Hollywood Watches Of Espionage - Part III

Archer’s Spy-Watch, John Travolta’s Sketchy Aerospace, A G-Shock in Speed, & The Kingsman Bremont

Despite the massive delta between the on-screen antics of fictional spies and real-life intelligence officers, the link between watches, espionage, and film is strong and only getting stronger. It is often difficult to differentiate between fiction influencing reality and vice versa, but watches often play a significant role in the intersection of spycraft and Hollywood. From James Bond to Bodhi in Point Break to Jack Ryan to Sacha Baron Cohen’s Oscar-worthy portrayal of General Aladeen in The Dictator, the watches worn in popular films inspire members of the W.O.E. community as much as they do the broader public.

We’ve explored watches in films before (read part one HERE and part two HERE), and  this is a topic that never gets old. In this Dispatch, we’ll share seven more examples of Hollywood Watches of Espionage, discussing the legitimacy or lack thereof in each watch selection. In watches and espionage, details matter.

Archer - Omicron Spymaster

We can’t vouch for all of the tradecraft displayed on Archer, the cartoon series showcasing fictional secret agent Sterling Malory Archer’s adventures working for the also fictional International Secret Intelligence Service, but he does wear an interesting watch. No doubt inspired by the Omega Seamaster used by James Bond since 1995’s GoldenEye, in Archer, the hard-drinking, womanizing secret agent trusts his life to the Omicron Spymaster, a gift from his mother, which offers not only basic timekeeping functions but also knockout gas, a garrote, and the occasional laser.

Archer’s watch is also sometimes shown with a bracelet. Maybe Archer is a watch guy with a few strap options?

Archer’s character is a comedic interpretation of how ridiculous “spies” in film and television have become over the years, so it’s only appropriate for the show to playfully poke at the role of wristwatches as “spy gadgets”. Given that Archer’s watch has also enjoyed several onscreen closeups, we can’t help but wonder if someone involved in the show is also a little bit of a watch nerd. If any capable microbrands are listening, we’d also love to see the Omicron Spymaster become a real thing. You’d be surprised how many real-life intelligence professionals enjoy an episode or two of Archer after a long day, and I think there could be a market. I know I’ll buy one.

Broken Arrow - Breitling Aerospace

In another example of a self-fulfilling prophecy, John Travolta wears a Breitling Aerospace in 1996’s Broken Arrow, a particularly important watch for the W.O.E. community. It’s also the model that set me on the watch-collecting path when King Abdullah of Jordan gifted me an Aerospace with a gold Royal Crown of Jordan on the dial. Getting back to the film, which was directed by 90s action movie legend John Woo, Travolta’s character is a double-crossing Air Force pilot and closeted terrorist who attempts to steal a pair of nuclear warheads he is carrying from Christian Slater’s character, the film’s hero. In at least one full-screen shot where the watch’s digital timer counts down to an explosion, we see Travolta’s two-tone titanium and gold Aerospace worn on a leather strap.

The Breitling Aerospace in Broken Arrow counts down to a big explosion.

Travolta is a known Breitling fan and official ambassador, but even so, the Aerospace is a perfect choice for his character in Broken Arrow, with the Aerospace having been among the top watches favored by military pilots of the era as well as today for its suite of digital timekeeping functions paired with a legible analog display. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Breitling made several custom unit watches for US pilot squadrons and was a leader in this space. Once again, we don’t make the rules.

Kingsman - Bremont ALT-1B

In 2014’s Kingsman: The Secret Service, virtually every character in the film wears a Bremont watch, with the brand also producing a limited edition trio of special edition versions of the ALT-1B chronograph. Despite looking like the world’s most obvious paid product placement, the brand’s cameos in the film allegedly came at the request of director Matthew Vaughn, who said:

“Kingsmen are first and foremost British, which made Bremont watches the perfect fit. Apart from making fantastic mechanical watches, Bremont has links to the military and their special forces around the world, making them the perfect timepieces for the modern spy.”

