An Antiques Roadshow guest was “over the moon” to learn his watch, which he had traded in the pub, was worth thousands of pounds.
He told expert Ben Wright that he had originally owned a Rolex from Singapore.
However, he wasn’t fussed on the piece of jewellery and swapped it with a pub landlord.
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Ben explained to the guest: “This is a military wristwatch, Second World War, by Longines and I’m looking at you and I don’t think you’re old enough to be in the Second World War.”
The guest said: “No, I actually acquired that by one of my friend’s who was travelling around the world and he was going through Singapore airport and I gave him £25 and said, ‘Could you bring me back a solid gold diamond Rolex?’ and he said, ‘Of course I can.’
(Image: BBC)
“So he came back with this sparkly diamond Rolex, about £20 worth, which I put on and it looked terrible.”
He continued: “I went down the local pub 30 years ago and the landlord goes, ‘That is wonderful. Do you want to sell it?’
“I said, ‘I don’t want to sell it, I just got it.’ So he asked, ‘Would you swap it for this watch?’
(Image: BBC)
“I hummed on it and gave him the watch and he in place gave me that watch and that’s all I know about it.”
Ben asked: “Are we to save the solid gold Rolex for £30 possibly came from the back corridors in Singapore?”
The guest laughed and pretended to open his coat as he joked: ‘Oh, how many do you want?’
(Image: BBC)
Ben continued: “Well, this watch by Longines is what some people call dirty dozen, which is a group of watchmakers who supplied the British Army with wristwatches. Longines were one of them and there were other makers.”
“This particular one is by Longines and we know it is military, firstly because it’s got the military crow’s foot on the dial but also on the back of it, we have the crow’s foot again.
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“But we also have WWW, which is the acronym for wristwatch waterproof, which is what all military wristwatches were given right the way through to the 60s and 70s and maybe even now today.”
He added: “It’s in super condition and it’s around 1944, 1945, there were luminous dots on it and luminous hands.
“This fortunately, the radium of this has disappeared now so you’re not going to die of radium poisoning but it really must be handled with care.
“It’s always a good idea to get some specialist advice. So, what are we going to pay for it at auction?
“So we had your dodgy Rolex, probably worth about £10 now. What are we thinking? £3,000-£4,000. You did well.”
The guest was astonished as he exclaimed: “No! No, you’re joking. Never in a million years.”
He later revealed he would have been “over the moon” with £500 to £600 and to hear it was worth thousands was “unbelievable”.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
