Rolex watch worn by prisoner during 'Great Escape' from Nazi war camp fetches $189,000 in auction
Rolex watch worn by Gerald Imeson
In an auction in New York held by Christie's, a Rolex watch worn by a British prisoner during the 'Great Escape' from a Nazi war camp fetched $189,000.
In 1944, Gerald Imeson was a part of the group of Allied soldiers who undertook the daring escape from the Stalag Luft III prisoner-of-war camp.
During this escape, which inspired the 1963 movie starring Steve McQueen, Imeson was wearing the Rolex watch that has been auctioned.
According to Christie's, which is a British auction house, Imeson had ordered the watch from Rolex in Switzerland.
Rolex had shipped a steel watch with a black luminous dial to the prison camp near the present-day Polish town of Zagan via the Red Cross.
Calling the watch "instrumental in the planning and execution" of their bid for freedom, the auction house added that it helped prisoners in timing patrols of the camp guards along with the time needed for crawling through the tunnels.
While he waited 172nd in line to escape, Imeson wore the Oyster Chronograph which he possessed until his death in 2003 at the age of 85.
The Rolex watch, which was first auctioned in Britain in 2013, was expected to be sold for $200,000.
A membership card for The Goldfish Club, reserved for pilots and crew who have crash-landed into the sea and survived, along with a Royal Air Force whistle were among other famous items sold with the timepiece.
(With inputs from agencies)
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