While we are generally not inspired by paid product placement, this really does make sense. It’s difficult to argue with Bremont’s rapid rise in the W.O.E. community, especially in Britain. Bremont’s Military and Special Projects Division has produced over 500 customized unit watches for various military and government organizations, including several UK Intelligence Services (Maybe all of them?).

In 2025, Bremont is admittedly in a tough spot after its 2023 investment from American billionaire Bill Ackman and the ensuing exit of the founders, Nick and Giles English. In the second installment of the Kingsman series, 2017’s Kingsman: The Golden Circle, the horological focus shifted (or was sold) to TAG Heuer.

A Working Man - Sangin Kinetic II

In the vast majority of cases, when a watch is featured in a major film, it is because a large, well-known watch brand paid for the honor, making it truly rare for a watch from a “microbrand” to get its fifteen minutes of fame. However, that’s exactly what happens in 2025’s A Working Man, in which Jason Statham’s character wears a Kinetic II from Sangin Instruments, a brand founded by a Marine Raider. In the film, Statham’s character is a former British Royal Marine, so going with a Sangin makes a ton of sense, but it’s still surprising to see.

The answer here is likely that the film’s director, David Ayer, is a watch nerd, but Sangin is still a deep cut despite having legions of fans among the military and law enforcement. That said, for a brand founded by a GWOT SpecOps veteran to get its moment in a major Hollywood motion picture without hundreds of thousands of dollars changing hands for product placement’s sake is a beautiful thing. Check out our profile of Sangin Instruments HERE.

Body of Lies - Breitling Emergency

Body of Lies is a 2008 CIA thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe in which Crowe’s character, Ed Hoffman, wears a Breitling Emergency. More than just an analog-digital watch, the Emergency contained an emergency position indicating radio beacon or EPIRB that can be deployed in case of an emergency, broadcasting a radio signal that can be picked up by aircraft to effect a rescue. For Crowe’s character, Chief of CIA's Near East Division, and DiCaprio’s character’s boss, the Emergency is a perfect fit for someone who would have undoubtedly had a great deal of field experience.

We’ve spoken at length about the Emergency when discussing the custom unit version produced by Breitling for Blackwater, the notorious private military contractor. While the characters in Body of Lies are on the Agency side as opposed to the private sector, suffice it to say that for practitioners within SpecOps and Intelligence of the era, the Emergency was a trusted option with a potentially life-saving party trick.

Of note, the film is based on an incredible book by the same name, written by Washington insider David Ignatius.

Speed - G-Shock DW-5600C-1V

Another 1990s classic is the cinematic masterpiece that is Speed. While I might be dating myself here, this was the first R-rated movie I saw in the theater. Long before Keanu Reeves became the Hollywood good guy who bought Rolex Submariners for his entire John Wick stunt team, the actor had one of his biggest early roles in 1994’s Speed, the unlikely tale of a city bus rigged to explode if it drops under 50 MPH. Throughout the film, Reeves, who portrayed an LAPD SWAT officer, wears a G-Shock DW-5600C-1V, a nail-on-the-head pick for a police officer during the era.

There’s nothing like a full-screen wrist shot.

As we discussed in our history of the Casio G-Shock, unveiled in 1983, G-Shock presented an incredibly durable and inexpensive digital option that quickly found favor among law enforcement and the military, in many ways signaling the beginning of the end for analog watches in military circulation.

The descendant of the watch worn by Reeves in Speed, the DW5600-1V, is one of four G-Shocks to have earned an NSN or NATO Stock Number, making the watches readily available for purchase by and issue to military units. Now and then, Hollywood nails it, and Reeves’s G-Shock in Speed is a great example of getting a character’s watch exactly right.

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As always, if you have other Hollywood Watches of Espionage you’d like us to mention in a future edition of this series, be sure to share them with us in the comments.

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Read Next: Hollywood Watches of Espionage, Part II