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Bennett Winch SC Holdall

Seiko TV Watch

Bond uses the Seiko TV watch in Q's lab. The real Seiko TV watch didn't have a color screen
Bond uses the Seiko TV watch in Q's lab. The real Seiko TV watch didn't have a color screen
photo © Danjaq LLC, MGM, United Artists
photo © Seiko
Seiko TV Watch
photo © Seiko

photo © Danjaq LLC, MGM, United Artists
Bond uses the Seiko TV watch during the attack on Kamal's palace.
photo © Danjaq LLC, MGM, United Artists

Note how the movie watch (pictured in screenshots above) is different from these two 'real' Seiko TV models

photo © Seiko
This is how the Seiko TV watch looks with the tuner (the walkman-like box) and headphones.
photo © Seiko

In the movie Octopussy (1983), James Bond (Roger Moore) uses the now famous Seiko TV watch, the first watch with a built in TV screen.

When in India, James Bond notices the Seiko TV watch in Q's lab, just after he tested the tracking device on his Seiko G757 Sports watch.

007: What's that?
Q: Oh, that's the latest Liquid Crystal TV.

Bond continues to zoom in on the bosom of one of the women working at the lab. "Perfect image, Q". The watch gets a close up in Q's lab, but the top and bottom of the case are just not visible.

The watch is used in the last scene of the film, when Bond and Octopussy attack Kamal's Palace. Bond and Q arrive in a hot air balloon with Bond wearing the Seiko TV watch on his wrist. The watch receives footage from cameras mounted on the hot air balloon which Q controls, allowing Bond to see what's going on during the attack.

In the closing credits, "Seiko Time (UK) Ltd." is mentioned as one of the partners.

About the Seiko TV watch
The Seiko TV watch consists of a 1.2-inch liquid crystal display screen set in a standard digital watch. The watch was sold in 1982 in Japan for 108,000 Yen (approx $425 at the time) and in September 1983 in the United States for a suggested price of $495. The tiny TV can receive all UHF and VHF channels via an external receiver, which connects to the watch via a cable and connector.

Model Numbers: the first Japanese model number was DXA001, followed by the DXA002 (sligthly different case design and earphone), and in the USA the models were the T001-5000 (silver packaging and receiver pouch) and then the T001-5019 (gold packaging and pouch).

The Seiko TV watch comes with the receiver (a large black box, similar to a pocket radio) that attached via wire and connector to the watch, and a separate headset. To find a complete set is quite difficult but you can still find Seiko TV watches on eBay but they are getting more and more expensive, just like many of the other Bond Seiko watches.

The Seiko TV watch in the film is actually slightly different from the Seiko TV watches that were sold, so it's impossible to get the exact same model. The watch from the movie might have been a prototype: the case shape is different; the text under the digital screen is different; the way the SEIKO logo is debossed at the bottom is different and the connector for the tuner is also different.

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Trivia
Tom Hanks used a Seiko TV watch in the 1987 movie Dragnet.

The Seiko TV Watch was mentioned as the "smallest TV set in the world" in the 1984 Guinness Book of Records.

Product Code: 
ga095

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Comments

This watch is ok

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