The Turnbull & Asser Grand Tie Project
The Bond Vivant
SeendPosts: 1,347MI6 Agent
Hello everyone.
Some of you may have picked up on a point that was raised during my Vlog about having a bespoke shirt made by Turnbull & Asser for The Bond Experience. The subject of reissues and recreations of rare Bond ties was raised by Liam De Vanney. The project is moving forward, and we are looking for examples of many of the ties from predominantly the Brosnan era., but 2 from Craig’s era. At present, my colleague has been sifting through the T&A archive of swatches and samples, but sourcing the correct fabrics for each design after 25 years is not simple. Basically the archives begin to be dated from about 1992, but when you start going through them, you find similar designs to what you are looking for, but not exact matches. It appears that Lindy Hemming has seen a pattern that she liked, and then asked for it to be made in a slightly different pattern and colour. Hence, no swatch would then be kept of the custom design, leading to a gap in the archive. Out of the current Bond ties that T&A sell, there is no original swatch for either the Thames tie or the Die Another Day Circles tie. I suspect these too were custom made in those colours with Turnbull having to re-fabricate them years later by copying the tie fabric from a tie on the wall.
Hence, for most of the ties going forward, I very much see the best course of action being to replicate the fabrics from the original ties if we are fortunate enough to find a kind collector willing to lend a few to us for a short period, for the craftsmen to examine and then replicate precisely the original patterns and colours used.
By way of incentive, the collector would then receive a free example of the new production run to either keep or to sell on. There would only be, initially, 15 examples of the production run, and then after a year or so the ties would be introduced in Turnbull & Asser stores worldwide, at a rate of roughly 3 styles per year.
Finally, there is also the potential for a ‘Making Of’ book, which was mentioned in the last meeting at T&A. Hence, people who chose to assist with the project would be mentioned in the book. This is something that money can’t buy, because you’re effectively creating your own little piece of Bond legacy.
Below you will see a graphic highlighting the ties that we are looking for, and a list detailing the maker we attribute them to. We are also looking into 3 further Bond ties that were used for promotion between films, for Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough. Pictures of these are also attached below.
If anyone owns any of these ties and would be willing to lend them to T&A for a brief period of time, or knows the whereabouts of any of them, we would forever be in your debt.
And here are the Promotional ties that we are looking to track down:
We are aiming for nothing less than perfection with every example, which is a high bar to reach. However, by reaching out to the Bond community, we are hoping that we can create something magical for every 007 fan.
Many thanks for your interest, and please PM me if you can help us out in this major endeavour.
Blair
Some of you may have picked up on a point that was raised during my Vlog about having a bespoke shirt made by Turnbull & Asser for The Bond Experience. The subject of reissues and recreations of rare Bond ties was raised by Liam De Vanney. The project is moving forward, and we are looking for examples of many of the ties from predominantly the Brosnan era., but 2 from Craig’s era. At present, my colleague has been sifting through the T&A archive of swatches and samples, but sourcing the correct fabrics for each design after 25 years is not simple. Basically the archives begin to be dated from about 1992, but when you start going through them, you find similar designs to what you are looking for, but not exact matches. It appears that Lindy Hemming has seen a pattern that she liked, and then asked for it to be made in a slightly different pattern and colour. Hence, no swatch would then be kept of the custom design, leading to a gap in the archive. Out of the current Bond ties that T&A sell, there is no original swatch for either the Thames tie or the Die Another Day Circles tie. I suspect these too were custom made in those colours with Turnbull having to re-fabricate them years later by copying the tie fabric from a tie on the wall.
Hence, for most of the ties going forward, I very much see the best course of action being to replicate the fabrics from the original ties if we are fortunate enough to find a kind collector willing to lend a few to us for a short period, for the craftsmen to examine and then replicate precisely the original patterns and colours used.
By way of incentive, the collector would then receive a free example of the new production run to either keep or to sell on. There would only be, initially, 15 examples of the production run, and then after a year or so the ties would be introduced in Turnbull & Asser stores worldwide, at a rate of roughly 3 styles per year.
Finally, there is also the potential for a ‘Making Of’ book, which was mentioned in the last meeting at T&A. Hence, people who chose to assist with the project would be mentioned in the book. This is something that money can’t buy, because you’re effectively creating your own little piece of Bond legacy.
Below you will see a graphic highlighting the ties that we are looking for, and a list detailing the maker we attribute them to. We are also looking into 3 further Bond ties that were used for promotion between films, for Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies and The World Is Not Enough. Pictures of these are also attached below.
If anyone owns any of these ties and would be willing to lend them to T&A for a brief period of time, or knows the whereabouts of any of them, we would forever be in your debt.
And here are the Promotional ties that we are looking to track down:
We are aiming for nothing less than perfection with every example, which is a high bar to reach. However, by reaching out to the Bond community, we are hoping that we can create something magical for every 007 fan.
