Ian Fleming is known as the man who brought James Bond to literary life, but is less well known for his strict schedule. In 1962 he told some Oxford University students that devoting four hours a day to writing was the only way he could guarantee to produce a first draft of a novel in six weeks.
And it was in that spirit that the British company Yard-O-Led incorporated a small watch into the cap of its new limited edition pen. “When we came to work with Ian Fleming’s estate, we thought this was a great opportunity for doing something a bit different,” said Giles English, the company’s co-director. “James Bond should be a little bit gadgety. That’s what James Bond’s about.”
The 11-millimeter dial on the pen’s cap displays just hours and minutes. Its timekeeping operation is powered by what the brand says is one of the smallest quartz watch movements on the market, made by the Swiss manufacturer ETA, and the crown has been replaced by a discreet electronic button.
The sterling silver pen is the first in a planned series of limited edition tributes to Fleming’s work. It is being offered in a gift set that includes a deck of playing cards; a copy of “Casino Royale,” Fleming’s first novel; and a bottle of red ink that Yard-O-Led said has the aroma of gun smoke. (The fountain pen set is 4,740 pounds [$5,882.83]; the rollerball set, £4,450 [$5,511.29]. Just 253 of each will be made.)
According to Diggory Laycock, a member of the Fleming family who sits on the executive committee of the author’s estate, most suggestions for Fleming-related products are rejected, including previous suggestions for pens. But this time, he said, the combination of tasteful craftsmanship, the whimsical addition of a clock and the connection to writing helped get the committee’s approval.
“We want to pick things that are suitable and well-made,” Mr. Laycock said, “and this is a perfect example. I think he would’ve been delighted by the idea of a clock in the cap. The pen was his weapon of choice, and I think he would have loved this.”
For Mr. English, who owns and operates Yard-O-Led with his brother Nick, the project was something of a return to familiar territory: They founded the British watch company Bremont in 2002 and ran it together until they left in 2023.
That same year they purchased Yard-O-Led, a historic pen and pencil manufacturer founded in 1822, for an undisclosed amount.
This project is their first at Yard-O-Led to incorporate a watch. And while the movement and hands were purchased from Swiss suppliers, Mr. English said he was adamant that Yard-O-Led would make its own dials.
“Clearly we knew how to get this stuff made, but we didn’t want to just go to Switzerland and get them to do the dials,” he said during an interview at the company’s only store, in the Piccadilly Arcade in London. “It’s 11 millimeters across and made from silver, so it has its challenges, but these guys, you chuck them a challenge and they get going.”
The guys in question are the 15 craftspeople who produce about 3,000 pens and pencils a year at Yard-O-Led’s factory in the historic Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England.
“You walk around the Jewellery Quarter and the skills on show are immense,” Mr. English said. “And I am loving the fact that we are doing so much of this in the U.K.”
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