Frugal Tipperary farmer’s lost vintage watch in the family again thanks to Athenry antique dealer’s radio plea

A vintage watch, once owned by the late Peter Kinane, described as “a frugal farmer from Tipperary”, which was found by a Galway-based antiques dealer among the contents of items he bought from a County Clare pub, has been reunited with his relatives.
 
Philip, Sadie, Mairead and Mary Kinane, all members of the late Peter Kinane’s family, were presented with the watch by Dave McDermott, the proprietor of Athenry Antiques when they met recently at his shop in Athenry.
 
Dave came across the Omega Dress watch which had “Peter Kinane, Kevinsfort” inscribed on the back earlier this year. After carrying out some research, he discovered that Mr Kinane had sadly passed away only a few months before the watch came into his possession.

 
Dave immediately put out an appeal through the Dermot & Dave Show on Today FM for a member of Peter Kinane’s family to come forward to reclaim the timepiece and sure enough, thanks to the power of radio, it worked.
 
After hearing about the watch Peter Kinane’s son Philip told Dermot & Dave: “I’m stunned, apart from the surprise of it, it’s a small bit emotional. We only buried this man a few months back and he never had a good watch in his life, that we knew about, but he has now. I’d like to thank everybody on behalf of the family, particularly Dave in Athenry Antiques and you on the show. This man wouldn’t spend money on an Omega watch to save his life. He was a frugal Tipperary farmer and he would have been very practical and antique watches wouldn’t have been his thing at all. He was a lifelong Pioneer, so what he was doing in a pub beats me. I was inside the middle of a field nearly an hour ago and my phone started going berserk in my pocket. I thought someone was looking for a trailer or something. We spell Kinane with one n and that’s the spelling on the back and Kevinsfort is the name of the house. We are amazed, it’s a good news story and God knows, they are scarce.”
 
Tralee-native Dave McDermott, who met Philip and other members of the Kinane family at his shop recently to present them with Peter’s watch, said: “We are of the opinion that the watch might have been presented to Peter in 1967 when one of his bitches "Kevinsfort Lad" won the Irish Oaks at Shelbourne Park, the biggest race of the year for a bitch. Perhaps Omega was the official timekeeper for the race. But the family, including Peter’s wife Sadie, really don't remember him having it. The watch, which I assume was lost in Linnane’s Pub, Kilfenora, Co Clare in the 60s or 70s, has some value, around €450-€500 and I’m delighted to have been able to return it to Peter Kinane’s family.”