Watch worn by POW involved in The Great Escape to be auctioned
Stainless-steel Rolex belonged to RAF airman who dispersed soil taken from camp tunnels
A watch worn by a British prisoner of war involved in The Great Escape, the audacious second world war breakout immortalised by Hollywood, is being auctioned in England next month.
The stainless-steel Rolex has a guide price of between £15,000 and £25,000 ($HK189,000 and $HK314,000) at the November 6 sale at Bourne End Auction Rooms, west of London.
It belonged to Royal Air Force pilot Gerald Imeson, who was imprisoned at the Stalag Luft 3 camp on the German-Polish border after his plane was shot down returning from a bombing raid on Cologne in 1941.
He was involved in a now legendary plan to dig tunnels out of the camp, which was portrayed in the 1963 blockbuster film The Great Escape starring Steve McQueen.
Imeson was one of the "penguins", men who dispersed the soil by carrying it in their trouser pockets and scattering it around the compound as they exercised. They walked a little oddly, hence the name.
When the time came for the escape in 1944, the British airman was number 172 on the list. But he was still waiting when the Germans discovered the tunnels.