San Francisco Frontiers - Arnie's 'customs adventure' watch sells for $290,000

The action hero-turned-environmental campaigner was held at Munich airport Wednesday for failing to declare the bespoke Audemars Piguet timepiece that was being auctioned for his climate charity.

Schwarzenegger called his brush with the law a "wild experience" at the charity dinner Thursday where the watch was auctioned, cracking raunchy jokes about a female official who he said "was going to put me in handcuffs", according to a video posted on entertainment website TMZ.

"Usually I pay $500 for that," said the 76-year-old actor, a former governor of California.

Schwarzenegger was held for three hours, according to the German media, before being allowed to take the watch to the dinner.

The fundraiser for his Schwarzenegger Climate Initiative was held across the border in his native Austria in the Alpine resort of Kitzbuehel, with US climate envoy John Kerry said to be among the guests.

"The world's most famous watch was auctioned off for 270,000 euros," the charity said Friday.

"Arnold Schwarzenegger's customs adventure had a happy ending," it added.

Duty should have been paid on the watch because Schwarzenegger was intending to sell it in the European Union, German customs spokesman Thomas Meister said.

The star had to pay "several thousand euros" in taxes, according to the German daily Bild, which said the watch had been specially made for the actor.

The glitzy auction raised 1.31 million euros, the actor's charity said, with works of art and a personal training session with Schwarzenegger himself also going under the hammer.

L.Nguyen--SFF