James Bond is introduced to the audience in the first Bond film Dr. No via a wrist adorned with cufflinks. Cufflinks are not a significant part of Sean Connery’s Bond wardrobe—he almost always wears shirts with cocktail cuffs rather than double cuffs. Out of Connery’s six EON Productions Bond films, the character only wears cufflinks in three films. He doesn’t wear cufflinks in Never Say Never Again either. He only wears his cufflinks in Dr. No and Diamonds Are Forever with dinner jackets, and he wears them with all tailored outfits in Goldfinger, from dinner jackets to suits to a hacking jacket. Connery also wears cufflinks with his dinner jacket in From Russia with Love, but as a man wearing a James Bond mask rather than Bond himself.
Cufflinks dress a shirt up more than button cuffs. In fact, they dress up an entire outfit. Sean Connery’s Bond primarily wears them with black tie, which is always an appropriate setting for them. His evening shirts always have a button placket on the front, so he’s free to wear any cufflinks he chooses without having to worry about coordinating them with studs. Cufflinks are appropriate with most suits, especially when dressing them up for the evening.
With sports coats and blazers, appropriately wearing cufflinks depends on context. Goldfinger is the only time Bond wears cufflinks with any sort of odd jacket—a brown barleycorn tweed hacking jacket. The sporty odd jacket more naturally pairs with utilitarian button cuffs, but since Bond wears his tweed jacket for driving rather than horseback riding, the cufflinks add a stylish and dandy touch to his outfit that’s not out of place.
Connery’s Bond always chooses gold for his cufflinks, though there is not likely to be any reason for this. Though there was once a rule that gold was for daytime and white metals were for evening, that rule was outdated by the 1960s. It looks most harmonious when one matches their cufflinks to their watch, but it isn’t a rule that needs to be followed. In most cases, Connery wears a gold dress watch when he wears his gold cufflinks. The only exception is when he wears a stainless steel Rolex Submariner with his ivory dinner jacket and gold cufflinks in Goldfinger.
Connery’s Cufflinks
Dr. No
With his dinner jacket in Dr. No, he wears rose gold cufflinks in a square cushion shape—a square with parabolically rounded corners—in the squared double cuffs of his white voile dress shirt from Turnbull & Asser. Turnbull & Asser, like many English shirtmakers, place the link holes of their double cuffs close to the cuff’s fold to better show off the cufflinks. These cufflinks have engine-turned stripes (possibly three stripes) on the face for interest and they use either a chain link or a post with a folding whale back to connect the front to a long rose gold torpedo-shaped bar. These cufflinks are an unobtrusive style that pair well with this large variety of outfits, but they also have a subtle and sophisticated elegance that perfectly suits the character.
In the 21st century, Anthony Sinclair collaborated with Deakin & Francis to replicate these cufflinks. Read more about them.
From Russia with Love
As the man in the James Bond mask in the From Russia with Love pre-titles sequence, Connery wears another pair of cufflinks. Though he’s not playing 007 while wearing these cufflinks in the film, he wears the same outfit and the same cufflinks in character for promotional photography surrounding the film. The gold cufflinks in these photos are small, elegant and round with an engraved ‘B’ for Bond, and these are likely the same round cufflinks that he wears in the film. They are worn in the double cuffs of a white dress shirt, possibly from Lanvin, a brand that director Terence Young says made some of Sean Connery’s shirts for the Bond films.
Goldfinger
Connery wears the rose gold cufflinks from Dr. No again with all of his suits and his hacking jacket in Goldfinger in the rounded double cuffs of his subtly striped shirts from Frank Foster. The link holes are closer to the fold than the centre of the cuff, but they’re not as close to the fold as on Turnbull & Asser’s shirts.
With the barleycorn tweed hacking jacket Connery wears the skinner torpedo end facing out, possibly by mistake. However, it’s more likely a purposeful decision to downplay the cufflinks with a sporty outfit by showing the cufflinks’ more subtle end. This also pretends the cufflinks are a different pair to show more variety in the film.
