YESTERDAY he was thought to be the most honest man in Southend. Now street cleaner Arron Large may just be the luckiest.

The 28-year-old, from Rayleigh, fresh from finding a £21,000 gold Rolex lying in a drain, has found three more expensive watches.

And, if the rightful owners don’t come forward within 30 days, Arron could pocket a whopping £60,000, believed to be what the watches are worth.

He said: “I told my colleague ‘you’re not going to believe me, but I’ve found another one’.

“He said ‘shut up’, but when I took it out and wiped it off I realised it really was another Rolex. Then I saw the other two. It’s quite amazing.”

The watches – two Rolexes, a Franck Muller and an Omega – were all found in two drains opposite Chalkwell railway station.

The finds have sparked debate about whether you would hand the haul in.

But Arron, who works for Cory Environmental on behalf of Southend Council, said: “A few people have said they wouldn’t have handed it in, but at the end of the day I thought it was the right thing to do.”

In fact, he has decided to split anything he may keep with his street cleaning colleague and driver Ray Gunn.

Mr Gunn, 65, said the money would come in extremely handy.

He said: “I retire in July and it would be better to have a three- month cruise than a 14-day cruise!You never know how long you’ve got left, so you need to enjoy it.”

The pair have found some unusual things before, but mainly knives which have been dropped down drains.

Arron said: “We’ve had lots of bits and pieces, but nothing quite like this. A while ago we met up with a CID police officer and got an old wallet out of a drain in Hamlet Court Road because they thought it was possibly linked to a missing girl.”

A payout would also come in handy for Arron, who lives with his parents, his partner Rachel Cozins, 25, and their four-year-old twins, Brandon and Aidan. However, it’s unlikely he would give up work if he gets the money as he quite enjoys the job.

He added: “It’s a dirty job, but it doesn’t bother me, and it’s better to be in a job than out of it.”

Police believe they know where the first Rolex was made.

PC Patrick Soontorn, from the Southend CID, said: “I think the first watch was made in Singapore, bought in Hong Kong, and ended up in, of all places, Leigh.”

The first watch was not registered as stolen, but the serial numbers of the others will now be checked. Residents were stunned to hear £60,000 of jewellery was lying in the drains outside their homes.

Ben Schlaepfer, 40, who lives in the Ridgeway, said: “It’s amazing. I would be surprised if that many people could lose expensive watches in that period of time. I don’t know if they could have come from a burglary.”

Another neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: “We thought one was amazing, but four!

“Maybe if someone was being chased and they got rid of them by throwing them in the drain.”