traditional crown has been eschewed in favour of a specially developed lateral corrector - one of the smallest ever made - that advances the hands electronically.

Next it was on to the pen detailing.

Fleming-inspired finishing touches

Sterling silver was selected and the team manually engine-turned 72 pinstripes onto the hallmarked cap and barrel to honour Fleming’s sartorial pinstripe tailoring.

The sterling silver grip has been meticulously engraved with a set of jacks, spades, hearts and clubs symbols, referencing the theme of Casino Royale.

The base is finished with an inlaid gold Jamaican doctor bird, the symbol of Ian Fleming who described them as the “most beautiful bird in Jamaica, and some say the most beautiful bird in the world” in For Your Eyes Only.

An 18 carat white gold nib completes the design of the fountain pen model.

The packaging

Two years in the making, the unique YARD-O-LED x Ian Fleming writing instrument sits in a stylish red and black presentation box, with an exclusive limited edition novel, designed and printed in collaboration with Ian Fleming Publications, a bespoke black leather pen case, a pack of specially designed playing cards and bottle of blood red aromatic gun smoke ink.

Where to buy

Available now at YARD-O-LED, the set is priced at £4,750 for the fountain pen and £4,450 for the rollerball pen.

This is the first of a series of collaborations that will pay homage to Ian Fleming and the James Bond books.