An expert made one gobsmacked guest collapse live on air after he shared the jaw-dropping value of his Rolex watch. The American version visited Bonanaville, in the heart of North Dakota where expert Peter Planes appraised a rare watch that a former soldier purchased while he was stationed in Thailand.
The veteran admitted that he purchased the designer item after being inspired by pilots throughout his career in the military. Recalling where he bought the item, he confessed: “I’ve brought in a Rolex watch that I had purchased while I was in the military, I was stationed in Thailand from 1973 to 1975.
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One guest brought a rare Rolex onto the Antiques Roadshow (Image: PBS)
“While I was there, I flew on the American and continental airlines and I noticed that most of the pilots that were flying those aircrafts wore Rolex watches and I was intrigued by them. I always wanted to purchase some of them but they were very expensive.
“Later, when I was transferred to another base, I did some scuba diving and I knew that the Rolex watch was good for scuba diving. I found this particular watch where I could afford it and I never used it. I only took it out two or three times to look at it and that was about the extent of it before I brought it here”.
Along with the watch, the guest brought along all of the original paperwork he got with the watch as well as the two original boxes. The expert revealed: “So, these watches as we’ve talked about on Antiques Roadshow have become very collectible and valuable.
“It’s got a couple of very exciting features about it. Underneath the word Rolex and above the word Cosmograph it says the word Oyster and that refers to the screw-down buttons here. It still has the foil sticker on the back with the reference number of the watch 6263.
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The veteran collapsed to the floor after learning the watch’s eye-watering valuation (Image: PBS)
“The date mark on the bracelet shows that it was made in the first quarter of 1971”. Peter went on to reveal that collectors love this particular watch because it was worn by American actor Paul Newman in the 1969 film Winning. He added that the model the actor wore in the infamous film now sells for between $150,000 (£115,800) to $200,000 (£154,400) at auction.
But the expert added that the guest’s watcis much more special. He explained: “They did that for an extremely short period of time, we refer to that as a mark two dial. And this particular model, being marked oyster, is extremely, extremely rare. A watch like this at auction is worth about $400,000 (£308,900).”
It was at this point that the veteran collapsed to the ground in shock as the expert rushed to help him to his feet. But the surprises didn’t stop there. Pete continued: “I’m not done yet. Because of the condition of it, it’s basically a new old stock watch. There’s no wear on it, the original sticker on the back of it, and the fact that we have all of this complete documentation here.
“It also, maybe one of the very few in the world that was never worn, your watch at auction today is worth between $500,000 (£386,100) to $700,000 (£540,600).” The owner was left at a loss for words, as the auctioneer thanked him for bringing in such a formidable find onto the show.
He gushed: “It’s an absolutely fabulous find, it’s one of the rarest Paul Newman models, and in this condition, I don’t think there’s a better one in the world. Thank you for bringing me one of the greatest watches I’ve ever seen on Antiques Roadshow and thank you very much for your service”.
Before he moved onto the next guest, the expert urged the owner not to wear the watch, or risk dropping $100,000 from its market value. He added: “You can’t wear it though. If you wear it, it drops down to the $400,000 value”.
Antiques Roadshow airs on Sundays from 7pm on One or catch up on iPlayer.