Watch That Led To Arnold Schwarzenegger Being Held By German Customs Sold For $300,000 At Charity Auction

Last week, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger was traveling at the Munich International Airport and was detained for over three hours after customs flagged an expensive watch, a special edition Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph, that he had not previously declared.

Schwarzenegger claims he was not given the proper paperwork to declare the watch before he reached customs in Munich, Germany.

Schwarzenegger was carrying the watch as a donation for the charity auction Dinner & Auction for Environmental Protection that was taking place on January 18 in Austria. The watch, which was valued at $100,000, far exceeded the 10,000 euro maximum allowed by the Munich International Airport customs.

After three hours in the airport, Schwarzenegger agreed to pre-pay taxes of $34,000 on the timepiece and left the airport with the watch in hand.

The customs officers would not let Schwarzenegger pay with a credit card, and they were taken to a bank to withdraw cash, but it was closed and the ATM that he tried to withdraw from did not have a limit high enough to pay the tax.

In a twist, the watch ended up fetching nearly $300,000 at the auction. So perhaps it was worth the hassle.

This fall, Schwarzenegger attended Oktoberfest in Munich with his girlfriend, Heather Milligan.