$10K Rolex allegedly gifted by Hans Zimmer and destroyed in Palisades fire is miraculously restored
A $10,000 Rolex, said to have been a gift from composer Hans Zimmer, was rescued from the wreckage of a Pacific Palisades house and astonishingly returned to life in a restoration that was posted on YouTube.
The 2015 Rolex Sea Dweller had been a prized possession, worn daily for a decade by its owner—who is believed to work in the music industry—until the Pacific Palisades fire ripped through his home earlier this year, taking most of the watch with it.
When the owner visited the site that was now a pile of rubble, he discovered the timepiece buried in the debris.
“I think it’s kind of a miracle that they were able to find it at all,” Marshall Sutcliffe, the watch‑revivalist, says in his video.
The clip documents the watch’s dramatic journey—from an ash‑covered, partially melted wreck to a Rolex that looks almost brand new.
“As you can see, nothing remained of really anything,” Sutcliffe comments, noting that the watch likely withstood temperatures of 1,500 to 1,600 °F, typical of a burning house.
Sutcliffe, a well‑known name among watch enthusiasts who runs a YouTube channel with over a million subscribers, also has a Patreon site where patrons can view his Wristwatch Revival videos.
After the watch was melted and crusted with ash, a viewer brought it to Sutcliffe, who accepted what might be his most challenging repair yet.
“This just hits differently having it in my hands,” Sutcliffe says. “You see stuff on the news, but holding something that actually belonged to someone and seeing the damage after a fire like that is devastating,” he added.
He believes the owner works in music and that the watch was gifted by the Oscar‑winning German film composer Hans Zimmer.
The owner sifted through the rubble and found the battered remnant of the watch. The bezel, crystal, dial and internal ring were all destroyed, and the timepiece had become completely seized up.
“Oh my god. Holy smokes,” Sutcliffe says. “Wow. You can see the remnants of the gasket. It’s completely turned into ash and dust.”
Only the crystal remained; it was somehow still intact.
After fully disassembling the watch, cleaning what was left, and reassembling it with new parts, the Rolex looked essentially brand new.
The video has attracted almost 5,000 comments, many from viewers curious about the owner’s reaction when he finally sees his watch again, but attempts to contact both the owner and Hans Zimmer have not yet been successful.
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