In 1996, a Rolex Oyster Perpetual Chronometer was the centerpiece of an elaborate murder case that happened in the United Kingdom. The body of a man was caught by a fishing crew off the coast of Devon at that time. The face of the man was already in an advanced state of decomposition, and the fingerprints and DNA of the remains could not be found in police or Interpol databases. The only identifying marks that he had were a tattoo of a maple leaf on the back of his hand and the Rolex watch around his wrist.
All the traditional methods used in forensic science for identifying remains were exhausted before a member of the investigating team pointed out at the victim's Rolex. It was suggested that the team should get in touch with the watch manufacturer itself because Rolex may have a record of the watch found on the victim.
True enough, Rolex has a record of every watch it has manufactured. The serial number of a Rolex watch can be found at the watch's shoulder, just underneath the curve where the bracelet meets the watch's face. In addition to that, every time a Rolex watch is taken to customer care for service and repairs, special engravings were made on the watch.
Because of the help extended by Rolex, the victim was later identified to be Ronald Joseph Platt. His Rolex Oyster Perpetual Chronometer was manufactured in Geneva in 1967 and he took it for servicing in 1977, 1982 and 1986. The identification of the body was confirmed later on by a man who came forward as Platt's friend, David Davis.
As it turned out, the identification of the victim through his cheap Rolex watch and his friend was only the beginning of a major discovery. When the British police investigated the whereabouts of Mr. Platt at the time of his death, it was uncovered that the man who introduced himself as David Davis was using the identity of Ronald Platt while living in England. Davis had arranged for Platt and his girlfriend to immigrate to Canada and, after doing that, had assumed Platt's identity in England without Platt knowing it.
David Davis was not his real name, either. He was actually Albert Johnson Walker, and he had been on the Interpol most wanted list in the last six years for swindling millions of dollars from clients in Canada. He had taken on Platt's identity as a means of escape. Walker did not count on the real Platt returning to England and living just a town away from where he lived.
It was never really established how Platt had died. The theory of the investigating police was that Walker had lured Platt to his boat on the premise that he needed help with it. Once on the boat, Walker hit Platt on the head, tied an anchor to Platt's belt, threw him overboard and left him to drown.
No matter how the crime had occurred or how it was planned, the point is that it would never have been uncovered if not for the Rolex watch found around Platt's wrist when he was fished up from the sea.
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