A rare watch given to John Lennon by his wife Yoko Ono and which was stolen after his death does not belong to an Italian man who bought it from an auction house years later, a Swiss court ruled on Thursday, paving the way for its return to Ono.

A watch Yoko Ono bought for her late husband John Lennon as a birthday gift months before his assassination will be returned to her, a Swiss court has ruled.

A Swiss court has ruled that the Beatle’s long-lost Patek Philippe 2499 rightfully belongs to Ono, Bloomberg reported on Thursday. An Italian collector has been in possession of the timepiece for years, but his most recent appeal to retain the watch was rejected.

Yoko Ono has been declared the rightful owner of a watch she gave to her husband, John Lennon, shortly before his murder, according to a ruling by Switzerland's supreme court after the timepiece reappeared at an auction house.

The Patek Philippe was a 40th birthday gift to the former Beatle from his wife Ono before his assassination in 1980

Yoko Ono has won a legal case establishing that a watch once owned by her murdered husband, John Lennon, belongs to her, rather than to a private collector. The Swiss Federal Supreme Court rejected the complaint of the collector,