While Goldfinger had a high budget, the wardrobe saved money where it could, most notably by reusing most of Connery’s suits and jackets from his previous 1964 film Woman of Straw. Connery’s iconic cufflinks in Goldfinger were not only reused from Dr. No, but they were also worn by another character in Goldfinger. Colonel Smithers, played by Richard Vernon, metaphorically borrows Bond’s cufflinks for the scene when they have dinner, since Bond wears different cufflinks in that scene. Because the cufflinks are so understated, they could be worn by another character without drawing too much attention, while this also proves how these cufflinks can work universally for anyone with any outfit.
Connery wears a different pair of cufflinks with his ivory and black dinner jackets in Goldfinger. In the mitred double cuffs of his white-on-white-striped dress shirt from Frank Foster he wears a larger round gold cufflink in a mid-century style, possibly with a flat disc face or concave domed face. They likely have a folding whale back. The round front nicely complements the cuff’s severely mitred shape, while the cushion-shaped links would compete with this cuff. These cufflinks have a simple modern look that suits Bond for the time, but they are nothing special.
Diamonds Are Forever
With his ivory dinner jacket in Diamonds Are Forever, Connery wears large oval cufflinks with domed black onyx stones set in a gold case. Again he wears a shirt from Turnbull & Asser with squared double cuffs, and like in Goldfinger the dress shirt in in a white-on-white stripe. Onyx cufflinks are traditional for black tie but usually come as part of a matching stud set. These cufflinks are too large and clunky, following the wider lapels, pocket flaps and bowties that were trendy for 1971. The wide lapels and bow ties have a luxurious look while the oversized cufflinks look inelegant and cheap. They likely have a whale or toggle back.
Connery wears a different and improved pair of cufflinks with his black dinner suit in Diamonds Are Forever. In the same dress pleated shirt that he wore with the ivory dinner jacket, he wears a round gold disc cufflink with an engraved motif that appears to be a starburst. Starburst cufflinks often have a small diamond in the centre, and while that would have been on theme for the film, these cufflinks do not have a diamond. They likely have a whale or toggle back due to how tightly they fit in the cuff.
A point worth noting is that wearing a double cuffed shirt with an odd jacket is sort of the British equivalent of an American wearing an oxford button down collar shirt with a lounge suit. Purists may call it wrong but it’s quite a common look, especially among military people. So Connery’s double cuffed shirt with the hacking jacket is culturally coherent, even if I personally would have chosen a tattersall shirt if I was putting that outfit together.
I self imposed a rule based only on a gut feeling that I would wear button cuff shirts with odd jackets and double cuff shirts and cufflinks with suits. I have no idea if I’m following any precedent or established convention but it works for me in terms of coherent formality. I don’t get suited up that often these days so the added detail of dusting off the cufflinks just keeps with the sense of occasion.
It’s a pretty good rule of thumb. Sometimes if I want to dress up a sport coat a little or just stand out a little more, I’ll wear double cuffs with it, but 95% of the time I’ll wear button cuffs. Suits, I’m about 50/50, but leaning slightly towards double cuffs.
Insightful comment! Thanks
I like the last pair. The shape is kind of special, it looks halfway round, halfway hexagonal.
If I was to be a wardrobe advisor for Bond, call me crazy, but I’d have him worn mother of pearl cufflinks almost 80% of the time, if it comes to French cuffs and informal/business casual settings. I like French cuffs, for sure, but luxurious cufflinks seem out of place for most of those endeavours, especially in the settings of Goldfinger.
Mother of pearl cufflinks are most associated with evening wear, so I think the gold cufflinks make more sense.
I don’t know, Matt, but something about wearing gold with a country outfit or simply a lounge suit is not quite there, given gold’s value and luxurious status. Something like a shirt gauntlet sized MOP cufflinks, either in light smoked or even neutral off-white tone, makes more sense.
Travers, you mentioned gold’s value and luxurious status, but there are gold plated cufflinks and solid gold ones. Not being an expert I don’t know for certain which kind Connery actually wore onscreen but the simpler gold plated kind makes more sense to me. Brosnan’s and Craig’s cufflinks, in general, were often gold/silver plated or palladium as well. They were expensive (usually 200-300€), quality cufflinks but not astonishingly expensive ones, Skyfall being an exception. A Bond wearing thousands of dollars worth of cufflinks is out of character in my opinion.
