Istanbul is one of the espionage capitals of the world, so it’s no surprise you can find spy artifacts for sale in the world's most famous bazaar. It’s difficult to write about Istanbul without falling into cliches, but there is a palpable romantic mystique and energy in the city on the Bosphorus. This is especially true in the Grand Bazaar where culture, both genuine and contrived, is on full display. That said, when I visit covered markets in the Middle East, rarely am I buying, maybe a trinket to bring back to the kids, but that’s it. Aren’t these just overpriced shops geared towards tourists? But this trip was different, I spent hours exploring the deepest corners of the Grand Bazaar and discovered a unique vintage Tudor Oyster Prince, two Minox “spy” Cameras, and a Cold War era Protona Minifon watch, which contains a microphone to surreptitiously record conversations. Istanbul, July 2024 Earlier this month, I visited the Grand Bazaar on a mission to acquire a “super-clone” counterfeit Rolex, the subject of a previous Dispatch (read HERE). Walking through the vast covered market, a local friend could tell I had the “been here, done this” look and offered to show me the Antique Market, situated in the hall of Cevahir Bedestan. What I found was a series of stores with vintage collectibles, real watches, and a surprising amount of military and intelligence memorabilia—all things I like. The Old Bazaar is by no means a hidden secret, but in an area stretching 64 streets and over 4,000 stalls, it’s not exactly a place you stumble on. I visited the Bazaar numerous times over 20 years and never saw it. It’s a far cry from the more trinket-focused main avenues most tourists pass through. Istanbul - A City Of Espionage Istanbul is a remarkable tourist destination, complete with rich culture, tasty cuisine, and historical sites from centuries of different ruling empires. But, below the surface of the 15-17 million tourists visiting the city each year are more sinister travelers: spies, assassins, and individuals who traffic in arms and illicit antiquities. “If the Earth were a single state, Istanbul would be its capital.” – attributed to Napoleon Bonaparte For the same reasons this quote rings true, the city formerly known as Constantinople could also be described as the espionage capital of the world. Strategically located at the intersection of Asia and Europe, Istanbul is a short flight from London, Moscow, and Tehran. Turkey borders many hotspots including Iraq, Syria, and Iran, and is in direct proximity to the conflicts in Ukraine and Israel. While Ankara is the capital, many nations, including the US, maintain robust diplomatic missions (i.e. embassies and consulates) along the Bosphorus. Embassies and consulates mean spies. A History Lesson You can’t mention espionage and Istanbul without discussing James Bond. In From Russia with Love, 007 works to retrieve a Soviet cipher machine from Tatiana Romanova, and in Skyfall, Daniel Craig’s Bond conducts a high-speed chase through the Grand Bazaar. The backdrop of Istanbul makes for an exciting setting, but this connection is rooted in real espionage. Ian Fleming himself was a real intelligence officer and reportedly traveled to Istanbul in 1955 to attend an Interpol conference as a member of the Scotland Yard delegation. More recent examples of Istanbul serving as the front lines for the Great Game are numerous, and many of them have ended up on the front pages of newspapers. This past year Turkey arrested a network of individuals with reported ties to Mossad who were tasked with collecting information on Palestinians in Turkey. In 2018, Saudi intelligence officers murdered a critic of the Kingdom Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Iranians have gotten in on the action, with a MOIS assassination of former Iranian cybersecurity official turned regime critic Mas’ud Vardanjani in 2019. These are just the publicly available incidents. MQ-1B Predator from the 414th Expeditionary Reconnaissance Squadron 2012, at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey (DOD) The United States In Turkey The United States maintains a significant overt security presence in the country. According to Wikipedia, Incirlik Air Base Air Base houses over 1,400 US DOD personnel, 39th Air Base Wing (39 ABW), and "up to'' 50 B61 nuclear bombs, ie tactical nuclear weapons. According to press reporting, Turkey was used as a base for the “Syrian Train and Equip Program” that supported Syrian opposition forces, a program acknowledged by former President Barack Obama. Turkey was a part of the F-35 joint strike fighter program until it was removed in 2020 after the acceptance of the S-400 Russian-made air defense system. “The Great Game” is often used