At Salon QP 2017 we exhibited a watch that made it to the summit of Mount Everest on the wrist of Gurkha Sgt Milan Rai. A week later it sold at Bonhams with all funds going to charity.

by James Buttery 

In 2015 a team of 16 experienced climbers, including serving members of the Royal Gurkha Regiment, set off to conquer the world?s highest peak, Everest, to celebrate 200 years as part of the British Army. The team carried with them two Loomes & Co watches that, having summited, were to be auctioned off to raise money for two charities, the Mountain Trust and the Gurkha Welfare Trust.
On April 25th 2015, with most of the team at Camp One, Nepal was struck by an earthquake which killed 9,000 people and devastated much of the country. On the mountain itself, a massive avalanche wiped out most of Base Camp and killed 18 climbers, making it the single deadliest day in Everest?s recorded history and Nepal?s worst natural disaster since 1934. Understandably, the summit attempt was abandoned and the team set about getting off the mountain and joining in the rebuilding effort.
Two years later the team, pictured above, returned to complete what they had started and, between May 15-16, a total of 13 members of the team summited, including nine serving Gurkhas. Sgt Milan Rai wore one of the watches and despite running out of water and suffering from snow blindness, he reached the summit and returned the watch in perfect working order. His eyesig...