Thanks to a metal detectorist, a 95-year-old British farmer has been reunited with his prized Rolex watch, believed to have been eaten by a cow, half a century later. James Steele recounted that he lost the watch in the early 1970s when he “suddenly realized” its bracelet had broken.
It now serves as a keepsake since it would “cost a bomb” to restore
“The cow could have eaten it with a mouthful of grass, the vet said,” the BBC quoted Steele from Shropshire as saying. The metal detectorist returned the watch to the owner of Treflach Hall in Morda, Oswestry, after discovering it on his property. Steele called the find a “stroke of luck” and said it was “amazing” after all these years. “I was quite pleased because I never thought I would see the watch again,” he said.
“But I have got it now. I only have half the bracelet – the other half must have disintegrated.
“I have the watch but it is not going. The face has gone greenish but it has not rusted up.” Steele, praising the metal detectorist who found the watch, said he could have quite easily not owned up to his discovery.
More valuables could still be found, the farmer said, encouraging the metal detectorist to keep working his land.
“But I have got it now. I only have half the bracelet – the other half must have disintegrated.
“I have the watch but it is not going. The face has gone greenish but it has not rusted up.” Steele, praising the metal detectorist who found the watch, said he could have quite easily not owned up to his discovery.
More valuables could still be found, the farmer said, encouraging the metal detectorist to keep working his land.