UNDERSEA TREASURE (52-0110)
Citizen’s Diver’s Watch Found in Australia in 1983.
Amazingly, the sands of time did not run out.
Neil Blakers of Cromer found an unusual Treasure on Long Reef Beach in Australia, but did not know what to do with it. It was a barnacle-encrusted underwater watch, and it was still ticking. “We were strolling along the beach on Saturday afternoon when I noticed something on the rocks,” Mr. Blakers said. “I realized it was a watch but the face and body were covered in barnacles. It looked as though it had once been growing on a rock or at the bottom of the ocean and been thrown up by a heavy surf.” Then, to the surprise of the Blakers family, the barnacles started to come off after treatment with lemon and grapefruit juice. “To our amazement, it was still ticking, so I decided to take it to Citizen Watches Australia.”
Citizen Watches Australia at Brookvale welcomed the watch and sent it to the Tokyo Head Office. Upon receiving the watch, the Tokyo Head Office requested the Product Quality Section of their Tanashi Factory to investigate when it was produced.
These efforts revealed that the watch was an automatic diver’s watch for men manufactured in 1977.
An Australian newspaper, “The Manly Daily”, gave a relatively large space to the story of this diver’s watch. Also in Japan, it was reported in some newspapers, and even became a common topic of conversation.
