Matt Cuddihy has been snorkelling the same stretch of Noosa coastline for years. He picks up surfboard fins, bits of debris, whatever the ocean’s collected.
One morning in mid-2023 the sand had shifted overnight and exposed a section of rocks he didn’t normally see. He was working through the area when he spotted a watch jammed under one of them. Band caught, completely encrusted, smelling genuinely bad. His first thought was that it was a cheap fake, the kind of thing someone picks up in Bali. But he decided to grab it anyway.
Turns out, it was a Rolex Submariner ref. 5513. Built somewhere between 1962 and 1989, one of the longest production runs in Rolex history and still one of the most sought after vintage references out there. A good one can sell for anywhere from $20,000 to significantly more depending on condition.
This one was not in good condition. The bezel was corroded, the crystal was frosted over and the crown was jammed solid. But when Matt rinsed it under fresh water, the second hand was still moving.
He posted photos on Instagram and overnight the discovery became a sensation.
Everyone from watch forums to surf sites to major newspapers in Europe jumped on the coverage and one frequent question kept surfacing. Will he sell it or keep it?
He said no to both and instead wanted to find the owner. It wasn’t long before Ric entered is inbox, writing that if the watch had a special inscription “Presented 1971” on the back, then it was his.
Ric was 69, lived on the Sunshine Coast less than an hour from Noosa and had been given the watch by his father when he was eighteen for winning a local sailing race. He’d worn it for decades but lost it while surfing in Noosa in February 2019 when it slipped off during a small swell session. He’d reported it to police and contacted Rolex at the time but nothing came of it.
The watch had been sitting on the ocean floor for four years.
Matt and Ric spoke on the phone, then met for lunch in Noosa. Rolex Australia heard about it and offered to restore the watch fully, which they did. New bracelet, corrosion cleared, back to how it once looked.
Matt never asked for anything.
“The only thing I wanted was to reunite it with the owner,” he said. “I wasn’t ever going to sell it. I knew it meant a lot to someone.”
An example of the Rolex Submariner 5513