Man Finds Lost Rolex, Presumed Stolen by Cow, 50 Years Later

A 95-year-old British man was recently reunited with his prized Rolex that he had lost five decades ago, with the help of a treasure hunter armed with a metal detector. 

James Steele had lost the silver Air-King Rolex wristwatch back in the 1970s on his dairy farm in Shropshire, England, a town about 150 miles northwest of London. He had purchased the watch around 1950 when he was a young man in his early 20s, with money he had saved up from milk deliveries.

After scouring the field where he lost it for days, Steele eventually gave up, assuming that one of his cows had found and eaten it.

Although Steele's son Andrew, 57, who now oversees the farm with his brother, had grown up hearing stories about the beloved timepiece, he had invited treasure hunter Liam King to the farm after discovering a rare antique British token on the farm as a child. He was convinced that there was more history to be found on the property, but certainly was not expecting to turn up his father's watch.

"I just wanted the land to talk to me," he told the Washington Post.

British Farmer's Rolex Watch Eaten by Cow in 1970 Recovered After 50 Years https://t.co/IUCNaiqWzd pic.twitter.com/9pPfQAP8w3

— Hira Mokariya (@MokariyaHira) June 19, 2024

King, 38, initially didn't think much when he turned up the broken watch, and gave it to Andrew, who shared it with his stunned father. Even after some 50 years later, Steele immediately recognized the Rolex. 

"I’d written it off," he explained." I never thought I’d see it again, but I was over the moon when the detector found it."

In addition to the watch, King likewise turned up a Roman coin and a signet ring that appeared to be from medieval times. He noted that the land likely contains other relics from English-Welsh skirmishes and the 17th-century English Civil War.

Since being reunited with the long lost Rolex, watch enthusiasts from around the world have reached out to the family with one expert from the Netherlands even offering to help get it working again. But for now, Andrew is keeping the family heirloom close to him, and is hesitant to even set it down for fear of losing to again.

However, the biggest mystery will likely never be solved, as to whether the watch made its way through the four stomachs of a cow before it came to its resting place of half of a century. Though, that may be for the best.