Apple Watch Lost at Sea for Six Months Returned to Owner in Working Condition
Credit: KTLA
Bainter, who regularly body surfs and boogie boards the waves at Huntington Beach, can usually be found with an Apple Watch on his wrist. That is, until Bainter lost his trusty wearable while surfing a wave six months ago.
“A huge wave came and you know I was loving it, rode it and then I pick up my arm and like ‘Oh My God,’ what just happened,” Bainter told KTLA of the incident during which his Watch went missing.
Losing an Apple Watch would obviously be tragic for anyone, but Bainter said the device had been his “good luck charm.”
“It would use it quite often to show the surf and how fast you were going,” he said. “It would even show you where you were on the beach.”
After losing his Apple Watch, Bainter said he spent an hour combing the shoreline for the wearable. He turned on Find My iPhone and enabled Lost Mode on the device, and even returned later that evening to continue looking for it.
The surfer’s search for his lost Apple Watch didn’t end that day, however. KTLA notes that every visit to the beach was just another opportunity to find it, but after about six months, Bainter was beginning to lose hope that he’d ever retrieve it.
That’s when he received a phone call from a number he didn’t recognize.
“Hey, if your name is Rob Bainter and you lost an Apple Watch recently. Give me a call and if you can describe this I’ll give this thing to you,” the person on the other end said.
The other man reportedly found Bainter’s trust Apple Watch about three miles north of where it was initially lost.
“He was just walking looking for shells and he found it right there. It was a dream come true, I couldn’t believe it!” Bainter said.
Even more amazingly, the Apple Watch was still in working order. Although the salt water had left a haze on the display, “it worked fine, it didn’t skip a beat. All the information was there, all the apps were there.”
The Apple Watch Series 3 through Series 4 are rated as being able to withstand submersion to up to 50 meters. But Apple recommends that users stick to shallow water swimming and to avoid “high-velocity water.”
On the other hand, Apple devices sometimes vastly outperform their water-resistance rating.
Bainter eventually bought a new Apple Watch before his old one was discovered, but he says he’s amazing as the resilience of the device. “I’m a big Apple fan,” Bainter concluded.
