Only Fools and Horses watch sells for £28,000 in Dudley
It didn’t quite make him a millionaire – but the pocket watch that made Del Boy and Rodders rich beyond their wildest dreams did bag the seller £28,000.
The Only Fools and Horses prop went on sale at Aston’s Auctioneers in Dudley this week, where super fan Michael Enright snatched it up – and he came dressed for the part.
Michael and friend Jason Baddams, from Gornal, donned Batman and Robin costumes in homage to the hapless Trotter Brothers.
The so-called Harrison Lesser Watch that sold for £6.2 million in the BBC sitcom was was only tipped to make a mere £15,000.
Film consultant at Aston’s, Steve Kennedy, said: “It’s the first time I’ve seen an item like this up for sale and it was unbelievable to see its price and the two men that came in fancy dress.
“This is what auctions are all about, you never know what to expect.
“We were all surprised to see Batman and Robin turn up, but it was a wonderful gesture, what a marvellous thing to do.
“I spoke to the under-bidder afterwards and he was still shaking from the auction. He just missed out on it with his last bid at £27,000.
“It’s a shame we didn’t have two to sell and make two people happy.”
The timepiece was made by the BBC props department for the 1996 episode Time On Our Hands, which finally saw the brothers realise their dream of becoming millionaires.
In the episode, Raquel’s antiques dealer father spots an old watch that had sat for years on an oven hob in her boyfriend Del’s garage.
Her father correctly identifies it as the historic missing Harrison watch and it is sold at auction – causing both brothers, played by David Jason and Nicholas Lyndhurst, to faint in shock.
Father-of-four Michael, owner of Dudley firm MT Skips, described himself as a ‘huge fan’ of Only Fools and Horses.
“All four of my kids watch it and every single night I sit down and enjoy an episode – I’m addicted to it.
"You’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t love the show, it’s hilarious, an absolutely cracking show,” said the 47-year-old.
“At the end when I’d won the auction, a man from London who was bidding against me, came and shook my hand.
“He asked me how much I was prepared to pay for it and I said I came here to buy it, whatever the cost.”
At yesterday’s auction Michael and Jason recreated a scene from the 1996 Christmas Day episode where Del Boy and Rodney dress up as the superhero duo to attend a fancy dress party – that instead turns out to be a wake.
The episode was watched by more than 21 million people and was, at the time, a record for the show. Time On Our Hands was broadcast four days later.
The three inch by four-inch watch belonged to an anonymous collector, who acquired it after filming had finished.
