An Australian 10-year-old schoolboy found a $13,000 vintage Cartier watch buried on a beach Tuesday.
The watch’s owner removed the bling just before 7:30 a.m., putting it in the pocket of his shorts before taking his regular swim at Balmoral Bay, Australia, according to the Mosman Collective. The man called his son an hour later, frantic as the gold timepiece was missing.
“Dad was in a real state and very upset,” the man’s son, Justin, told the outlet. “He returned to the car after his swim, and when he went to put his watch on, it wasn’t there. He parks in the same spot and swims in the same spot every day, but even after retracing his steps, it couldn’t be found.”
#ToledoBuzz – Schoolboy finds a vintage Cartier watch worth $13k at Beach https://t.co/5D4wXVBN1a #Toledo #ToledoOhio pic.twitter.com/a0hhESft9i
— ToledoBuzz (@toledobuzznews) March 24, 2023
After searching the shore with a friend and a rake, they turned up nothing. That’s when Justin called the team at Mosman Collective to ask for help.
When schoolboy Josh Shave and his father Simon learned of the situation, they went along to the beach to help. Armed with a metal detector and a small shovel, the duo were initially not hopeful the piece could be recovered.
At around 5:20pm, Josh heard a beeping through the headphones connected to the metal detector after searching for just a minute, according to 7News. He dug down around 20 centimeters, and found the watch. “I got a big shock when I found it,” Josh told the outlet. “I knew it was valuable because it looked so different from an Apple Watch.”
Josh told that outlet that as soon as he saw the piece, he “became really excited; I knew I would be able to make the sad man happy again.” (RELATED: Man Finds $40,000 Ring On Florida Beach)
The older man was thrilled at Josh’s recovery of his sentimental watch. He’d purchased it in France roughly 40 years ago, the outlet noted. The family were so thrilled they gave Josh an undisclosed amount of “pocket money.”