53. True Crime? A Stuntman's Search for a Rolex Lost at the Bottom of a Lake

In his professional context, you might find Tom Place smashing through the windshield of a bus, getting hit by a car, or in all manner of fist-fights, gun-fights, and falls from the tops of myriad buildings. One would think that somewhere in those activities we could pull on a thread of true crime. However, we have had to look very hard to explore any sinister links. 

The closest we can get today, talking with Tom On the Dogwatch, is understanding his love of watches and his search for a Rolex watch he lost decades ago in upstate New York to the bottom of a lake. After Tom lost the watch during a bout of somewhat ill-advised, but not uncharacteristic, hijinks on a boat, he has spent many days and hours under the surface of the lake, methodically searching the muck for his lost timepiece. In our conversation, we discuss Tom’s life as a stuntman, his love of watches, and then how he lost the watch and has gone about searching for it. 

While it is unlikely that the watch has been stolen from the bottom of the lake, whether by an unwitting fish, an unlikely fisherman, or an uncommonly well-informed scuba diver, we don’t entirely rule out any possibilities. In the end, we are left with a dramatic story of the search for a lost love.