I, Said the Spy (1980)

I, Said the Spy

Derek Lambert's 1980 thriller sets rival intelligence services loose on the Bilderberg conference and the financiers, politicians and journalists who attend it. One of its women keeps time in a café by a Longines. (Wikipedia)

Watches

Longines watch

A young woman waiting for a man who said he would come at eleven "or thereabouts" glances at the slim Longines on her wrist, reads 11.23, and decides to give him until 11.30 before she leaves, feeling stood up. The maker is named; the model is not.

Source text: Longines watch on her wrist. 11.23. He had said "thereabouts" but when did "thereabouts" finally run out? (Derek Lambert, I, Said the Spy, scan cataloged as Arlington Books, 1980, p. 45; Internet Archive scan OCR)