Many thanks for your interest, and please PM me if you can help us out in this major endeavour.
Blair
Comments
IG: @thebondarchives
Check it out, you won’t be disappointed
As mentioned in emails I had the copper Hamburg tie and sold it here but the PMs are long gone so forgot who to
Also I won the DAD British Airways flight tie on eBay but the seller sent my tie to another buyer and I got his tie instead
David Schofield who I believe sadly passed away told me many years ago he had many of the Brosnan ties stored away (I think he said in Spain)
Anyhow hopefully many AJBers come forward to help. There was of course the dude who recently advertised stuff in advance of his eBay auction however I hear he has dissapeared
The "MAYBE" on that Herbie Frogg tie from TWINE needs to be converted to a YES.
If original samples aren't able to be acquired, is T&A willing to do their best attempt through high-res photos, or is it an all-or-nothing deal for each tie in question?
Well, one of these were sold through this form, so I think they were for sale after all;
https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/41557/for-sale-turnbullasser-hamburg-tie-arrivalcopper-version-sold/
On one of the photos in the link, there is a code on the lable of the tie.
Yup I had that tie also, possibly that was mine
Good question. Are all the Brosnan-era ones 9.5cm?
In a (very) old thread, David mentioned he had the following:
"Sulka tie from GE (confrontation with Trevelyan in Moscow scenes, etc)
T & A tie from TND (meeting with M at MOD, etc)
T & A tie from TND (break in to Carver factory, etc)
T & A tie from TWINE pts
T & A tie from DAD (meeting with Chang at hotel reception)
T & A tie from DAD (Blades scene, meeting with M, etc)
I guess that at least confirms all the above ties were sold off the rack, unless some of them are screen used? Sad to hear he passed away, that is news to me.
To answer your question about the Brosnan picture, it doesn't surprise me that there has been such excitement about it. As soon as my colleague saw the picture too, he instantly asked for permission to take a photo, and he will be going back soon to take more detailed photos without the glare from the glass. The photo is actually hanging on the wall at the T&A archives. It's the only place he has ever seen this image of Brosnan, estimated to have been taken around 1996 (just before shooting Tomorrow Never Dies). When he made enquiries with Monty, the head tie cutter at T&A, he said he seemed to remember cutting the tie for the photos, but unfortunately they no longer sell the material.
Regarding the promo ties, the first red and navy blue one is from promotional pictures taken with Sean Bean for Goldeneye.
The second orange promotional tie was taken shortly before shooting Tomorrow Never Dies.
The third tie with blue and grey squares was taken to promote The World Is Not Enough.
The blade size at the moment has to remain the standard 9.5 cm because the ties are cut in bulk with many other T&A designs. Other blade sizes were discussed at the last meeting, but that's a long way down the road for now.
Regarding replication from high resolution photos:
The reason we have so far resisted replication from photos is because of lighting and scale. Often people visit the T&A website, see a tie they like, yet when they visit the T&A shop, the tie is an awful lot darker than they thought it would be. This is because lighting can severely change the appearance of the colour shade. Hence, our major preference is to replicate the colour shades in the presence of the original ties. I don't think 007 fans would forgive us if we replicated a tie and the colour was just plainly incorrect.
For all of those members who might have ties in their collections, let me know as and when you've managed to track them down, and we can get the proverbial ball rolling.
Once again, the level of support shown by Bond fans and members is truly wonderful, but knowing many of you, not in the least surprising.
Gentlemen, I salute you.
Blair
Scale is the other issue. We want to get every design as close to the original as physically possible. This means replicating each pattern to the nearest 0.5mm if necessary. However, the result should be amazing and truly pay homage to the original ties.
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There is a very clear (and large) picture of this in the book Dressed to Kill. Happy to take a picture of it if needed. The book was published in 1996, so the picture in question can't be newer than that. I haven't opened the book in awhile, but I seem to recall it being linked to Goldeneye as a studio portrait. I'll take a look tonight.
A clear picture would be lovely. -{
IG: @thebondarchives
Check it out, you won’t be disappointed
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https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/41557/for-sale-turnbullasser-hamburg-tie-arrivalcopper-version-sold/
Thanks.
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Yes, this is from GoldenEye and taken in 1995. Brosnan is wearing a Sulka shirt in that photo, not T&A.
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Shirt is definitely Sulka, and tie could be as well. Ties were sourced from a number of brands for GoldenEye, but many were Sulka.
https://www.bonhams.com/auctions/15337/lot/175/
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Here you go gents.
On the prior page, the caption reads: "Pierce Brosnan, on one of the Goldeneye sets, photographed by John Stoddart, in a style reminiscent of the studio portraits of the Forties and Fifties stars"
IG: @thebondarchives
Check it out, you won’t be disappointed
Another vote for C&D's pick.
Would really like any of them, really. Brosnan always had the most memorable ties, IMO.
Why do I seem to recall a member's collection including all of those