Winston Churchill’s 1905 Pocket Watch to go to Auction This May

A pocket watch that once belonged to the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom is about to go under the hammer at Dawsons Auctioneers on May 23, 2024. It is expected that Winston Churchill’s pocket watch will fetch around £20,000 to £30,000.

Also known as the ‘full hunter,’ this pocket watch has an 18 carat gold case cover engraved with Churchill’s coat of arms. It has a keyless wound movement, a minute repeater, a white enamel dial, and a seconds hand at the six-o’clock sub-dial. The inside of the case cover is where you find the inscription, “To Winston with gratitude H. H. Asquith Xmas 1905.”

As the engraving suggests, this watch bears a hefty history. The timepiece was a gift from Herbert Henry Asquith, the first Liberal prime minister of the United Kingdom, as a token of appreciation for Churchill, a then-Conservative who crossed the aisle to back the Liberals.

Asquith bought the watch from a famous watchmaker, Sir John Bennett, and gifted it to Churchill in 1905. Eventually, it travelled to the Cole family and was passed down from Nancy Henderson Cole to David Cole and so on.

With the upcoming auction on May 23, avid collectors are granted the chance to hold a part of the UK’s history in their hands. Unsurprisingly, the price is expected to go as high as £30,000.

For more information, visit Dawsons Auctioneers.

[Hero and featured image credit: Dawsons Auctioneers]