Army vet stunned as 'Antiques Roadshow' expert tells him value of his $120 Rolex from the '60s
Not only has Rolex stood the test of time as a brand known for premium timepieces, but its older models are also fetching hundreds of thousands of dollars as vintage items. However, many Rolex owners still don’t realize the value of watches in their possession and are often shocked when experts reveal their actual price. That’s what happened with a US Army veteran in an earlier episode of “Antiques Roadshow” when he brought a Rolex on the show. It turned out that its value had skyrocketed since he had purchased it during the early 1960s.
According to Supercar Blondie, this man had purchased the box when he was in the Army and was posted in Germany. His sergeant was a big fan of Rolex watches and had insisted that he buy a timepiece from the brand before returning home. Hence the man bought two watches, costing more than twice his monthly salary at the time which was $100. He gave one to his father and kept the other for himself, only to bring it to the show being shot in Tuscon, Arizona decades later.
The price of the watch when he had purchased it was $120 and according to the antique expert, given the condition of the watch, it would sell for somewhere between $35000 and $45000 at an auction today. But the watch was not the only thing the guest had brought. He had the whole package including the box and all the necessary paperwork required at the time of purchase. He did replace the band but kept the original safe as well.
The man said that he was lucky enough to preserve every item, and it was true since the entire collection could be worth up to $75,000 in today’s market as the first GMT Master model that the company had ever made. Upon learning the value of the items that he possessed, the Army veteran was left speechless and understandably so. He said that he would have been happy even if the value of all the items was just $1500.
A similar story unfolded in the UK version of “Antiques Roadshow” where a man was moved to tears when he learned about the value of a Rolex Submariner purchase in 1972. It was bought by the guest’s father in Birmingham that year and he had given it to his son only two months before passing away. There was a lot of emotion attached to the item and it came pouring out once its value was revealed.
“My dad passed away and he gave it to me a couple of months before he passed away. It means absolutely everything to me. It’s part of my dad. It’s a very, very special watch that is and will be forever,” the guest had said as per a report in Supercar Blondie.
“Within a 10-year period, this watch was made with six different types of dial,” antique expert Richard Price said. “And it has the word ‘Submariner’ written in red, which is why collectors call it the Red Submariner”. He then went on to reveal that a watch that had cost $162 was worth a whopping $25,000 now.
