The Rolex Killer - True Crime

A Rolex Unraveled A Bizarre Murder Mystery & Exposed A Conman - It's Never Just A Watch 

At Watches of Espionage, we believe watches are tools, providing utility for military operations, intelligence, diving, and even communication. Watches are also talismans, sometimes becoming physical anchors for the memories of their owners after they’re gone. 

Occasionally, watches serve as witnesses, acting as the final piece of a complex puzzle to solve a mystery or a crime. In 1996, the body of a man was raised in a fishing net in the English Channel. The Rolex on his wrist became a central clue in unraveling a bizarre mystery that led to a murderer who would become known as the “Rolex Killer”. Today, we continue our exploration of the dark side of Use Your Tools. The (watch) world is not all flowers and rainbows.

28 July 1996 - Brixham, England 

Brixham is known for trawler fishing and its expansive fish market.

On a sunny day in the summer of 1996, the father and son team of John and Craig Copik set out on their boat to fish in the English Channel, enjoying the day’s relatively calm seas. After an empty net or two, the pair leaned into John’s decades of commercial fishing experience and elected to try for an area known as “The Roughs”, infamous for its sporty conditions. When the day’s final catch hit the deck, Craig smelled the dead body amongst the fish before he saw it. It was a middle-aged man, well preserved by the frigid waters, with an injury to the back of the head. Knowing they’d need to surrender their day’s catch as evidence, the Copiks reluctantly alerted authorities. 

Remarkably, when an officer from Her Majesty’s Coastguard arrived, the responding officer questioned whether the Copiks had robbed the body, which had its pockets turned out and offered no wallet or other identifying information. John, ever the salty fisherman, was unimpressed: “If we were going to take his wallet, we'd probably have his Rolex watch as well." When the officer lifted the corpse’s limp arm, the watch’s automatic movement sprang into action. 

The Rolex Datejust that would ultimately unravel a murder mystery.

The officer noted the displayed time: 11:35. The date window read 22. Given the relatively fresh condition of the body, it was reasonable to assume the displayed date was six days prior. The watch had already given investigators a rough timeline, but its real value in the case was yet to emerge.

Meticulous Service Records Lead To Murder 

The jeweler where the watch’s owner had the watch serviced, allowing the case to be cracked open wide.

For weeks, the case stalled. Despite the head injury, an autopsy revealed the cause of death as drowning. Perhaps the man had slipped and fallen off a boat, hitting his head and being knocked unconscious as he entered the water. It seemed farfetched, but the lack of evidence left investigators in a challenging position until an off-handed comment from the coroner about Rolex’s meticulous record keeping. 

Back in the days of written inquiries sent by mail, detectives packed and shipped the watch to Rolex. The Crown removed the bracelet and caseback, confirmed the serial number, and informed detectives that the twenty-five-year-old Datejust Oyster Perpetual had been serviced on two occasions in the 1980s through an authorized dealer in Harrogate, England, called Fattorini. Contacting the jeweler, a weathered index card from the store’s filing system associated its serial with at least one of the watch’s owners: R. J. Platt. With a tangible lead, the real detective work began. 

David Davis, who was later found to be Albert J. Walker.

After searching every imaginable database, detectives found a lead, a leasing agreement for a Ronald J. Platt in Essex. Local tax documents showed that Platt no longer lived at the address and had moved to France, but Platt had listed a certain David Davis as a reference on his application. When authorities caught up with David Davis, who claimed to be American, he said he was a friend of Ron’s and that Ron had moved to France to start a TV repair business. A key detail, Davis also said that Ron had served in the military. 

Ronald J. Platt’s military service records provided two key clues in identifying the body: dental records as well as a note of a tattoo on Platt’s right hand. Authorities now knew the body found in the English Channel was not just any R.J. Platt, but this specific Ronald J. Platt of Essex. With a distinct lack of known associates, David Davis was also potentially the last person who had seen Platt alive. 

Who Is David Davis? 

When authorities went to Davis’s home, neighbors informed them Davis had been living as Ronald Platt, with his daughter posing as his wife. Weird.

When a police officer visited David Davis’s home to help coordinate getting some of Platt’s personal effects to a family member, the officer mistakenly knocked on the wrong door. The next-door neighbor who answered indicated that they believed their neighbor, the one at the address linked by law enforcement to David Davis, was called Ronald Platt, who lived with his much younger wife and children. It was exactly here that David Davis’s tangled web of lies began to unravel. 

David Davis’s real name is Albert J. Walker, a Canadian who had moved to England in 1990 after defrauding some seventy clients of over $3.2M with a business called Walker Financial. For Walker, Platt was nothing more than a mark, with their entire years-long friendship built around Walker’s eventual plan to steal Platt’s identity to solidify a new life away from the prying eyes of law enforcement. He almost got away with it, too. 

The anchor used to weigh down Platt’s body.

On a purported “fishing trip”, Walker was convicted of striking Platt on the back of the head before tucking a ten-pound anchor into his belt and casting him overboard. They say dead men tell no tales, but what about a dead man’s watch? Had Walker simply removed the Rolex from Platt’s wrist, his body may never have been identified. 

Walker’s boat, the Lady Jane, was the scene of Platt’s murder.

The incredible story of Albert J. Walker’s life as a conman, criminal, and murderer is more than we could ever hope to fit into a single Dispatch, and we have elected to concentrate on the watch in this story, Ronald Platt’s Rolex. For a more complete version of events, there is an excellent podcast series called Sea of Lies that is more than worth your time. 

A Watch Is Never Just A Watch

A 1971 Rolex Datejust reference 1600, similar to the watch worn by Ronald Platt on the day he died. (Photo Credit: Archiwatch)

Ronald Platt was a veteran and television repairman, and juxtaposed against that humble life, his Rolex Datejust was one of his most prized possessions. According to friends and family, Platt wore the watch 24/7 for twenty-five years, including in the shower, and was always careful to position the watch (worn on his right wrist) towards the camera in photographs. He also serviced the watch twice during his ownership, and in the grainy evidence photographs from the case, its Oyster bracelet appears in remarkably good condition. 

In this case, the watch was the clue that set law enforcement down a path of unraveling a complex and bizarre case of murder, intrigue, and stolen identity spanning two continents and many years. In 2002, Platt’s family signed for the watch, which had been in police possession until that time. Its current whereabouts are unknown, but it is likely that the watch, now a talisman representing justice in the murder of a loved one, is an important and endearing reminder of Ronald Platt’s life. Remember, a watch is never just a watch. 

If you enjoyed this article, please consider signing up for our weekly free newsletter for further updates HERE.

Read Next: A Mystery Death in Oslo, an Intelligence Op Gone Wrong?