£1,500 luxury watch being blasted into space from Derbyshire today - and finder gets to keep it

The £1,500 watch is being sent into the stratosphere this morning, by Jura Watches - part of Derbyshire-based C W Sellors Fine Jewellery - who will send the jewellery into the air using a helium filled balloon.



A series of cameras will be attached to the payload filming the entire ascent, capturing the curvature of the Earth, before immense atmospheric pressure expands the balloon to over 10 metres wide, causing it to burst and fall back to Earth aided by a parachute.



Once the payload has landed, members of the public are being invited to hunt the package down, with the finder being able to claim the Seiko watch as a prize.



The exciting project, which takes flight on Space Exploration Day, has been sponsored by world renowned watch manufacturer, Seiko, to celebrate the launch of the Seiko Astron collection.



The watch will launch from the grounds of Carsington Water, Derbyshire, where C W Sellors has plans to build a new ‘jewellery design centre of excellence’ visitor attraction next year.



Steve Ashby, one of the project organisers at Jura Watches, said: “This is without a doubt one of the most exciting projects I have ever worked on, but one that’s not without meticulous planning.



“Based on our current data, it looks like wind conditions on the day will land the watch somewhere around the South Yorkshire area, so people should be on the lookout!



“We are working closely with professionals who will be overseeing the project to make sure everything from the launch to the landing goes to plan.”



Jura Watches plans to broadcast live still images of the flight and landing throughout the day on its Facebook page, and will share a full HD video of the launch once complete. The balloon should float until it passes the edge of Earth’s atmosphere, before it eventually bursts and drifts back to earth by parachute. The project is being overseen by Sent Into Space, a company which specialises in space launches.