The Watch that was Lost in the Ocean for 4 Weeks

During a holiday trip to the ocean, I ended up losing a watch that I was wearing while in the water and boy, does it feel special to have it back on my wrist.

It is actually intriguing to think about the engineering that goes into making a watch. Watchmakers have produced a time keeping device that can withstand all sorts of external forces and will still tell you an accurate time. Often times, one hears very romantic stories about mechanical watches that get lost from their owner. Most of the times, these watches are dive watches that end up spending a good portion of their life in the ocean only to be found by some diver or sea adventurer with a whole lot of patina. This is the ideal story that a vintage watch lover falls for, especially if the watch ends up in a condition that shows the story it has been on.

The watch is unfortunately not a mechanical watch, which we cover heavily on Life on the Wrist. But nevertheless, what a story to remember for it. The watch in question is an Apple Watch Series 3. I went to Florida with some friends and of course spent most of the time on the beach. As I normally do, I spent a lot of time riding the waves and enjoying the water in the hot weather. One afternoon I was boogie-boarding and I was wearing my watch. I had turned on the water lock and was having a really great time, not noticing the watch was even on my wrist. As I was sitting in the surf, I saw a large wave coming in and decided that was the wave I wanted to catch. As I paddled into it, I realized I didn’t time it super well and got tumbled. Luckily it was not a harsh surf, and was paddled back to the break after recovering, unscathed.

As I ended the set, I walked back to my friends who were sitting on the beach. As I walked, I realized something felt off and I looked down at my wrist and my watch was gone. I think what must of happened was when I got tumbled by the larger wave, it must have unclipped the watch from my wrist without me noticing because of all way I was thrown. Of course, I was pretty sad that I lost it so I decided to try and find it. I knew that Apple had a way of tracking Apple Products with the “Find My iPhone” app, so I got my phone and started walking and swimming through the surf, trying to connect my phone to my watch. The surf was hitting the shore at a bit of an angle so I walked quite far down the beach to try and find it. But, unfortunately I eventually gave in, realizing it was lost to mother nature.

So as the holiday drew to a close, I decided I would have to purchase a new Apple watch. This was an unfortunate ending to a great holiday but the reality of it. About 4 weeks later, I received a message from my Father who said someone texted him saying that he found an Apple Watch at the beach - I was in disbelief. A couple had found my watch while walking through the water. Apparently the man was sliding his feet through the sand and found it. He charged the watch, turned it on and managed to find my fathers number in the history of some of the messages on my phone. I had reported the watch as lost, and I am not sure how he got into it as when you report the watch as lost, it password protects it. Either way, I was extremely grateful.

The couple ended up sending the watch to me and I am so happy to have it back on the wrist. Earlier, I mentioned that it is every watch lovers dream to have a watch that goes on this type of adventure that shows the story on its case. What is crazy is that the watch literally looked exactly the same as it did before. No scratches, not massive dings, only a bit of salt that had formed in the holes of the strap. I was very nervous about if water would have gotten into the case, even though I put the water lock on. But no, everything was functioning perfectly. There may have been a bit of salt in the crown, but that was easily removed with just using it. Definitely a testament to the quality of the Apple watches. I am certainly grateful to the couple that returned the watch - an act of kindness and selflessness for sure.

Although my ‘lost watch’ was not mechanical, it still is pretty special for me that something that I wore on my wrist was lost in the ocean and made its way back to me. Definitely a story I will treasure as a watch enthusiast.

Enjoy!