Friend picks up $100K Cartier watch left behind at Newark Liberty Airport security checkpoint

This May 5, 2015 photo provided by the Transportation Security Administration shows a diamond-encrusted Cartier watch that was left behind at a security checkpoint at Newark Liberty International Airport in Newark, N.J. Guards got a surprise when they looked in a bin and discovered the watch valued at more than $100,000 when a real estate entrepreneur from Japan left it behind as he boarded a flight back home in Terminal C on Tuesday, May 5. A Transportation Security Administration officer put the watch under lock and key. (Transportation Security Administration via AP) (The Associated Press)

A man who left his $100,000 diamond-encrusted watch at a Newark Liberty International Airport security checkpoint is getting it back via special delivery.

The Transportation Security Administration says the watch was picked up Thursday by a colleague of the Japanese real estate entrepreneur who left it behind. The friend planned to fly to Japan later Thursday to hand deliver it.

Guards at the airport accustomed to having travelers leave behind sunglasses and stuffed animals found the one-of-a-kind Cartier watch in a bin Tuesday. The owner had already boarded a flight to Japan.

The watch was kept under lock and key until it was retrieved.

Officials say the owner contacted them and that they used security images showing him wearing the timepiece to verify the claim.