Rolex 3525 “Monoblocco”, the watch of the Great Escape

In 1944, Royal Air Force men were imprisoned in the Stalag Luft III camp in Poland. An escape was planned by Lieutenant Gerald Imeson and his men for March 24-25, using tunnels over 100 meters long dug into the ground.

Of 250 prisoners, 76 succeeded, 50 were executed by the Germans, and the others were liberated in 1945. This story, recounted by Paul Brickhill in his book "The Great Escape," inspired the very famous film of the same name by John Sturges starring Steve McQueen.

Jack Williams, one of the men in Imeson's regiment, also had a Rolex 3525, serial number 186045.

Caught by the Gestapo during his escape, he was executed along with 50 other prisoners on Hitler's orders. But the day before his escape, he entrusted his watch to a comrade who had remained at the camp, to be returned to his family in case of any misfortune.

Returned to his parents at the end of the war, the watch was restored at Rolex and sold for £165,000 at auction on December 12, 2015, along with all official documents and personal effects that had belonged to the war hero.

Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex, knew that the Nazis were confiscating watches from prisoners. To allow men to replace them, he sent new watches hidden in Red Cross parcels, with the option of paying later, at the end of the war.

Lieutenant Imeson had also managed to order the famous Rolex watch while a prisoner of war. It bore the serial number 186052, produced after Williams's.

Rolex, Ref 3525 "Monoblocco"

This watch served as a tool to plan the famous escape by timing the guards' travel time, the time it would take them to get from the hole dug to the forest, as well as the route inside the tunnel.

Gerald Imeson was to be the 172nd prisoner to escape, but he never reached the tunnel because the German soldiers realized the escape plan. He was not killed. Released in 1945 with other prisoners, he kept the watch until his death.

Now being offered at Christie's auction for the June 9th sale, Gerald Imeson's watch has been preserved in remarkable condition and is still in working order. It is being sold with the lieutenant's personal effects, with a total estimate of $200,000.