Pixel Watch 5 leaked from the ocean floor near a Caribbean island, and Randy Pitchford is somehow involved

Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford posted one of the stranger tech stories of 2026 on X this week: a friend of his was scuba diving near the island of Saint Martin in the Caribbean and found a Google Pixel Watch 5 sitting on the ocean floor — a device Google hasn't announced yet.

Pitchford said the watch had a dead battery but otherwise appeared to be in working order, and that the underside clearly reads "Google Pixel Watch 5." He shared photos of both sides of the device. GSMArena, picked up by Kotaku, noted the specs visible in the images are consistent with a Pixel Watch — IP68 water resistance, a heart rate sensor, a UWB chip, plus SpO2 and skin temperature tracking. Pitchford explained he posted about it because his friend figured he had connections in the tech industry.

How the watch ended up on a Caribbean seabed is anyone's guess. The most plausible explanation is that a Google employee dropped it while on vacation or during a water-resistance test — though flying to Saint Martin specifically to dunk a smartwatch seems extravagant even by Google standards. Predictably, some people accused Pitchford of fabricating the whole thing, but it would be a remarkably elaborate hoax if so.

Pitchford followed up with an update saying he tracked down the owner through "the magic of the internet" and arranged to return the watch. He signed off with a note to pay it forward if you ever find something that isn't yours.