Here’s a particularly niche post. Having recently gone a few years deep into the watch collecting rabbit hole, my eyes have developed the somewhat unhealthy ability to pick out interesting watches on-screen and transmit the information directly to my wallet.
My father and I always watch a Jon Pertwee Doctor Who story at Christmas because we both used to watch them as kids (we watched them together when I was young, but we watched them as kids independently), and when watching “The Mutants” this year, my mind (now apparently cursed with insight) picked out Jon’s wristwatch.
I decided to trawl through his other stories for better pictures, but unfortunately Jon’s frilly cuffs in the role make him a watch-spotters nightmare. There are a few scenes where we get some decent views of his wrist-wear though, and the dual crowns and relatively large size for the time make this particular watch stand out.
It seems Jon wore three watches in the role.
Most fans will recall this shot of his watch from his first story “Spearhead From Space”, as it’s actually plot relevant when he uses it to home in on the Tardis. I’ve seen this watch identified elsewhere as a Cimier Sport Chronograph, which looks like a positive match, although I’ve also seen extremely similar designs with different brand names. Jon would go on to wear this watch throughout most of his first season as the Doctor, and even though much of the available footage of this season is a little on the blurry side of clear, the two large white subdials make it easy to identify.
The Silurians
Ambassadors Of Death
However, Inferno introduces a new watch – what looks like a contemporary Diver’s watch.
Inferno
I’ve seen this watch identified elsewhere as a Globa dive watch, which could well be a match. Though I’ve again seen very similar designs under multiple brand names. The image below was from an Instagram post directly identifying Jon’s watches, and I cannot remember who was making the case for this model to find out more information about how the identification was made.
This watch seems to have become Jon’s favourite watch throughout most of the following season, though I found it almost impossible to get any usable screen grabs.
Terror Of The Autons
Colony In Space
Day Of The Daleks
Jon’s third Season opens with the Globa again in “Day Of The Daleks”, but the publicity stills for it’s promotion were shot at a different time, and in them he wears the outfit which debuts in the second story “The Curse of Peladon”, including a new watch – the subject of my initial interest.
This watch is Jon’s own Sicura 400 dual crown diving watch, seen below on his wrist outside of work hours. You may just detect that the dial is in grey sunburst. The model was offered with either a black or white chapter ring, and Jon’s is white. Below you will find a model I found on Ebay shortly afterward which matches all of Jon’s specs as far as I could tell given the detail available to us .
This would be the watch Jon wore for the remainder of his time in the role, with one or two exceptions where he reverts to the Globa (as in “Carnival Of Monsters” below). He changes the strap a few times, eventually settling on a steel Beads Of Rice bracelet as he wears in the image above, and as he also wore on the Globa. Still images are difficult to find for some of these episodes because of those damn frills, but the two crowns are a dead giveaway and they often stick out from beneath. In “The Monster Of Peladon”, the studio lights even catch the dial and reveal the grey sunburst.
The Sea Devils
The Mutants
The Three Doctors
Carnival Of Monsters
The Time Warrior
Invasion Of The Dinosaurs
Death To The Daleks
Monster Of Peladon
Planet Of The Spiders
As a coda, wouldn’t it be nice if Jon just once wore the watch with regular cuffs? Was he always so on-watch against the pastime of watch-watching? Happily the special features on the Doctor Who Blu Ray releases reveal he was not. In 1973 he appeared on Blue Peter to show off his new car, and what else should we find on his wrist, finally unfettered by the clothy prison of frilly cuffs, but his Sicura 400.
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