This isn’t just the official timepiece for 24: Live Another Day, but a watch that will be featured in the show, as well as one that people will be able to buy starting in the summer of 2014. What makes the 24: Live Another Day CTU watch interesting is that Fox Studios commissioned a totally original item and it isn’t from a major brand. This makes a lot of sense for a television series so involved in tracking time, and it is cool to see the producers engage in such efforts. In fact, if you haven’t watched 24 before, you should know that each season is designed to more or less track the events of a single day in real-time.
24: Live Another Day will debut tomorrow May 5, 2014 on FOX and is technically the 9th or 10th season of the show, even though it comes after season 8 and is not considered a season with a numerical value. There are eight official seasons of the show starting in 2001 as well as 24: Redemption from 2008 and 24: Live Another Day from 2014 that comes four years after season 8 ended. It once again stars Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer on energy packed missions to thwart global disaster and terrorism. 24: Live Another Day (which sounds like a Bond movie) will take place in London.
What isn’t clear is whether or not this official “CTU” watch will be worn by Jack Bauer himself in the 2014 24: Live Another Day series. The watch will be worn by several cast members though, and is branded “CTU” which stands for Counter Terrorist Unit, a fictional agency that Jack Bauer was a former agent of. I believe at least some current CTU agents will be wearing the watch.
According to US Agency Watches that produced the timepieces for 24, their directive was to create a bold timepiece that indicated the time in multiple time zones. The result is an interesting design that feels very much a part of the 24 universe and has a cool feature set. In addition to the two 12 hour time dials, there is a centrally positioned analog compass. This can be used with the rotating directional bezel for navigational purposes. However, it would have been interesting for this to be a centrally mounted GMT hand so that people could use it to count down the show in real time. In any event this neat watch can also be used to let people play out their own personal 24 scenario fantasies–which should involve lots of screaming and gun waving (don’t try that at home).
The Official 2014 24: Live Another Day CTU watch will come in a large 47.5mm wide steel case with a rotating bezel, two crowns, and will be water resistant to 200 meters. Functionally, it will have two analog dials for the time (for two time zones) and the compass. The watch will be “24 CTU” branded and come on a black silicon strap. Inside the watch will be two Japanese quartz movements for each of the time dials. They are produced by Miyota (Citizen).
We love noticing what watches people wear in movies and television shows, and spotting the right watch can be difficult at times. In this instance, because the watch is totally custom, we would have never been able to spot the timepiece without knowing about the US Agency Watch 24: Live Another Day CTU creation. Jack Bauer has worn MTM watches in previous 24 show seasons.
The best news is that the 24: Live Another Day timepiece will not be extravagantly expensive. Pricing for the timepiece will be just $249, and they will be available for purchase starting July 1, 2014. It looks like the company is, however, taking pre-orders. usagencywatches.com/jack-bauer-24-watches