This is very old news indeed, but is still one of my favorite tales of a watch in pop culture.

For a little background for those too young or forgetful to remember, in 1994 the world over watched as a seemingly guilty former football star named O.J. Simpson was found not guilty for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman.

It was an upsetting loss for the families of the victims, but in 1997 some solace came in the way of a wrongful death civil trial victory. This basically ordered O.J. Simpson to pay the victims’ families over $30 million in damages. The fact that O.J. didn’t have that much money, however, landed him in the situation that he would have to pretty much give over all of his worldly possessions and future earnings to the Goldman and Brown family.

Years of loopholes and convenient relocations, however, have meant that the Goldman and Brown families couldn’t exactly net every single dollar they had coming to them. So naturally when they saw this on O.J.’s wrist, they sprung into action:

To the untrained eyes this looks like an everyday solid gold Rolex Submariner that can be had for around $18,000 – $22,000 depending on where you shop. To the Goldman and Brown families this represented a whole lot more. To them it was not only $10,000+ in uncollected debt, but a sign of disrespect.

How can a man who supposeably murder their kids and owes them millions of dollars, after all, still be rolling around with a bling Rolex on his wrist?

Your ordinary Rolex Submariner is made largely of stainless steel and can be had for about $5,000. O.J.’s Rolex, however, is a SOLID GOLD model that costs at least 3 times as much. Not only is O.J. ballin’ with a Rolex, but with one of the most bling Rolex watches that can be had. In my mind, this is an unacceptable situation.

Well luckily a judge felt the same way that I did and ordered that the watch be turned over to Fred Goldman, the father of the murdered Ron Goldman, so that Fred can now spend his days ballin’ just like O.J.

But wait…

Naturally when you think of NFL football players retired or otherwise, you think that a Rolex and the high life comes as an industry standard. Even when celebrities are down it seems as though they still manage to live their lives on a higher plane than you.

When I heard of O.J.’s Rolex tale I thought it an amusing little tidbit at first, but it seems that it took an even more interesting turn when it was found that the Rolex O.J. handed over was a Chinese fake barely worth a hundred bucks.

I guess he wasn’t doing so well after all…