If you haven’t figured out that Man of Many is a huge fan of the Kingsman franchise by now then you should probably read our other posts here, here, here and here, or read our exclusive interview with lead actor Taron Egerton here. Having just laughed our way through the second instalment Kingsman: The Golden Circle, we thought we’d give you guys a run down of one of our favourite characters, the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45, even if it did go uncredited.
The film sees the return of an all-star cast including Egerton, Colin Firth and Mark Strong, with the addition of an American contingent named Statesman, which comprises Channing Tatum, Pedro Pascal, Halle Berry and Jeff Bridges – the two agencies predictably combine forces to beat the baddie (Julianne Moore) and save the world etc, etc, etc. Oh, and Elton John stars as himself in a sub-plot that can only be described as hysterically funny.
The Vintage BR 126 Aéronavale comes in the round 43 mm polished steel situation typical of older watches. The gold-plated hands indicate the hours and minutes, and also the chapter ring with its applied gilt baton indices and Arabic numerals stands out clearly against the sunray-finished ultramarine blue dial. The tag heuer carrera juan manuel fangio limited edition is functional as well as elegant, with a small seconds counter at 3 o’clock and chronograph minutes at 9 o’clock, azuré guillochage detailing, and a graduated 60-minute bezel in blue anodised aluminium. Bell & Ross plays the vintage card wisely, protecting the chronograph’s dial with a deep domed sapphire glass recalling the Plexiglas crystals of yesteryear. The sapphire caseback on the Vintage BR 126 reveals an ultra-reliable self-winding mechanical movement manufactured in Switzerland, with a 42-hour power reserve. The watch comes with a polished steel bracelet.
The release of the first film saw the franchise team up with Mr Porter to deliver the outfits from the silver screen to the masses of fans who wanted to replicate the Kingsman style, with attention to detail being the crowning feature of the collection. When the second film rolled around, one major change was made to Eggsy (Egerton) and Harry Hart (Firth)’s outfits however, that’s impossible to miss when watching, and while we already introduced it here a while back, it’s worth re-visiting given its significance to the film.
Though Bremont were enlisted to create limited edition chronometers for the first instalment, the introduction and rising popularity of high-end smartwatches since 2014 meant an opportunity for director Matthew Vaughn to deck his cast out in something completely different, ushering in a new reality for the universal boyhood fantasy that is wearing a real-life spy watch. The Bremont creations from Kingsman: The Secret Service were stunning and elegant: perfectly suited to the gentlemanly garb that adorned the cast, but Kingsman: The Golden Circle is packed with more action and more gadgetry (yes, it’s possible), so the TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 selected by Vaughn was a logical choice.
TAG came to the party with gusto, providing a special edition of their popular smartwatch, which is featured heavily throughout the film and in many cases is the hero of the hour, literally giving Eggsy and his band of merry super-spies more than just a few tricks up their sleeve. The Kingsman X TAG Heuer Connected Modular 45 is in just about every scene, in fact, and though the special edition currently available on Mr Porter might not have all of the capabilities of the moderately fictonalised version on screen, its robustness and versatility still makes it an obvious choice for a Kingsman – despite the technology inside the casing and the AMOLED display, TAG Heuer have still managed to make it waterproof to 50M. The Kingsman edition is finished in black ceramic, with a brown calf leather strap and rose gold lugs (keeping in the style of the Bremont from film number one), though there’s also an orange rubber alcantara strap in the box which can easily be swapped out for the leather.
As the story unfolds, Eggsy uses his TAG to hack past biometric scanners, taser his enemies, track a target via GPS, override an assailant’s bionic arm and blind an adversary. The only part of that we’ve figured out how to use is the flashlight, though we wouldn’t call it blinding. It’s not often you see a film where a product that features this heavily is so cleverly used as an integral feature to the plot line, so much so that we think it’s the unsung hero, and deserves its own line in the credits.
You can call it product placement all you like, but this is genuinely one of the best real-life gadgets we’ve ever seen. It also comes with a range of custom dials exclusive to Kingsman, and perhaps the coolest feature: the watch comes to life at 10:10, as the hands form the shape of a K, and displays the Kingsman logo – a well-placed little trick. It might not get a spot on the Hollywood walk of fame any time soon, but it definitely gets a spot on our wrist.
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