Mary Rose diver's watch sells for £27,000 at auction

Sgt Maj Burton wore the watch to time the hours spent working on the wreck

A watch worn by one of the army diving team involved in raising the Mary Rose has sold at auction for £27,000.

Sergeant Major Mick Burton wore the army issue steel Omega Seamaster 300 Edition watch during dives to the wreck on the bed of the Solent in 1982.

He described the work on the Tudor warship as being like "underwater mining in pitch black water".

Salisbury auctioneers Woolley & Wallis said the buyer was a dealer in London's West End.

Millions of people watched on television as the Mary Rose was raised on 11 October 1982

Henry VIII's flagship sank while leading an attack on a French invasion fleet in 1545 and was raised from the sea bed on 11 October 1982.

A team of army divers was brought in to put a yellow cradle in place that lifted the wreck from the Solent.

Millions of people watched on television as the Mary Rose was raised after 437 years underwater.

The watch was sold with two army diving log-books and a certificate of Sgt Maj Burton's work on the Mary Rose

Sgt Maj Burton described diving conditions on the wreck as "not only physically demanding but mentally exhausting".

He said: "We were 60 or 70ft down, at times having to hang on to things because the tide was so strong.

"You're given a set duration at the start of the dive - and in the bad conditions we experienced in the Solent you're looking at your watch constantly."

He added he planned to spend some of the money to fund his dream diving trip to Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

The watch, issued to Sgt Maj Burton in 1974, was sold along with the logs which detail his time spent working on the shipwreck.