A WATCH worn by Sean Connery and bought at a car boot sale for £25 has ended up fetching £100,000 at auction.

The Brietling timepiece, as worn by the Scots star in the James Bond movie Thunderball, was one of the items for sale at a pop culture auction held by Christie's.

The prop, said to have "vanished" after the film's release, was one of the many gadgets used by the iconic British spy, and was crucial to the film's plot, as it helped 007 locate stolen atomic weapons during underwater scenes.

The Top Time model by the luxury Swiss watch firm was the first watch Bond movie-goers had seen being adapted by Q's team of boffins in the film series.

The basic watch was originally made by Breitling in 1962, then adapted by the James Bond art department, and was the only one produced for the movie. It is thought that it had been passed on by someone who worked at Pinewood Studios, where much of Thunderball was made.