Collecting 007: Teeritz

Teeritz talks Bond watches and books.

5513-1

When and how did you first get bitten by the Bond bug?

Summer of ’74 or ’75, when my Dad took my brother and I to a Bond double-bill at a nearby cinema showing Live And Let Die and The Man With The Golden Gun. Became a Bond fan on that day. Live And Let Die had a particular effect on me. It was something to do with that Rolex Submariner watch of his, and how it got him out of a few jams throughout the film. Even back then, as an impressionable kid, I decided that I would have a watch like James Bond’s one day. Took me just on forty years, but I got there.

What’s your favourite item in your collection and why?

Univex

My Bond collection is both varied and haphazard. I can’t say I have a complete set of anything, to be honest. The Pan paperbacks are missing a few of the Raymond Hawkey-designed covers, and while I have a few of the original one-sheets for some of the Moore Bonds – which I snagged from the theatrical distributors back in the early ’80s – I definitely don’t have posters to all of the films (wouldn’t have the wall-space for them anyway!). Favourite item? That’s tricky. I seem to have wound up with three different die-cast models of the Aston Martin DB5. They are currently parked on the bookshelf that holds all of my Bond books. The more I think about it, though, the less I can come up with one favourite item. If pressed, I might say the 1981 hardback reprint of From Russia With Love, which I later found out has a facsimile printing of the original dust jacket. The eBay seller whom I bought it from DID, in fact, mention that the dust jacket was a reprint, but he conveniently buried this information in his long and wordy listing. The bastard.

But anyway, If I had to choose, I’d say this copy of FRWL, only for the fact that the cover painting by Richard Chopping is so representative to me of Bond and his world of sex and violence.

What item would you most like to add?

A genuine dust-jacketed copy of a From Russia With Love hardback edition!

What’s your biggest obstacle to collecting, or is there a tip you’d like to share?

Sun-15th

The prices of Bond-related memorabilia has climbed since the internet came along. That plus the fact that I don’t think I have room for any more stuff. These days, I’m happy with the posters that I have (reprints of the Connery films, originals of the Daniel Craigs, thanks to eBay), and I think I have at least three or four copies of every Fleming title in paperback.

Any tips? Not really, but it’s always a good idea to scour second-hand bookstores for vintage paperbacks. I’m not telling you all anything that you don’t already know.

Anything else?

P6260867

No, not really. Actually, after a lifetime of watching Bond closely, both on-screen and in print, there’s sometimes a tendency to try to copy him in terms of what he wears, what he drinks, etc. Back in 2005, I got an Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean wristwatch. This was the 42mm model, not the larger 45.5mm model that Daniel Craig wears in the early scenes of Casino Royale.

I recalled thinking at the time that this size was the one that they should have put on DC’s wrist back inCasino Royale, instead of the larger model. Fast-forward to Quantum of Solace in 2008, and there’s Bond, wearing the 42mm Omega Planet Ocean watch. For once, Bond copied me! Finally!

I know. I really ought to grow up.

I used to run a bookstore that specialised in film scripts and screenwriting software and managed to snag a few of the Brosnan-era screenplays, as well as an early draft of Thunderball.

Collecting Bond stuff can be a bit of a slippery slope. Start with one item and it eventually leads to another and another and so forth. Still, I suppose there are worse ways to spend one’s money.

Where can people find you?

Over on my blog, www.teeritz.blogspot.com.au, which is mainly about my interest in wristwatches, as well as other stuff like typewriters, movies, Bond (read my fan-fictions!) and any other stuff that pollutes my mind at any given moment.

Thanks for the invite to this questionnaire!

David Leigh founded The James Bond Dossier in 2002. A fan of 007 since the age of 8, he is also author of The Complete Guide to the Drinks of James Bond. You can order a copy here if you don't own it already.

Free monthly newsletter

Get the latest on Bond 26 and other James Bond news by email.


No thanks, I'm not interested in news about 007

Share this article

Like this article? Join our free 007 newsletter and get the latest on Bond 26 and other James Bond news by email.