Farmer's wristwatch 'swallowed by cow' is found 50 years later

Whether during thorough cleaning, renovation, or completely by accident - we sometimes find things that we thought were lost long ago.

This is what happened on one of the dairy farms in England, where a lost Rolex watch was found after half a century.

James Steele, a farmer from Shropshire in western England, lost his Rolex watch in the early 1970s while working on his farm. The watch's bracelet was damaged, which likely caused it to slip off the wrist.

Steele tried to find the watch, but to no avail. He and his vet concluded that the watch had probably been swallowed by one of the cows.

"The Rolex was probably eaten by a cow along with a bite of grass - that's what the vet said," Steele reported in an interview with the BBC.

Years later, when Steele had long since come to terms with the loss of the watch and bought a new one, a detectorist with a metal detector appeared on his farm. It was thanks to him that the missing Rolex was found after half a century.

The watch, which likely passed through the cow's digestive system, eventually ended up in another part of the field, where it lay buried in mud for about 50 years. 

Liam King, a detectorist who was combing Steele's premises, accidentally found the watch and returned it to its owner. In thanks, Steele offered him further research in his field and preservation of any finds.

The found Rolex is no longer suitable for wearing - the watch does not work, part of the bracelet is missing and the dial has acquired a greenish tint. Despite this, the watch did not rust, which Steele says is proof of the high quality of Rolex products of the period.

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"I never thought I would see my watch again. The vet said a cow might have swallowed it. I was really happy to see it again. It's amazing that the Rolex was found after such a long time," Steele, 95, told the BBC.

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This article was originally published on Onet Travel.