The piece of memorabilia was bought for £25 and is expected to
fetch between £40,000 and £60,000 at auction. James Bond's geiger counter
wristwatch from hit movie Thunderball has turned up following years of mystery
about its whereabouts after it was found at a car boot sale.
The prop, one of the many gadgets used by 007 during his half-century
on-screen - was key to the plot of the film as it helped the secret agent
locate stolen atomic weapons during underwater scenes in the 1965 film. The Breitling watch was picked up for £25 but is now to be sold
by Christie's in London with an estimated price of up to £60,000.
The Top Time model by the luxury Swiss watch firm was the first
watch Bond movie-goers had seen being adapted by Q's team of boffins in the
film series. It is one of a number of items given to Bond by Q - played by
Desmond Llewelyn - when he heads over to Nassau to give him extra equipment.
One of the hands of the watch shows the strength of
radioactivity. Sean Connery, who plays the agent, uses it during the film's
famous aquatic scenes on a mission to find two Nato bombs stolen by Spectre.
The basic watch was originally made by Breitling in 1962, then
adapted by the James Bond art department, and was the only one produced for the
movie.
It is thought that someone who worked at Pinewood Studios, where
much of the movie was made, had passed it on.
The auction house, which will offer the watch at its South
Kensington saleroom in a Pop Culture sale on June 26, had little further detail
about the car boot sale.
Christie's said of the find: "This is a great opportunity
for collectors to acquire a unique piece of James Bond memorabilia."
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