The Stolen Rolex

“Time reveals value only after it’s gone.”

When I turned eighteen, my father gave me a Rolex Submariner — a truly extraordinary gift. At that age, I didn’t fully understand its worth. Not just its monetary value, but the meaning behind it. It was a symbol of time, responsibility, and legacy — three things I wasn’t yet ready to carry.

That watch became more than a timepiece. It was a connection to my father — a reflection of trust, of pride, of something meant to last longer than both of us. But youth has a way of being careless with permanence.

One night, after an evening at the bar, I invited a few friends — and a few friends of friends — back to my house. We laughed, we drank, we lived too loosely in the moment. The next morning, the laughter was gone. So was the Rolex.

At the time, it was worth about $3,000. Today, that same Submariner would fetch nearly $12,000. But what’s truly irreplaceable isn’t the watch — it’s the story behind it. It was a gift of time, and I lost it before I ever appreciated what it meant.

The lesson stayed with me long after the watch disappeared: value isn’t defined by price or possession. It’s defined by memory, meaning, and the fleeting nature of every moment we take for granted.