to describe the intelligence war fought between nation-states and using this analogy, Istanbul is the playing field. Turkey itself maintains a robust intelligence service, MIT/TNIO, that is considered on par with many Western services. ISIS member looting artifacts and heritage sites in Syria/Iraq, 2015. Illegal Antiquities Trade In 1983, Turkey passed a law prohibiting the trade and export of antiquities, but that hasn’t prevented the country from becoming a hub for illicit antiquities trade, most notably artifacts looted and sold by the Islamic State during the caliphate in Iraq and Syria in the 2010s. Far from the tourist shops in Istanbul, the southern city of Gaziantep is widely understood as the hub for this activity, the initial sale point before entering the wider antiquities market. All this to say, it’s no surprise that one can find interesting and highly collectible espionage artifacts in Istanbul.   Spy Gear & Watches - Shopping In Istanbul Tudor Oyster Prince - Onder Vintage Watches - Stall No. 172 Walking into the Old Bazaar, my first stop was one of the few (legitimate) watch stores. In contrast to the fancy boutiques north of the old town, the windows are lined with hundreds of vintage timepieces, everything from Rolex and Omega to Doxa and Hamilton. For the most part, the vintage watches are “real” although many of them had significant replacement parts and refinished dials, likely a product of shotty service vs an attempt to deceive the buyer. Several stores had Arabic-branded dials, but without clear documentation or provenance, a purchase would be reckless.  I started sending pictures to my friend Ross Povey of Tudor Collector and he provided feedback on each watch in real time. Many were a hard pass due to condition, but then I came across a vintage mid-1970s Tudor Prince Oysterdate with an integrated bracelet and a two-tone dial and chapter ring. There was something about the watch that spoke to me because it wasn’t within my wheelhouse. Yes, I love Tudors of Espionage (T.O.E.s), but that is generally synonymous with tool watches. The dainty 38mm dress watch with an integrated bracelet just isn’t typically my style.   Mid-1970s Tudor Oyster Prince The condition was mediocre, with a bent bracelet link, but the price was right, about 1/3rd of the price in the UK according to Ross. The idea of spontaneously buying a watch, in one of the world's oldest bazaars was too good to pass up. It wasn’t without risk, but it was a risk worth taking.   The first rule of negotiating at a bazaar is don't be thirsty. I thanked the shop owners and left, but I returned a couple of hours later and bartered the price down a few hundred dollars, paying in crisp $100 bills for the final push. Minox Spy Cameras - Minyatür - Stall No. 240-241 Next Stop was Minyatür, the most interesting antique store I found during my time in Istanbul. The small store is packed wall to wall with vintage oddities, including a significant selection of militaria and nautical items. But what caught my attention were the Minox subminiature cameras in the window, labeled “Spy Cameras.” Developed in Germany in the late 1930s, the various evolutions of the Minox camera were used by several intelligence services, including the CIA and the KGB during the Cold War. The miniature size, 50+ image capacity, and high-resolution lens made it ideal for clandestine photography, most notably to photograph documents. Minox was issued to and used by several notable spies, including convicted KGB spy John A. Walker, Jr. I spoke with the owner, Haluk Yedek, a second-generation merchant. His father opened up the shop in 1962 with Haluk taking the reins in the mid-1990s. The cameras themselves were more expensive than what could be found online, and while Haluk was willing to come down some, it was clear we had reached his lowest point. I made a final cash offer on a Minox B from 1958-1969 and a Minox C from 1969-1978. The condition was overall good. It wasn’t quite new old stock, but not far off.  Haluk Yedek, a second-generation antique dealer. As I left the shop, I couldn't help but wonder about the path these items took over the past half-decade from Germany to Istanbul.  Unfortunately, Haluk couldn't recall where he purchased them, saying that most items came from locals and estate sales. Hanhart Protana “Spy Watch” - Takara Vintage Watches - Stall No. 191/191 The final stop was Takara Vintage Watches at stall No. 191/192. As I entered the market, I noticed a beat-up Protona Minifon “spy watch” in one window. Probably one of the greatest examples of “spy gear,” the “watch” contained a microphone to surreptitiously record conversations during the Cold War era. The case is perforated and a cord runs out of the 9 o’clock up the wearer's arm to the tape recorder. The “watch” itself does not keep time and the movement has been removed to make space for the microphone. The condition was poor, but I couldn't help myself.    