I had to buy a brand new aircrew watch to hand back, too.
Mine was a very cheap wind-up one, issued in 1977 at BFTS. It disappeared during an TTF NBC trial, somewhere in a farmer's field in RAFG, when I had to carry out a suit change alongside my aircraft, parked in long grass. It went out of the door and dressed in my AR5 and constrained by carrying the "hissing handbag" I couldn't find it before I had to take off again on task.
Although the one issued would have cost about £16, the one I had to pay for cost me £85 and then I had to hand it back very shortly afterwards on leaving the service, after nearly 20 years.
