A recent episode of the Antiques Roadshow featured a Rolex so rare it had the TV expert baffled.
The guest brought the rare timepiece along to Ebrington Square in Derry, Northern Ireland.
But the show’s expert, Ben Wright, wasn’t prepared for what he was about to see.
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“First, it’s a Sky Rocket, there were very few made,” Wright said.
“And the word Sky Rocket is unusual though, we know the Sea Dweller, the Sky Dweller, but most people have never heard of the Sky Rocket,” he continued, giving a little bit of background to the rare item.
“It was made exclusively in Canada. And they curiously didn’t use a Rolex movement, which is very unusual,” he continued.
“Rolex adapted a Swiss movement for this watch. And they called it the Sky Rocket. I have no clue why, but it was specifically bought or made for Canadian pilots in the Second World War.”
Compared to other Rolex pieces, the Sky Rocket is minuscule.
What’s more, it was also made with silver dials compared to black dials.
It also had little in common with other military watches of the same period.
The guest then revealed he’d originally purchased the watch at an online auction two decades ago for £300 ($384).
However, the expert placed a current valuation on the Rolex of between £1,500 and £2,000 ($1,921-$2,562).
While incredibly rare, its value doesn’t quite match that of a timepiece that featured on the US version of the show.
Back in 2016, a US Army veteran brought along his 1960 GMT Master Model Rolex to a filming in Tucson, Arizona, hoping to have it appraised.
The veteran discovered that the watch, which he’d picked up during his service in Germany, was worth as much as $75,000 dollars.
In other Rolex-related news, a surfer in Australia discovered a Rolex that had been rusting away at the bottom of the ocean for some time.
Despite being in bad shape, it has since been restored – and it looks tremendous.
