In the early 1970s, farmer James Steele, now 95 years-old, lost his precious Rolex wristwatch. He was rounding up his cows when the bracelet broke. Steele scoured the area where it fell off but had no luck and ultimately gave up.
"The cow could have eaten it with a mouthful of grass," a vet told Steele at the time.
Fifty years later though, a metal detectorist was treasure hunting on Steele's land and bingo! He found the watch. It no longer works and the face has a greenish tint—no surprise considering the possible journey it took before ultimately dropping in its longtime resting place.
Steele has no plans to refurbish the watch as it would "cost a bomb" which, of course, means a crap-ton of money.
Hear Steele's wonderful retelling of the story at the BBC News.
Previously:
• Person with metal detector finds stash of 1,500-year-old gold jewelry
• Man with metal detector discovers a hoard of Bronze Age artifacts in a field
• Man with metal detector turns up rare 2,000-year-old Roman artifact
