Antiques Roadshow guest point-blank refuses to sell gold watch after problem emerges with £10,000 valuation
An Antiques Roadshow guest was gobsmacked after an expert issued an eye-watering £10,000 valuation of his intricate gold watch - but followed it up with a warning.
During a recent episode set at Windermere Jetty Museum in the Lake District, which featured host Fiona Bruce and the Antiques Roadshow experts, Richard Price took a closer look at a stunning gold watch.
He remarked, "Well a very, very beautiful, engraved watch on both sides so it's what we call a hunting case watch. If it's got a very beautiful dial as well, which it has, look at that lovely silver dial I can say pretty categorically that it is for the Spanish market."
The owner shared the backstory of the watch, explaining, "It was a gift by a Spanish lady, a friend to the family, one day she said, 'I got no one to leave it to. You have it." To which Richard responded, "Well, what a lucky couple you are. Absolutely typical for the Spanish market, beautiful dials, it's 18 karat gold, dating from the 1860s. Now, do you remember anything special about this watch when it was given to you? ".
The guest then mentioned that the original owner had "demonstrated there was a chime" but he wasn't sure of its significance or if the watch could still produce the sound.
Richard elaborated, "Firstly, it's signed by a Swiss mechanical Lucien Dubois and it has three squares one is to set the hands and then it has the normal waiting in the direction of the arrow and then it has a third winding square which will be for an independent seconds.", reports the Mirror.
They added: "The top of this watch has a knurled pendant as if it was a keyless waiting watch but we know that it's key wound, so that serves another function.
"A very very clever horologist by the name of Joseph Barolos, who worked in London devised a form of quarter repeating, which means that the watch will strike the hours and the quarters, turning it to the left to do the hours, releasing it, and turning it to the right to do the quarters.
"That is not functioning and all that very complex repeat work will be under the dial and we cannot see if it's there. The very fact that you recall chiming in other words, some sort of repetition suggests to me almost certainly this watch had and might still have that work there."
The Antiques Roadshow's expert dished out a bit of caution as he unveiled the valuation for the intriguing timepiece, noting that its true worth hinged on whether the "quarter repeating" feature was operational.
Richard said: "If this is Joseph Barolos' patent. We're talking about a very rare thing. If it's there, I'm going to quote you £7,000 to £10,000. If it's not, we'd be looking at £2,500 to £3,000 minimum right. So either way, lovely gift." The owner, clearly taken aback, responded: "Oh yeah. And it's not for sale," prompting the expert to quip: "That's what you all say."
