One of the most heartwarming elements of watching “Antiques Roadshow” is when a guest grossly understates the value of the products they bring on the show only to find out that they’re worth a lot more. That’s what happened when a woman brought a collection of watches that were stored inside a cardboard box. She believed that the whole collection might be worth a couple of thousand dollars, but when she learned the actual valuation of the products, she could not hold back her tears.
The watches belonged to her father who liked wearing and collecting nice watches. However, his deteriorating health forced the family to liquidate some of the assets he had owned. “His health was failing so he started liquidating things and we were going through his office and found a cardboard box and opened it up and these watches were in there,” she said as per Express.
The collection included two Patek Philippe watches, two Audemars Piguet watches, one Blancpain, one Rolex, and one Cartier timepiece. Among them, an 18-karat gold Patek Phillipe which was worth $12,000 to $14,000, stood out. The second Patek Phillipe was in the $7,000 to $9,000 range. One of the Piguets was in the $4,000 to $6,000 range while the other was in the $9,000 to $10,000 range.
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The 18-karat gold Blancpain was valued in the range of $8,000 to $10,000. The Cartier, also 18-karat, was in the $3,000 to $4,000 range and the Rolex was also in the same range. The antique expert believed that the entire collection was worth somewhere between $46,000 to $57,000. This was more than double of what the guest expected and she couldn’t hold back her tears.
A lot of people sometimes fail to understand the true value of timepieces, but that’s what “Antiques Roadshow” is for. One guest had brought a highly valuable pocket watch in near-perfect condition and she had a hard time believing its true value once it was revealed by the expert. It was a 1904 English Smith & Son Tourbillon Pocket Watch. There are several reasons why that name alone makes the watch so special. Firstly, Tourbillon watches are extremely rare these days. Even collectors have a hard time getting their hands on one. Secondly, the company, Smith & Son was one of the biggest watchmakers in Europe in the early 1900s. They made such pocket watches for royalty such as the British Royal Family.
This particular watch was also a part of a royal lineup, as it once belonged to the King of Spain. Another rare feature of this pocket watch was its power reserve indicator. It’s the dial at the top of the watch that indicates how long it would run before it required winding up again. The expert then revealed that such a watch would be worth between $40,000 to $50,000.
