William Albert Holyoake enlisted for military service in The Royal Engineers in August of 1944 and worked as a sapper in Central Europe throughout WWII. During this time, he acquired various German military keepsakes, including a military watch worn by the Luftwaffe during the war.
Holyoake rarely spoke to his family about his time overseas, let alone about the watch he'd kept in his desk drawer after he returned to England in 1947. The family was therefore surprised to find an authentic Luftwaffe watch as they sorted through their late father's possessions, and even more surprised when they discovered its value with the specialists at Fellows, a Birmingham-based auction house where the watch will be auctioned on 8 August.
The watch model is A. Lange & Söhne, one of 6904 Beobachtungs-uhren made from 1940-1945. It has a type B dial with luminous Arabic numeral hour markers and measures 55mm. It was used by German aviators, especially for flying at night, who would set their watch to the standard time of the German Naval Observatory after receiving a signal beep from the airbase. Pilots would be issued a watch before each mission and had to return it on its completion, making these kinds of watches extremely rare to find nowadays.
In a press release, Fellows' watch cataloguer Kain Holroyd said: “From the initial contact with the Holyoake family this consignment has taken so many positive turns. We were firstly unaware of which of the four German B-Uhren brands this particular watch head belonged to. Opening the case back to find that it was an A. Lange & Söhne was one thing, but to have such a story to go with the watch head as well as photos of Mr Holyoake was the 'cherry on top'. It was an enjoyable experience and I look forward to it achieving a great price in the 8th August Luxury Watch Sale."
The watch is due to sell at auction for over £7,000, with viewings available in London and Birmingham before the sale on 8 August.
