A shiny, gold Rolex that previously never saw the light of day was captured perched on a pile of ash and debris from the Eaton Fire.
The ash and debris of what once was the Altadena home of photographer Kevin Cooley - the one he shared with his wife and son.
"I put it in a safe and that's kind of where it sat," Cooley said of the watch.
Cooley's not just any photographer. He's renowned for his photos of wildfires, including those he took of the Woolsey Fire. He was in Pacific Palisades taking photos when the Eaton Fire began not far from his house.
"I got a call from my wife. She sent a photo of the Eaton Fire start, and I could tell it was from our house, and I knew how far away Eaton Canyon was and I was like, 'Oh man, I've got to come home,'" recalled Cooley.
"Being around so much fire, like I thought maybe I would've done a better job of evacuating, but when it's your family, and your kid is screaming and everyone's really panicking, your mind turns to mush," he said.
Luckily, Cooley's quick-thinking wife grabbed the important documents and that beloved watch.
After getting his family to safety, Cooley returned to his home and got back to work. His lens is now focused on what's left of his own house.
"I didn't spend that much time there," he said. "I documented it, but then I moved on to the next. I wanted to see if my son's school a block and a half away had survived. It did."
Saving the Rolex wasn't just about the watch's value. There's an emotional significance.
The watch originally belonged to his grandfather, and more than 60 years ago, his Los Angeles home also burned down in a wildfire.
"He lost his house in the 1961 Bel Air fire so I have this connection, through the watch, to a man I barely knew, but have this shared sense of loss," said Cooley.
A watch that's been handed down from grandfather to father to son is finally being worn, and the weight of several generations, tragedies and stories of survival is now just an arm's length away.
"I mean, it's a heavy watch," said Cooley. "It does feel strange on my arm, but I look at it and I think of my grandfather."
Take a look at the latest stories and videos on the devastating Southern California wildfires here.