Interestingly, a recent exhibition from Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) displaying espionage artifacts revealed that MIT indeed used several wristwatches with recording devices for “various operations.”  Had the watch been issued by MIT and somehow ended up in the souk? Probably not, but it was too intoxicating to pass up. Another small stack of crisp hundred dollar bills left my hand to the all too happy merchant. It was a pleasure doing business.  Istanbul Airport Arriving at the Istanbul airport departure terminal, I was a little nervous. In my carry-on were 5 watches (one with a microphone embedded) and two spy cameras. While not prohibited items, it would be awkward to explain during secondary customs or security questioning. “I am a former CIA Case Officer and I run an online journal about watches and espionage” would likely raise some eyebrows. Further, I knew that the Turkish intelligence services were well-respected and had capabilities that matched that of our peer adversaries (Russia and China). While I am generally not concerned about security while traveling, I did ask several friends for contacts in the US Embassy “just in case.” To my relief, the customs process was uneventful and the flight to London was a breeze. Richmond, Virginia - July 2024 Back home, the Minox cameras have been added to the shelf in my office and sit next to other oddities collected over decades of world travel. As I write this, the Tudor Oyster Prince taps on my laptop, keeping perfect time. These items are talismans, mementos of my time in Istanbul, and physical representations of the people I met and the experiences I had. Their value is not monetary but derived from the human element, the true source of intrigue behind timepieces, at least for me. If you enjoyed this article, please consider signing up for our weekly free newsletter for further updates HERE.  READ NEXT: The Real Spy Gadget Watches of the CIA, KGB, MIT and German Intelligence *This article has been reviewed by the CIA's Prepublication Classification Review Board to prevent the disclosure of classified information.

Timepieces & Watches Have Deep Meaning In The NatSec Community Ask any self-respecting watch nerd what passions pair with timepieces and you will inevitably hear about Porsche, Leica cameras, and Negroni-flavored toothpaste. Like any community, watch enthusiasts have coalesced around several big personalities (tastemakers) who set the aspirational standards of success: a vintage Paul Newman Rolex Daytona poking out of a cashmere Loro Piana sweater while driving an air-cooled Porsche 911 to the country club with a chilled Negroni in the cup holder. Some say it’s pretentious. For our community, watches are tools, functional items we integrate into our daily lives. Meant to last a lifetime and be passed down to the next generation, their “value” isn’t monetary, it's derived from our shared experiences with these inanimate objects. The interest is the human element. There are a lot of parallels between our relationship with timepieces and knives. Today we’ll explore. (Photo Credit: James Rupley) Bezels & Blades I have written about my relationship with knives from an EDC standpoint while at CIA (READ HERE), and it’s true that the essentials for every Case Officer generally include a watch, pen, knife, and flashlight. Every CIA Case Officer's EDC should include a pokey thing. For generations, soldiers and intelligence officers have deployed around the globe to carry out vital national security operations. While the tradecraft, technology, and locations evolve over time, two things present with every practitioner both then and now are a simple wristwatch and a knife. Yarborough, Ka-Bar, and Fairbairn-Sykes are as iconic in our community as Submariner, Tuna, and Seamaster. When we return from these conflicts our blades are talismans, physical embodiments of the people, hardship and accomplishments we encountered. Their value is more than the sum of their parts. Even a simple and relatively cheap Spyderco can be an heirloom.  UDT Issued Tudor Submariner and SOG Knife (Photo Credit: UDT/SEAL Museum) Today everything is perishable: phones, computers, cars, and even spouses are replaced every few years. Most of these commodities are plastic and digital, and there are few functional tools capable of being used for decades and passed down to the next generation. No one needs a mechanical watch, premium knife, or titanium pen, but we use them because of what they represent and the stories they tell.   