Man holds back tears as he learns life-changing value of dead brother's watch

A man who went on Antiques Roadshow to get his late brother's watch looked at was on the verge of tears as he learned of the keepsake's true value.

You can see all sorts popping up on Antiques Roadshow from the genuine article of really valuable stuff to would-be heirlooms that are actually cheap fakes and everything in between.

Pretty much everyone who goes on dreams of being the person who gets told they've only gone and had an incredibly valuable item sitting in their attic or garage for years and now they get to cash in.

Of course, for every one of those there are plenty who bring things in which are essentially worthless, whether because they're fake or just can't be verified as the genuine article.

Meanwhile, for those wanting to feel incredibly old, people are starting to bring on items such as classic Pokémon cards and a pair of Air Jordans.

BBC

It's somewhat depressing to see the things that were new when you were a child being sold on a programme called Antiques Roadshow.

But every now and then, the show gets an incredible item appraised which is worth an absolute fortune and the person who brought it simply had no idea they were sitting on a proverbial goldmine.

And one man was holding back the tears when he appeared on the show as he told the tale of coming into possession of his late brother's watch after a car crash, but deciding not to wear it as it wasn't his sort of thing.

He instead kept it safe in a drawer for years which fortunately kept it preserved in a very good condition and, when he brought it onto the show, he was stunned to discover how much he could get for it.

The watch itself was an Omega Speedmaster Apollo-Soyuz, made to commemorate the meeting of three American and two Soviet astronauts in space in 1975, with only a few hundred of the special edition watches made.

BBC

The man's brother would have bought it for just under £300, with the paperwork showing it was first purchased in the early 80s.

As he was able to provide all of the paperwork and prove it was genuine, he was stunned to learn he could expect a minimum of £80,000 if he sold it.

Once he heard that, he soon admitted he wouldn't be owning the watch he'd never even worn for much longer, which brought laughter from the assembled crowd.

Demonstrating a mastery of understatement, he said that whopping figure of £80,000 was 'more than I expected'.

Topics: BBC, TV and Film, Money

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker