On June 9, Christie's will offer this Rolex 3525 "Monoblocco" that belonged to Royal Air Force Lieutenant Gerald Imeson when he was detained in the German Luftwaffe camp, Stalag Luft III in Zagan in Silesia. , Poland.
The planned escape of 250 prisoners - British, Canadian, American, Polish, Australian airmen - via tunnels really took place: a third will succeed, 50 will be executed by the Germans, the others will be released in 1945.
The historical facts, all true, were told in a story by Paul Brickhill which inspired the famous 1963 American film "The Great Escape" by John Sturges with Steve McQueen.
Christie's, through its watch consultant Adam Victor, estimates that this collector's watch is now worth "about 200,000 dollars but (that) its provenance (the) makes it almost priceless".
"When this watch came to us, with the story attached to it, we were really overwhelmed," the Christie's expert told AFP.
An extraordinary anecdote, Lieutenant Imeson, a prisoner in the stalag, had managed to order the famous watch from Rolex, which was delivered to him by the Red Cross, with deferred payment at the end of the war!
"When the watch arrives at its destination, the +Grande Evasion+ project has already seen the light of day. To plan it, (officers) had to time the travel time of the guards, the time it would take them to go from the dug hole to 'to the forest, through the tunnels,' explains Adam Victor.
According to the historical account, Gerald Imeson was to be the 172nd prisoner to escape but he never made it to the tunnel as the German soldiers realized what was happening.
The British RAF airman, however, escaped execution by the Germans and kept his watch throughout the war.
"He was finally released in 1945 after an incredible epic, when the Nazis moved prisoners across Europe to try to escape the Allies (...). He returned home, to his wife and his family" and kept his watch "until his death", welcomes Mr. Victor.
This "fantastic" steel watch, black dial, luminescent indexes and hands, is "in perfect original condition" and its "history is verifiable", assures the expert.
© 2022 AFP