Free Rolexs for British prisoners-of-war
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (382412)
Rockingham, Australia
December 24, 2025 7:22am CST
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.
Edit: I should have mentioned that the watches were sent to the camp in Red Cross parcels.
14 people like this
12 responses
NO Wilsdorf does not sound English at all, but it could be Swiss German. Yes, Michael Caine moved to the US in 1970 when the British tax was 83% on income, later he came back to England.
@DaddyEvil (174657)
• United States
24 Dec
No, I've never heard of this before. I'm glad they were given a morale boost like that.
2 people like this
@DaddyEvil (174657)
• United States
25 Dec
@JudyEv Yeah, the keeping them hidden part doesn't make sense, especially if they mailed them to the same camp that already confiscated everything you own.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (382412)
• Rockingham, Australia
27 Dec
@DaddyEvil The watches were in Red Cross parcels and apparently they (the parcels) were distributed without being opened.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (98070)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
24 Dec
Stories like this are just so amazing,
2 people like this
@RebeccasFarm (91297)
• United States
24 Dec
I had no idea of this, but it is wonderful.
2 people like this
@FourWalls (86829)
• United States
24 Dec
That’s a wonderful story. I did not know that had happened.
2 people like this
@moffittjc (128840)
• Gainesville, Florida
26 Dec
What a great story, and what an admirable thing for Wilsdorf to do to help keep morale in POW camps! I just hope the enemy soldiers didn't steal the watches from the prisoners when the gift arrived.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (128840)
• Gainesville, Florida
27 Dec
@JudyEv Yes, but even so, the guards could have taken the watches directly from the prisoners' wrists afterwards. Maybe armies of the past (even enemies) obeyed a certain code of conduct. You would probably never see something like that today.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (382412)
• Rockingham, Australia
28 Dec
@moffittjc It does seem odd that at least some weren't confiscated.
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