Published: 15:04 BST, 30 August 2026 | Updated: 15:18 BST, 30 August 2026
A rare vintage Swiss watch found in a late mother's jewellery box has fetched £59,000 at auction.
The 1930s Patek Philippe timepiece defied expectations after experts originally valued it at just £5,000.
It was unearthed during a house clearance at a property in Camborne, Cornwall, before selling at Hansons Auctioneers in Penzance on Tuesday.
The stainless steel wristwatch had been sitting among old jewellery for years.
The owner's daughter said she remembered her mother had told her she possessed an expensive watch – but never knew its true value.
She added nobody expected the treasured family heirloom to be worth almost 12 times its estimate.
Darren Ashley, senior valuer at Hansons Cornwall, said: 'When I finally had the watch in my hands and was able to examine it properly, I knew we had something extremely rare.
'Patek Philippe produced very few stainless steel watches during this period and that rarity makes surviving examples incredibly desirable to collectors.
The 1930s Patek Philippe timepiece defied expectations after experts originally valued it at just £5,000
The owner's daughter said she remembered her mother had told her she possessed an expensive watch but never knew its true value
The rare Patek Philippe & Co Calatrava Reference 448 belonged to the vendor's grandfather who passed it to his daughter
'But one of the things I loved most was its mechanical perfection.
'This was a watch dating back around 90 years which had spent decades within the same Cornish family and, when it was placed in my hands, it was still finely ticking away.
'Combined with its wonderful provenance, it was an absolute pleasure to be entrusted with selling such an incredible timepiece.'
