I think you may have found my long lost pet crow His name is "ebay".

Wow. That's something I've never heard.

I might look in the local newspaper or local news website. Something like that might get reported. You can't exactly advertise.

Pet crow sounds like it has good taste.

If Mr./Mrs. Crow was bringing me free smokes, I'd give him his own feeder and an official name.

As to the watch. I would do as The Fuse mentioned, plus keep an eye on craigslist. I'd think if a person lost something of that value, they'd at least attempt to locate it through one of the local resources.

Interesting ethical dilemma indeed.....

Well, crows, like ravens, are attracted to shiny objects and try to collect them. Maybe because the cigarettes are white? Anyway, couldn't hurt to post a free lost & found ad online somewhere local.

Part of me wants to tell you to post the add.

Another part of me wants to start to train crows.

When I was young some hippie neighbors had a large pet crow. It would steal things right out of your hand and a small grocery shop/farm stand was nearby. It would land in my bike basket and take things out of it. One time it tried to pull the barrettes out of my hair. I got hurt pretty bad by it that day. Eventually, the city took the animal away (it was pretty scary). The word came out that the bird had brought them a pile of loot too! Watches, rings and so forth. I wonder if they had trained it to do so or if it did it on their own. It was a pet and would actually come over and sit on the owners shoulders.

I've heard of crows doing such things, but never heard a first-hand account. I would do as the others have suggested and check the local papers/craigslist, etc. You can post an ad, but the tricky thing there is getting someone to correctly identify it.

Then you can train the crow to start collecting cash.

=)

In addition to putting in an advertisement is to probably call the sheriffs office to tell them what's happened. If it's a true Rolex, someone's probably called the cops about a burglary.

what a great true story... We have more crows around here than you can shake a stick at. I've tried. I've also tried throwing apples... but that didn't work, either.

It has occurred to me that every Rolex has a serial number. So what if I tell the sheriff's office that a crow took it into my back yard and it ends up being on a list of stolen stuff. Are they going to think I lifted it? It does not, by the way, keep time very well. Maybe it is a Chinese rip-off. Haven't seen the crow lately.

At first I thought, yea I could understand the crow bringing the cigarette butts,as we get that too. But the watch ? That sounds more along the lines of a bandit raccoon. I know from personal experience with "den trees" (preferably the Beech tree) as well as the hay barn. Raccoons are very much the banded thief as labeled. Some of the dens I've had to destroy included pop tabs, shiny objects mainly, but a few electric fence insulators colored yellow too. Amazing how much junk in a den, really. Had a friend tell me, he found his grandmothers ring in a barn den, while getting hay out to the horse.

As far as ethics.... You've posted here, so your conscience is clear. Imagine something you have lost in the past, perhaps of equal value. Karma working for you now~

Finders Keepers, losers weepers. Unfortunately I'm usually the weeper....I still want you to keep the watch though. We have one from a swing club to this day, no one claims. Wanna trade ? We'll both feel un-watched, by our own conscience

edit: Just saw your last post. If your calling the law, we don't know you ! Does the second hand on the watch move in movements/increments, by the second ? A genuine Rolex doesn't, it moves continuously. Our watch has two genuine diamonds (we checked) Not going to get suckerd in the deal either

Maybe the crow did not bring the shiny gifts. Maybe it was a raccoon. I think you've got it. The Rolex ticks and needs to be wound -- at about five ticks per second, I think. Is that a good sign or a bad sign? I don't see any diamonds.

Beyond the police possibly having the watch on file as stolen, most Rolex owners do register them. I am not sure Rolex would give you the info or just request you return it to them. Even if the owner did not register it, if they have ever had it repaired or even cleaned the jewelers often record the SN and report it back to Rolex.

Ethically, make a good faith effort to track the owner down. The Police may request you bring it to them, most departments will return it to the finder after some time, but not all. If after a while you have not found them, fix the watch and enjoy.

Ah, here is something I learned from watching Pawn Shop

Not the exact one I was looking for as he took the back off and found a plastic seal (Rolex has no plastic, ever) but you might google from here. Coupleerotic22 has some good points too. I guess I was mistaken about the hand movement as well. Obviously, I've never owned a Rolex....

I love Rick, Big Hass and Chumley. This evidence suggests that the crow's watch is a real one. Thanx for the link.