Knifemakers & Watchmakers Just as we do with watches, we appreciate blades for their utility, but also their design and craftsmanship. Like a good watchmaker, knifemakers are hyper-focused on details. They obsess over design, materials, and aesthetics to create a premium functional tool. These are purpose-built tools, not collectibles or fashion accessories. (Photo Credit: James Rupley) Knives In The Global War On Terror One positive consequence of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan is veteran-driven entrepreneurship. Many of these companies focus on utilitarian items with deep meaning to their community: coffee, watches, and particularly knives. Former Navy SEAL Andrew Arrabito founded Half Face Blades, Marine turned knifemaker Connor Toor founded Toor Knives, and a plethora of other former SpecOps personnel have directed their energy to the craft. Legendary knifemakers like Ernest Emerson and Daniel Winkler worked closely with elite units to develop tools for our community. The result of each of these efforts is a tool with both utility and meaning that transcends the physical object.  Connor Toor, Marine turned knifemaker and founder of Toor Corporation. (Photo Credit: Toor Corporation)  Similar to our approach to timepieces, when it comes to knives, we are brand agnostic and support a wide range of knifemakers, particularly those that focus on made-in-America and the community. The “knife community” is just as tribal as the “watch community” with online forums dissecting every detail and material to support “their brand.” The Best Knives (& Watches) Are Gifts Like watches, the best knives start their journey as gifts. When King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein of Jordan gave me a Royal Jordanian Breitling, he also presented a Jordanian combat knife, a blend of the traditional Jambiya dagger (جنۢبية) and a modern weapon, with "The Arab Army" (al-Jaysh al-Arabiالجيش العربي) inscribed on the blade. Like the Breitling, which accompanied me for over a decade of Agency operations, the blade is a treasured keepsake, something I will pass on to my children when the time comes. While some cultures see this practice as taboo, signifying the severing of a friendship or wishing ill on the recipient, the symbolic meaning of gifting a knife is profound. This is particularly true in military and intelligence circles where deployments, graduations, and joint operations are often commemorated with knives. The Yarborough knife is one notable example, having historically been gifted to graduates of the U.S. Army Special Forces Qualification Course. (Photo Credit: Unknown) Father & Son - A Right Of Passage When I was eight years old, my father gave me a simple Swiss Army knife. It cost next to nothing but at the time it meant everything to me. It was more than “just a knife”, it was a symbol of responsibility and a milestone towards reaching manhood, a lesson in consequences. Today, the knife is long gone, but an inch-long scar remains on my left pointer finger. I have carried on this tradition, presenting my sons knives at specific milestones in their lives, and will give them watches as they get older. When I graduated from university, my father gave me my first real timepiece, a Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Hometime. At the time, I didn’t realize its significance, but in hindsight, it was a pivotal moment in my life and a lesson in appreciation of time. While I wear the watch less today, it bears the scars of over a decade of hard use (something not necessarily advisable for a JLC dress watch). Former CIA Officer J.R. Seeger’s collection of military-issued watches and OSS memorabilia (Photo Credit: J.R. Seeger) This tradition and its deep ties to our community are what led us to develop our knife, the Mosebey Blade. It’s a functional tool that is appreciated for its utility, craftsmanship, and aesthetics. The Mosebey Blade is a tool for the discerning gentleman, “a PhD who can win a bar fight,” named after one of the most legendary Africa Division CIA Case Officers. Bill “Bwana” Mosebey  Every tool we make comes with a history lesson. Our inaugural knife is named after Bill “Bwana” Mosebey, a legendary Africa Division Case Officer you’ve probably never heard of.  The Most Dangerous Man In Africa Born in 1938 in Pennsylvania, Mosebey was the great-grandson of Civil War spy William Leslie Mosebey. Before joining the CIA in 1959, Mosebey joined the US Army as a reservist, earning his airborne wings before completing special operations training. An agency legend during the Cold War, Mosebey spent the majority of his 34-year CIA career on “The Continent” conducting intelligence collection and covert action against the Soviet Union. Developing a reputation as “The Most Dangerous Man In Africa”, Mosebey earned numerous awards for his service including The William J. Donovan Award and the Distinguished Intelligence Medal, our Nation’s highest for intelligence officers. Retiring in 1995, Mosebey rejoined the agency in the aftermath of the attacks on September 11th, 2001.  