The woman who found a $250,000 Rolex watch in her thrift store couch did 'all the right things,' according to the expert collector who later bought her watch himself

Bob's Watches

• Paul Altieri, the CEO and founder of Bob's Watches, shared on Robb Report the now-viral story of a woman finding a rare Rolex (valued at over $250,000) in her thrift store couch.
• Speaking to Business Insider, Altieri revealed that he bought the watch himself and has kept it in his personal collection.
• The watch resale expert and collector also shared another of his favorite watch-find stories.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

In September, Paul Altieri, the CEO and founder of Bob's Watches, wrote a story for Robb Report about one of the most memorable stories he'd encountered in his watch resale career: A Canadian woman called him to say she'd found a Rolex stuck between the cushions of her thrift store couch.

The watch ended up being a rare, valuable timepiece - a vintage Rolex Daytona 6241 "Paul Newman" worth over $250,000. The lucky finder's tale went viral, so Business Insider followed up with Altieri to find out what happened to that watch.

Read more: A woman says she found a rare $250,000 Rolex wedged in the cushions of a thrift-store couch she'd bought for $25

The woman who stumbled upon the "Couch Watch" did everything right

Altieri said the woman who found the Rolex between her couch cushions "did all the right things" to get her money's worth.

"Most folks FedEx overnight their watch in to us, fully insured, at no cost to them," Altieri told Business Insider. "However, on occasion, when it's a special circumstance, we will make other arrangements like flying them in or us flying to them. We also have a contract with an armored car delivery company that can be used on higher-valued watches."

In this particular instance, after the woman searched for vintage Rolex dealers online and did her due diligence on Bob's Watches, Altieri sent one of his watch experts to her in Canada to determine her watch's authenticity and value. It ended up paying off.

"There have been a few vintage Rolex Daytona collectors who have reached out to me, since all this media coverage, to ask if they could purchase the timepiece. But for right now, I plan to keep it in my personal collection," Altieri said. "Vintage Rolex 'Paul Newman' Daytona models have been terrific investments these past five years. The pre-owned Rolex market is booming."

The watch resale expert said that timepieces of the particular Daytona 6241 model the woman found are valued today between $200,000 and $350,000, depending on the watch's condition and other variables.

"Couch Watch" is hardly the first or only wild story Altieri has encountered

According to Altieri, almost 100% of Bob's Watches purchases "come straight from the owners and/or the families," unlike the majority of luxury watch dealers "who trade amongst themselves."

Another of the CEO's favorite found-watch stories involves a 14-year-old boy stumbling upon a Rolex in Pebble Beach - one Altieri also ended up keeping for his personal collection.

"A 14-year-old buy caddying at Pebble Beach 40 years ago discovered an old Rolex lying in the fairway grass. He picked it up and turned it over to the Pro Shop at the end of the day. Two weeks later, the boy is given the unclaimed watch, which he wears for a few weeks - until he discovered that he liked his brother's 8-track cassette player better, so he traded it," Altieri recalled.

"A year or so later, after his older brother realized that his younger brother might have gotten the short end of the stick, the older brother proposed to trade it back to him for his new skateboard," he continued. "Forty years later, he read about me and my personal collection and wanted me to have it so he could create a college fund for his grandson. I valued the watch at $100,000 and paid him in full for it. I still have the watch today."