Unique on-screen watches

Roger Moore as James Bond wears a Hamilton Pulsar P2 2900 in Live and Let Die. When it launched in 1972, it retailed for $2,100. One of the first LED watches ever made, pressing a button to read the time was a genuine luxury. It appears early in the film and does not last long on screen. Hard to compete when the same film gives Bond a Rolex Submariner with a built-in saw blade and a powerful electromagnet. The Pulsar received ticker-tape messages. The Rolex cut through rope and deflected bullets. There was never much of a contest.

Cliff Booth wears a Citizen Bullhead 8110 in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. Brad Pitt plays Booth as a stuntman permanently living in a version of LA that's already fading. Stainless steel case, automatic chronograph, pushers at the top of the case giving it the bull look. A vintage design that fits a man permanently stuck in another era.

Trudy Chacón wears a G-Shock G-056B-8 in Avatar. Michelle Rodriguez plays her as a no-nonsense pilot who doesn't need much to get the job done. Angular resin case, digital display, no special complications, but one of the more distinct G-Shock designs. An underrated model most people have never seen before.

Frank Costello wears a Nike D-Line WC0008-046 in The Departed. Jack Nicholson plays the South Boston crime boss who operates in plain sight. Stainless steel case, quartz movement, neon green digital display. Nike made watches for about five minutes. Martin Scorsese put one on the most terrifying man in the film.

Donnie Darko wears a Casio CGW-50. Jake Gyllenhaal plays the title character in a film built around time, consequence, and things that don't quite add up. Resin case, digital display, Cosmo Phase function tracking all nine planets across a 300-year window. Pluto included. For a film built around time travel, it's the right watch on the right wrist.

Dade Murphy wears a Casio ATC-1200 in Hackers. Jonny Lee Miller plays Zero Cool, the kid who crashed 1,507 systems in a single day and is itching to do it again. Altimeter, barometer, thermometer, compass, yellow BEARING button on the side. Built for the outdoors. On a teenage hacker in 1995 New York, it reads as a different kind of tool for a different kind of terrain.

Brad Colbert wears a Casio CMD-40 in Generation Kill. Alexander Skarsgård plays the Marine Recon sergeant known as Iceman, composed in situations that would break most people. The CMD-40 is primarily a remote-control watch capable of operating televisions and other IR devices, but it also carries a full eight-digit calculator. Two watches in one, neither of them ornamental. On the most methodical character in the series, a watch that controls its environment from a distance is not an accident.

Tony Montana wears a Concord Delirium Mariner in Scarface. Al Pacino plays the Cuban immigrant who claws his way to the top of Miami's drug trade. 18K yellow gold case, black dial, integrated rigid bracelet, 1.98mm thin. One of the thinnest watches ever made when Concord released the Delirium series in 1979. Commonly misidentified online as an Omega La Magique, which only adds to its obscurity. Loud money dressed as quiet money, on a man who never quite knew the difference.

Mark Watney wears a Hamilton BelowZero in The Martian. Matt Damon plays the astronaut stranded alone on Mars, keeping himself alive on improvisation and optimism. Stainless steel case, automatic movement, 1000m water resistance. Built for the deep sea, worn on Mars. It survived conditions it was never designed for, which is exactly the point of the character.