Known for his tailored safari suits and waxed mustache, Mosebey was also an avid outdoorsman, woodsman, and historian, and spent considerable time hunting while on assignment for the CIA around the world. Never one for the spotlight, Mosebey single-handedly influenced geopolitics while serving as the consummate quiet professional, a classic gentleman who lived a life of adventure and service to his nation.  Our blade is a tribute to unsung heroes of the intelligence community like Mosebey, produced from the highest quality materials for a unique marriage of utility and refinement that embodies our “Use Your Tools” ethos.  The Mosebey Blade (Photo Credit: James Rupley) The result of a nine-month development effort, the Mosebey is a fully customized all-purpose blade made in the USA from premium domestic materials. We made no compromises on the design or craftsmanship of this unique tool for our community. Presented as a limited edition, each blade is individually numbered and serialized. Inspired by the design of a one-off blade W.O.E. purchased while living in Africa, we worked with Marine veteran turned knife maker Connor Toor to bring our tool to life. As with most of our tools, the branding is subtle with a deep laser-engraved W.O.E. spearhead on the blade and another inside the leather sheath. The spearhead is modeled off the insignia originally developed by the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and used by modern-day intelligence and SpecOps units. The Mosebey Blade Order Here RELEASES 21 MAY, 6 PM ET If you enjoyed this article, please consider signing up for our weekly free newsletter for further updates HERE.

In intelligence operations, time matters.  While our Dispatch articles traditionally focus on watches, today we look at another tool to measure time, the time pencil.  It’s a short time fuze detonator used for explosive charges in covert operations in World War II.  We have profiled watches of the Glorious Amateurs of the Office of Strategic Service (OSS) officers in World War II, this is another time measuring tool they used to accomplish their mission. By JR Seeger  The allied support to resistance operations in Occupied Europe focused on sabotage operations before D-Day and then more aggressive combat operations after the fact.  The challenge for sabotage operations was to conduct said operation but live to fight another day.  Some of the most effective sabotage operations took place inside factories where enslaved workers would periodically insure whatever came off the assembly line was not quite to specifications.  Still, the most dramatic of the resistance operations before D-Day focused on using explosives against roads, bridges, and railways.   In 1939, with the Nazi blitzkrieg closing in on Warsaw, Polish military intelligence officers provided the small British contingent with intelligence and technology to be taken to England. Officers from the Secret Intelligence Service and the military intelligence contingent, including Lieutenant Colonel Colin Gubbins, returned to England with a treasure trove of intelligence including prototypes of a chemical time delay fuze. The prototypes were shared between SIS Section D (D for destruction) and Gubbins unit military intelligence unit focused on resistance operations. In 1940, these two offices were combined to become a new, independent organization, the Special Operations Executive (SOE). British Irregular Warfare:  When the British SOE started their resistance training in England in 1940, explosives training was one of the primary classes.  The SOE training on demolitions in the first years of the war was based entirely on military demolitions techniques including the use of standard military blasting caps and fuzes lighted either by a match or a simple friction plunger system known as a fuze ignitor.  Based on this training, a resistance team had to emplace explosives and remain quite close to the actual blast – certainly no more than a few minutes away depending on the length of fuze used.  While this technique worked well for combat engineers supported by infantry, it was not designed for a resistance group that wished to conduct sabotage and avoid capture.   British scientists were already working on multiple time delay mechanisms, but their work focused on supporting other British irregular forces like the Commandos and other Small Scale Raiding Forces associated with the SOE.  