You might have heard of Antiques Roadshow, where people who look like they bought all of their clothes in the 80s travel around America in search of lost gems and hidden treasures.

This week, they went to Bonanzaville in Fargo, North Dakota, to meet up with a US Air Force veteran, who wanted to find out how much he could get for a watch that he bought in 1974.

The watch, a 1971 Rolex Oyster Cosmograph, cost him only $345 at the time. After buying it in Thailand, he put it in a safety deposit box when he returned home from the Vietnam War.

Turns out he was sitting on a fortune.

MarketWatch with what happened next:

The appraiser, Peter Planes of Luxe Auctioneers, gave several reasons why the watch was so unique, including the fact that one just like it was worn by Paul Newman in the movie “Winning.”

The actor’s Cosmograph, however, didn’t come with the Oyster moniker, which made the vet’s watch even more rare.

After listening, patiently, to the appraiser go on for a long time about blank papers and pristine condition and what it all means, the veteran finally finds out that his old Rolex is worth between $500 000 and $700 000, and his reaction is priceless.

If you want to skip the long-winded description of the watch, jump ahead to the 4:50 mark, where things get interesting:

If someone told me I was in possession of a watch that could fetch up to R10 million at auction, I’d also fall over.

Planes was excited to have seen the watch, which he described as one of a kind, and “one of the greatest watches to ever see on Antiques Roadshow”.

I’m pretty sure that vet headed straight back to that safety deposit box.

[source:marketwatch]