Also, regarding Goldfinger, the gold color pairs perfectly with country clothing, much better than silver.
Having a small, relatively discreet, light and portable gold reserve in the form of 18 or 24 carat solid gold cufflinks is not a bad idea for a secret field agent. More subtle than pirate earrings …
I don’t think 24K gold would hold up well through what Bond goes through. 18K gold cufflinks could help Bond in an emergency but aren’t worth anywhere close to the 50 gold sovereigns in his attache case. Of course, it’s much easier for the case to be stolen than his cufflinks.
Yes, and the same idea of a field agent’s “gold reserve” goes for an expensive watch, like the Rolex Submariner. In an emergency, it could easily be sold for some cash in most parts of the world. It is an ideal choice as it is also very sturdy, waterproof and could even be used as a knuckle-duster, if need be.
I never realized until now how much money the government gave their agents thanks to their « standard kit » briefcase ! No wonder Grant got greedy !
If we were to think that way, I’d say his Rolex does a better job, though it’s full of government secrets London probably wouldn’t want falling into OPFOR hands. Then again, the SEALs did it.
In so many of the photos, we see that his cuffs are cut correctly…they’re the right diameter (?). So many ready-made shirts come with enormous cuffs…even a 15 x 32 shirt – which is clearly not going to be for someone with large wrists – will come with cuffs that could fit an elephant. Whereas Bond’s cuffs are much closer to his actual wrist. At the same time, I also wonder if there are historical trends at play…the handful of bespoke shirts I’ve seen tend to have larger (by that I mean larger circumference) cuffs than what’s in these 1960s photos or what I’ve observed being worn by men over the age of 70. Just wondering if there’s some steady evolution / style shift at play.
We went from bespoke being the template for ready to wear, to ready to wear being the inspiration for bespoke, that’s one of it. Size-wise, most people of today prefer comfort off the rack and counter, rather than proper fit, which becomes comfortable after something like a day of wear, but not something they’d think about.
Great read Matt. I’ve been waiting for this review for a long time. Can we expect a continuation of this review with Lazenby, Moore and the other actors? Lazenby wears double cuffs with the light blue suit at the end of the film, and there are a few production stills of the scene, but I’ve never been able to identify his cufflinks.
Another question: do you think any type of cufflinks can be worn with any double cuff? I’m thinking the chain variety here, with double oval sides, and if those need more room to pass through the holes than the ordinary toggle one. I’m not sure how shirtmakers deal with this.
Yes, I’ll be doing this for all the actors.
I’ve never had an issue with any chain-type cufflinks. They are usually smaller than other cufflinks so they can pass through, or the back end will be smaller than the front end so it can pass through the hole. Sometimes I have to choose cufflinks based on how the cuff fits. A tight double cuff will need the chain links because they provide more room in the cuff, while a whale back is useful for looser cuffs that need a tighter fit.
You explained it a lot better than I would have. I own a couple pairs of cuff links from Kent Wang, from before and after they changed their double sided ones away from having a chain. He told me this was done to make it easier for people to put on their cuff links, and I definitely agree. The downside is they’re rigid and not flexible if you were, say, wearing a watch or bracelet underneath the cuff.
I was aways wondering about the cuff links that 007 wore and they were always overshadowed by the wearing of cocktail cuffs as the article rightly points out.. Thanks so much for these observations. I am also wondering about the wearing of double sided cuff links. In North by Northwest Cary Grant wears double sided cufflinks in the train scene with Eva Marie Saint. Clearly visible when he holds her face with both hands. What do you know about these types of cuff links? When were they popular? Are they a product of a bygone era or do they still exist today? They look very elegant. I only mention this because I enjoyed your article on Grant’s suit from the same film. Thanks.
Double-sided cufflinks, which Grant wore in most of North By Northwest, were once more common but are more expensive to produce and are more valuable when made of precious metals and stones, so they’re not as common today. They were more popular before World War II, and most popular before the 1930s. They are still made today, but they’re not common.
Has anyone tried the Connery cufflinks from Magnoli Clothiers ?
I did. They look the same as ones pictured above from Dr. No. They are totally worth the money.