The Polish design was modified to create “time pencils” that used a chemical process as a time delay.  Time pencils were used in the commando raid on the dry docks in St. Nazaire in March 1942.  However, the reality was that British scientists simply did not have the resources to create a standardized time delay device that could be used by resistance forces across Europe. British Commandos, 1942 (Wikipedia Commons) Enter the Americans:  After Pearl Harbor, William Donovan expanded the capabilities of his new office, the Coordinator of Information (COI), to include irregular warfare.  Donovan provided the President with an irregular warfare plan in the summer/fall of 1941, but the US was still neutral, and President Roosevelt was not about to approve Donovan’s plans for special operations.  By mid-December 1941, Roosevelt approved Donovan’s plans and he began to recruit America's counterpart to the SOE.  Sabotage and subversion were central to Donovan’s strategic plan. In the early months of 1942, the COI and its successor in June 1942, Office of Strategic Services (OSS), were criticized at the time by generals at the Pentagon as simply a gathering of Ivy League intellectuals with little or no understanding of modern warfare.  Donovan did gather some of the great minds of the American universities and industry and focused their skills on what he saw as a key part of modern war – irregular or partisan warfare.  One of the key individuals in this new type of warfare was Stanley Lovell.  Lovell was a successful industrial chemist and professor at Harvard when Donovan recruited him to use American technology in support of irregular warfare.  Lovell was the chief of the OSS unit known as Research and Development and R&D designed and produced dozens of special weapons and equipment for the OSS and the SOE.  One of the most useful and probably the smallest of Lovell’s devices was a modification of the British version of the “time pencil.” Lovell’s time pencil was an ingenious blend of chemistry and technology that could be mass produced and shared with resistance groups throughout Europe.  It was a combination of a standard fuze ignitor at one end and a corrosive chemical compound at the other.  When the corrosive compound was crushed inside the tube, it slowly eroded a fuze ignitor.  The amount of the chemical mix allowed for time pencils to be created that delayed ignition from a few minutes to up to 24 hours.  That meant that the saboteur could emplace the demolitions, lay out the camouflaged fuze, mix the chemicals by crushing one end of the time pencil and then leave.  At a precise time, the time pencil would ignite the fuze, and start the explosive chain that would end with an explosion of plastic explosives.  With the delivery of the time pencils, saboteurs and their resistance security partners could be miles away from the site when the explosion occurred and the inevitable Nazi investigation would begin.  They could even conduct multiple operations in the same night. Of course, time pencils were not foolproof, and the chemical reaction would be affected by ambient temperature and other environmental factors.  Still, the use of this new sabotage technique, coupled with an accurate wristwatch for keeping track of the time before the explosion made the resistance more effective.  The time pencil was another example of cooperation between the US and UK teams supporting special operations.  Like the easily ignored watch or the suitcase radio that made air and coastal delivery of resistance men and equipment possible, the time pencil was a small device with a big impact on special operations in World War II.  Magnetic charge with Time Pencil placed on a vehicle (Imperial War Museum) READ NEXT: The Pragmatic Journey of a SEAL Through Watch Collecting  -- J.R. Seeger served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne and as a CIA officer for a total of 27 years of federal service. He served 17 years in multiple field assignments focused on counterterrorism, counterintelligence and irregular warfare.  During his final, 3-year assignment in CIA Headquarters, he first served as a chief of operations for a geographic division in the Directorate of Operations and then served as a deputy director and deputy chief of the CIA Counterterrorism Center.  Seeger led multiple, small unit teams during his service, including leading one of the CIA teams that infiltrated into Afghanistan after 9/11. Since his retirement, J.R. has written articles and book reviews in the CIA professional journal “Studies in Intelligence” and the T.E. Lawrence Society newsletter. His eight-part MIKE4 series is about a family who have served in the special operations and intelligence community from World War II to the present.

