Farmer Who Believed Cow “Ate” His Rolex, Finally Finds It

When James Steele lost his prized Rolex in the early 1970s, he thought it was gone forever. The British farmer had concluded that the watch, which had unexpectedly broken its bracelet, had been eaten by a cow along with the grass. Steele was shocked when he was reunited with the timepiece in 2024, almost half a century after he lost it. The broken watch, now only a dial, was discovered by a metal detectorist exploring Steele’s land in Oswestry, a small town in England.

The 95-year-old told BBC that he was thrilled to find the watch, saying, “I was quite pleased because I never thought I would see the watch again.But I have got it now.”

After over 50 years, he now only has half the bracelet. He believes 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,” he told the BBC.

He also was grateful for the metal detectorist and encouraged him to keep working on his land. As for the watch, Steele told BBC that he is keeping the old watch just as a keepsake because getting it fixed would “cost a bomb”. James Steele’s watch appears to have a much simpler dial as compared to the highly converted Rolex watches of recent times.

This is not the only incident in recent times when a metal detectorist rediscovered lost items in the pastures of England’s countryside. Earlier this month, BBC reported that a metal detectorist found a gold ring that belonged to a former prime minister of the UK. The ring had belonged to George Grenville, who was UK prime minister between 1763 and 1765.

Tom Clark, an 85-year-old metal detectorist, made this valuable discovery at a sheep pasture near Aylesbury, in Buckinghamshire. The ring was auctioned for £9,500 (approximately Rs 10 lakh). It was sold during an auction at Noonans Mayfair to an anonymous buyer in the USA. Half of the proceeds from the auction will go to the land owner of where the ring was found, the BBC reported.

When asked about how he wants to spend the auction money, Tom Clark said, “I would like to put the money in my bank account, but I am sure that my wife will have ideas of how to spend it!”