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Bennett Winch SC Holdall

Binocular Glasses

Timothy Dalton as James Bond uses a pair of Binocular Glasses in The Living Daylights
Timothy Dalton as James Bond uses a pair of Binocular Glasses in The Living Daylights
photo © Danjaq LLC, MGM, United Artists
photo © Danjaq LLC, MGM, United Artists
Closer look at the binocular glasses in The Living Daylights
photo © Danjaq LLC, MGM, United Artists

photo © MaxiAids
A very similar pair of binocular glasses.
photo © MaxiAids

photo © Bond Lifestyle
The pair I ordered from MaxiAids is slightly different from their product image (see above), but still similar to Bond's pair with the white and red stripes on the lenses.
photo © Bond Lifestyle

photo © Bond Lifestyle
The back of the glasses that I ordered at MaxiAids read SPORTIERE 2.5X COATED
photo © Bond Lifestyle

In The Living Daylights (1987), James Bond uses a pair of Binocular Glasses to get a closer look at General Pushkin.

Mid-way through the film, James Bond is in Tangier, Morocco. He pretends to be a 'trade conference' journalist, when he follows General Pushkin in an Audi 200 Quattro. He parks the car in front of Gran Cafe de Paris when he sees that General Pushkins black Mercedes Limousine arrives at Hotel Île de France. He takes out the pair of binoculars with arms like eyeglasses.

Can you still get these glasses?
This type of binocular spectacles is still available, in different focus ranges, although they are all not exactly the same as the movie ones. James Bond's pair has a black frame, black eyeglass-style arms, white and red stripes on the lenses and black nosepads.

A very similar pair, with the same white and red focus lines on the lenses, is for example the Reizen Inc. / MaxiAids 25 Sportiere Glasses MA-30006, available for $39.99 at MaxiAids. Note that the product picture on the MaxiAids website is different from the actual pair they sell - I purchased a pair and it has a slightly different bridge, and the 'bare metal' fronts of the lenses are black on my model, compared to the bare metal on the product image on their website. See images on the left to compare. You can actually take apart the lenses and sand the edges to make it more similar to the movie (I'll post a picture of the lenses after I do it).

Other similar products are the Grand Optik 2.5x Spectacles GO-227C (approx. $90 at for example RehabMart), but also here I'm not sure if the product images on their website will correspond with the actual pairs they sell.

More models can be found on eBay, also vintage ones, so you can look there for the most similar pair as well.

These type of binocular glasses are used for similar reasons as the Tasco Opera Glasses, to see more of a performance, but also as a visual aid during for example watching tv.

The exterior of Hotel Île de France was filmed at the French consulate in Tangier. The French consulate still resides in this same building today, just across the road from the Gran Cafe de Paris, which also still exists on Place de France.

Bond also uses other binoculars in the film: Tasco Opera Glasses during the symphony concert in Bratislava, read more about those glasses here.

Product Code: 
ga091

Summer Essentials 2024

Comments

I have acquired what I believe to be an identical pair of glasses that are used in the movie. I have compared them to the screenshots from the movie and am confident they are the same ones. The branding on the pair I have got says 'Carton' which has a line going over the top of the word Carton. Doing a web search I have found there is a different version of the same brand but these have a different looking brand name 'Carton' (no line over the word) , the mounting joints for the nosepads are different and the frame's arms are slightly thicker towards the end of the arm. Therefore i believe there is a version 1 and a version 2 and the movie uses version 1 which is what I have :)

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