Spy Watches, Women and Espionage - At the height of the Cold War, a female CIA officer operated with impunity on the streets of Moscow, free from the ever-present KGB surveillance. But it all changed one warm summer night when she was ambushed while servicing a dead drop for a sensitive asset, TRIGON. The Seiko on her wr

In the 1970s, CIA Technical Officers modified a digital Seiko to conceal a Tropel T-100 camera inside.  The purpose of the watch-turned-espionage-tool was to allow a recruited agent to surreptitiously photograph classified documents in their place of work and deliver them to CIA.  The camera was so quiet that it could be used to photograph documents within a KGB Rezidentura or other sensitive buildings while unknowing co-workers were just feet away. The Silver Screen vs Reality: Hollywood's depiction of spy gadgets embedded in a Rolex Submariner or Omega Seamaster is entertaining, but largely a fantasy of the  screenwriter's imagination.  In fact, there were very few times in my career as a CIA Case Officer that I used “spy gear” and instead largely relied on low-tech tradecraft to build relationships, recruit spies, and steal secrets. US Embassy Moscow- Cold War  That said, technology plays a significant role in the espionage trade from both an offensive (collection) and defensive (counterintelligence) standpoint in the modern era.  Historically, spy gadgetry was a crucial tool in the “great game” of the Cold War where both the Soviet Union’s KGB and CIA leveraged cutting edge technologies– including miniature cameras and audio recording devices– to collect intelligence and thwart hostile surveillance.  In order to mask these capabilities, pieces of surveillance technology were often housed in “Concealment Devices,” seemingly benign objects that could be carried by the Agent into sensitive government facilities.  In some now-declassified cases, a timepiece was used as either a passive or active concealment device to hide the presence of the espionage tool. U.S. Representative to the United Nations Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. points to a hole for a concealed listening device in the U.S. Great Seal (a gift from the Soviets to the UNSC).  (Photo Credit: Getty) In the niche genre of Watches of Espionage, it is important to understand these historical references.  We will periodically profile some of these watches, their relevance, and the impact they had on intelligence collection. The Real Q-Branch: In most spy movies, there is a “Q:” a fictional character responsible for providing the lead “spy” with the latest and greatest technological advancements.  In obvious foreshadowing, the issued gear (often a luxury timepiece with spy gear embedded) will later play a significant role in the movie during a pivotal scene where the spy escapes a deadly situation or finally gets even with the villain. While I never met an individual “Q” at CIA, there are several offices dedicated to developing, testing, and fielding technologies for intelligence collection.  During the Cold War, this office was known as the Office of Technical Service (OTS) positioned within the Directorate of Science & Technology (DS&T). Modified Seiko Housing T-100 Camera: In the mid-1970s OTS technical officers reportedly modified an off-the-shelf Seiko LCD-equipped model (reference unknown) to conceal a Tropel T-100 camera inside.  The watch worked by “active concealment,” meaning it functioned normally when the camera lens was not visible.  When the asset–or a recruited agent–rotated the dial nearly 180 degrees it exposed the aperture at the 6 o'clock position.  A button at the 4 o'clock position activated the shutter to take the picture.  (Photo Credit: Ultimate Spy, Keith Melton) According to intelligence historian Keith Melton, the camera held a 15-inch strip of auto-advancing film and could capture 100 high resolution images. The purpose of the tool was to allow an asset or agent to surreptitiously photograph classified documents in their place of work.  The camera did not require an auto-focus mechanism and could effectively take pictures of standard-sized documents when held approximately 11 inches off the desk, which was about the length of an average adult male's elbow to hand.  