A guest on Antiques Roadshow was delighted with what expert Robert Tilney had in store for him on the BBC show. During a recent repeat episode, a collector brought in an item from the RAF sector which he originally bagged for just £20.
The expert was in awe of the item from the start, as he asked the owner, “That is a really distinctive clock, so you must know what it is.”
The guest replied, explaining: “After I bought it I found out it is an RAF sector clock,” as he admitted that he didn’t “clearly” know how it worked.
Robert shared his knowledge of the impressive item, saying: “You must have seen the various war films and they have the big room, the big map and they bring in what’s called incoming plots. So, the Royal Observer Corp, RAF, will spot planes coming and this is where the sector clock comes in.”
“Wherever the plot is first seen it is the time and wherever the minute hand is on, in this case, it’s on the purple, that becomes a purple plot at whatever the time is. That is then put on the map board, you see them with the magnetic rakes pushing. The brilliant thing about the sector clock is that it goes down as a purple plot and whatever the time is, so you can always track where plots are.”
“It was part of the system called ground-controlled interception and it enabled the RAF squadrons up in time, it was vastly fast.”
“Combination of radar, clocks, royal observer corp and it sped up the response for plots coming in, it was very clever. They kept using it until the Cold War when computer systems came over.”
Clearly intrugued the expert asked: “You know these are very rare? So where did you get hold of it?”
The guest replied: “My employers in 1973 were clearing offices and they auctioned off all the surplus items in that building.” He went on to add that he thinks he paid just £20 for it.
That was when Robert delivered the delightful news, saying: “£20! Ok… they are hugely collectable. Now, if you decided at auction to think ‘ooh I really want one of those’, you would have to start the bidding at £4,000.”
The guest looked taken aback, with a totally stunned expression on his face, as the only words he could manage were: “That’s fabulous. That’s great!”
Robert shared even more good news, continuing: “And that start it might go higher. It is so iconic of the early war days.”