A Lancashire butchers is hoping to be reunited with a clock which has been missing for 40 years after spotting it on Salvage Hunters.

Chris Brown, the owner of Browns Butchers in Chorley, said it was “brilliant” to see the family clock on the antique-hunting show and hopes to be reunited with it in the coming weeks.

Mr Brown said: “A customer spotted it on the show – a family friend who had been coming in the shop for years.

“I looked the episode up for myself up – and it’s definitely the same clock my Grandad had commissioned in the 1930s when he first opened the shop.”

Lancashire Telegraph: Browns Butchers in Chorley think they have found a lost family heirloom(Photo: Discovery Plus)Browns Butchers in Chorley think they have found a lost family heirloom(Photo: Discovery Plus)

Chris said the clock “took pride of place” in the shop between 1930 and the late 1970s and moved with them as they did.

Mr Brown added: “It quite happily kept ticking along until the late 80s and early nineties  then it just decided to stop working.

“There was a customer who used to bob in occasionally who spoke to my father and fixed clocks in his spare time.

“My father told him – ‘take it with you, fix it up and tell me what I owe you’ -but we never saw either of them again.”

More than 40 years on, Chris said he always been hoping to see the customer again with the fixed clock.

“I assume it must have got put to one side in his workshop and was forgotten about,” he said.

Chris added that it was “brilliant” to see the clock again when it featured on season 15 episode 12, which aired earlier this month.

It turned up at an antique shop called Retrovation in Hertfordshire, which is owned by Dawn Diggens.

Treasure hunter, Drew Pritchard, singled it out when exploring the antique shop.

Dawn explained: “It’s come out of a shop – I think it’s a butchers. We did get it working but now it’s stopped.

Drew replied: “So what does it say when it goes around? ‘Browns Butchers’?”

“I think it all needs some new wiring, doesn’t it, Dawn replied.”

The show also gave some background about the “unusual” Smiths electric clock.

Drew said: “This Smiths electric clock is unusual in lots of ways- to have a chromed bezel around the outside, that’s unusual for them… it’s usually painted steel.

“Then the fact it’s got a rotating in-time advertisement that goes around with it - is just a bit of fun isn’t it?”

Lancashire Telegraph: Drew Pritchard and Dawn Diggens try to settle on a price for the clock (Photo: Discovery Plus)Drew Pritchard and Dawn Diggens try to settle on a price for the clock (Photo: Discovery Plus)

The show also went onto explain that the manufacturer of this clock started out making motor accessories but decided to enter the domestic clock markets in the 1930s.

The show’s narrator explained: “Smiths clocks soon gained a reputation for precision engineering and reliable time pieces which are also aesthetically appealing.

“Although they stopped trading in late 1970s the clocks continued to be popular with buyers.

“This unusual example is estimated to be valued at £450.”

Drew ended up paying £80 for it and estimated that it would cost and extra £100 to be fixed up and required, adding that it is still “super saleable”.

Chris Brown said he has been in touch with the show and hopes that it will be returned to the shop soon.

He said: “I managed to get in touch with them over the weekend and they said they’ve not had a chance to fix it or look at it yet – I’m hoping that they will fix it and I will get the chance to buy it back.”

You can watch episodes of Salvage Hunters on Discovery+.