Wartime Rolex

[khaosworks]

Warning: this link has large, worksafe pictures. They show an incredibly well-preserved Rolex watch ordered and received by a British POW in 1943, with documentation detailing how he eventually settled accounts after the war. I love the fact that all the letters from Rolex are signed by Rolex co-founder Hans Wildorf himself, and his exhortation that "you must not even think of settlement during the war."

The watch cost 250 Swiss francs, which Rolex pegged at £24 13s 9d when they eventually invoiced the POW in 1946. Translated into today's prices, that's £633 (which is actually pretty reasonable for a Rolex).

Remarkable piece of history. If this watch could talk...