Free Rolexs for British prisoners-of-war

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We watch Antiques Roadshow most afternoons and there are some really interesting items that appear. Sometimes the back stories are very intriguing too. A Rolex watch was shown which had belonged to a British POW who was interned in Stalag Luft III in Silesia. When a soldier was taken prisoner, all his belongings were confiscated. However, prisoners-of-war (POWs), by sending a letter through the Red Cross, could request a Rolex watch from Hans Wilsdorf, founder of Rolex, in neutral Switzerland. Wilsdorf was born in Bavaria but was a naturalised Briton. The watch would arrive at the camp, again through Red Cross, with the message ‘“You must not even think of settlement until you are free again.” There was no invoice or paperwork; only a promise of payment after victory. For captured airmen, the watch boosted their morale and gave them hope in desperate times. Did you know about this? If not, don’t you think it is a great story? The photo is of a cemetery that contains the remains of Romanian soldiers killed in Alsace and Lorraine during World War I.