GUEST: I found it in a cardboard box that contained the uh remaining items from my great-grandfather's estate. I am a watch enthusiast, so I was immediately drawn to it. I don't really know how my grandfather got it. I reached out to the uh Longines registry with the serial number and they said that it uh was manufactured in 1938 and uh sent to its dealer in Cuba. My great-grandfather worked in the paper manufacturing industry and his territory that he serviced was the Southeast of the U.S.
APPRAISER: Do you think he ever went down to Cuba? Was that, is that a possibility?
GUEST: Uh it, it’s certainly is a possibility. During the '30s, Cuba was kind of a hotspot to visit, so it's, it's very possible.
APPRAISER: Well, it is a chronograph watch, but it's also a single-button chronograph watch, which is quite unusual. Uh a monopusher, or monopoussoir, as they say in French. The dial is also co-branded. Cuervo y Sobrinos was the Longines dealer in Cuba. I don't know the story behind the dealers themselves. Um I couldn't find much information on that. They were probably the best jewelry store in Cuba.
GUEST: Wow.
APPRAISER: And it was started by a gentleman named Ramón Fernandez Cuervo. He co-founded it with his nephew. They started the company in about 1882. This watch is 1938. They were actually the exclusive importers of Longines for the country of Cuba. They had some very famous clients, Cuervo y Sobrinos. Uh amongst them was Ernest Hemingway, Albert Einstein, and Winston Churchill was, was one of their customers. I love the fact that it's co-branded, and below Longines, it says Cuervo y Sobrinos. The dial, as far as a collector is concerned, is incredible. It's in fabulous condition.
GUEST: Really?
APPRAISER: Different color telemeters on here. You have the uh, the silver and the matte, it’s, it's just fantastic. There was originally a solid bar on there.
GUEST: Ah.
APPRAISER: That was cut off. And probably there were some spring bars that were put on there that somehow got lost. I want to say it's never been polished, which is really a great thing.
GUEST: Hm.
APPRAISER: Collectors like watches, as you've learned watching ROADSHOW, things that are untouched. Your case is untouched. The only thing was the, the spring bars being cut, which, honestly, does not change the value at all in the piece. You have any idea what you think the value is?
GUEST: I would say maybe $10,000. That would be my kind of realistic ballpark guess.
APPRAISER: It's, it's not a bad estimate to, thinking about what a, what a chronograph would be worth. If this face had been repainted, I, I don't even think it's a $5,000 watch.
GUEST: Hm.
APPRAISER: But it has this original dial, and it's absolutely incredible. And believe it or not, there's a lot of collectors that love the fact that it actually is co-branded, that Cuervo y Sobrinos name on the dial.
GUEST: Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER: It's just the mystique, Cuba and, you know.
GUEST: Yeah.
APPRAISER: I'm going to put an auction estimate. It will bring between $30,000 to $50,000 at auction.
GUEST: (exhales) Wow, that is incredible. I would not have thought it would have been anywhere near that.
APPRAISER: Great find to find it in a box.
GUEST: It was at the bottom of a cardboard box.
APPRAISER: Love it.
GUEST: Incredible.
