A WATCH bought for £10 at a charity shop has been sold for £10,000 after an eagle-eyed shopper spotted a famous brand on its face.
The Cartier watch was found amongst a bag of donations in a west London charity shop and has broken records auction.
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The anonymous shopper found the Tank Française yellow gold model and kindly donated it to the British Heart Foundation.
After a whopping 46 bids, the 18-carat gold watch sold for £9,766.
The watch has been worn by many celebrities including, Jake Gyllenhaal, Angelina Jolie, Michelle Obama, and famously Princess Diana.
Diana wore the watch to visit a Hindu temple in Neasden, North London, months before her death in a 1997 car crash
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Meghan Markle then wore the £18,000 Cartier timepiece to promote her podcasts.
The watch was sold at an online charity auction for the British Heart Foundation’s and became their biggest sale.
Kama Villiers, from the British Heart Foundation, said the the anonymous donor was very generous.
“When you consider the average value of an item donated to a charity shop is less than £5, finding a Cartier watch is like striking gold and winning the lottery at the same time.
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“Whoever the generous donor was, they can rest assured that their donation will go a long way towards fighting heart disease.”
Richard Pallier, head of online retail at the BHF, told the BBC that donations made a huge difference to the charity.
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He said: “It’s only through the hugely generous donations of the public that we can continue to do this very important work.”
Cartier still sells the Tank Française, but for far more than the older watch went for – between £28,000 and £32,000 depending on the size.
Despite being a famous type, the watch isn’t close to some of the most expensive sold.
The Rolex Oyster Submariner went under the hammer at Gardiner Houlgate Auctions in Corsham, Wiltshire last year.
It sold for £82,160 despite being only bought for £60 in 1965.
The ‘stand out’ aspect of the watch is the ‘369’ design.
How to value a watch?
To determine the value of a watch it is crucial to know the make, model, and its age.
It is important know if the watch is any special variant or model that could make it rarer than a more generic one.
In order to know for certain, you could approach the manufacturer and ask for an ‘archive extract’, a document which will include all the information about it.
Having the watch restored and cleaned could also help increase its value.
Once you have all the information, the best way to figure out what it is worth is to check with an expert or search online to see what similar watches are selling for.
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