The camera was so quiet that it could be used to photograph documents within a KGB Rezidentura or other sensitive buildings while unknowing co-workers were just feet away. OTS produced instructions showing an Asset how to use the T-100 key fob model.  Instructions also showed agents “how to hide the camera in a fist held to the forehead while seated–as if they were reading, not photographing.” (Photo Credit: Ultimate Spy, Keith Melton)  While the watch concealment is interesting in itself, the T-100 subminiature camera was the real technological feat at work.  Despite its size, it was designed to take distortion-free images the size of a single page of text using retired stock film first used in spy satellites. In contrast to the movies, where a piece of gear was issued “just in case,” the tiny camera was purpose-built for intelligence collection and issued only to the most sensitive CIA assets operating behind the Iron Curtain. The tool was designed and produced by an outside contractor who painstakingly assembled the shutter components and lenses the size of a pinhead. As Robert Wallace and Melton would later recall in Spycraft, the Secret History of the CIA’s Spytechs, “the T-100’s assembly was closer to watchmaking than any commercial manufacturing process. The owner of the company fabricated each camera himself under a large magnifying glass and halo light using a device he built specifically for the task.”  T-100 concealed in cricket lighter (Photo Credit: Ultimate Spy, Keith Melton) Looking at the watch, it’s tempting to conclude that it looked semi-futuristic for the 1970s and that this might cause counterintelligence concerns for an asset back then.  But the Seiko was created, or modified, during an important time in horology history: the Quartz Crisis.  During the Digital Revolution of the late 1960s, the development of the quartz watch resulted in a transition in the market from mechanical watches to quartz movements and eventually, digital displays with the Pulsar in 1972. This quick shift was dubbed the “quartz crisis,” where many consumers moved to the cheaper more accurate timepieces and there was a dramatic decline in the traditional, mechanically-driven Swiss watch industry.  Seiko, credited with developing the first quartz movement, was one of the first brands to embrace the new technology and produced several LCD screen watches similar to the one used by CIA.   While we have not identified this exact reference, there are several Seiko watches from the era that match the similar design, including this 1975 Seiko 0114-0010 Quartz LC.  The exact reference likely would have been procured in the Soviet Union before being shipped back to the U.S. for modification, so as not to raise questions why a Soviet official would be wearing an imported watch. Again, details matter.  1975 Seiko 0114-0010 Quartz LC (Photo Credit: Ebay) Interestingly, it was in this time period (in 1977) that the Bond franchise integrated the first Seiko into the mix in The Spy Who Loved Me.  Bond, played by Roger Moore, wore a modified Seiko 0674 LC, which contained a miniature printer to receive messages from his headquarters in the UK. CIA has been known to take inspiration from Hollywood, and whether this was life imitating art or the other way around, we can only speculate. What is uncertain is whether the CIA-modified Seiko was actually used by an asset during the Cold War or if this was a prototype that never made it to the field.  While much of the information from this time period has been declassified or leaked, there is no public information available indicating it was issued to an asset for operational use. What we do know is that the camera itself, the T-100, was particularly effective at collecting intelligence and was dubbed by some as the "camera that won the Cold War."  There are documented examples of both the T-100 and later the T-50 being issued to assets housed in fountain pens, keychains and lighters and capturing images that were later passed on to the CIA handling Case Officer. Tropel Camera Housed in Fountain Pen, Image courtesy of International Spy Museum. READ NEXT: The Lasting Legacy Of The CIA’s Lockheed A-12 And The Watch That Served It   This Dispatch has been reviewed by the CIA’s Prepublication Classification Review Board to prevent the disclosure of classified information.