The Apple Watch is a pricey little gadget that no one really needs, but it turns out that its heart monitor can really come in handy. Especially when you're having a heart attack and don't even know it.

That's the case for 62-year-old British builder Dennis Anselmo, whose life was saved when his Apple Watch (which he notes to The Sun that his wife did not want him to buy) alerted him to the fact he was having a heart attack.

Anselmo, who thought he was coming down with a fever because he felt "terrible," noticed something was seriously wrong when he looked at his Apple Watch and noticed his heart rate was pushing 210 beats per minute.

After being taken by ambulance to the hospital where doctors cleared blockages in his arteries, he was told that had he gone home to rest - the typical reaction - he'd likely have suffered a second, potentially fatal heart attack.

Explaining the situation, Anselmo told The Sun: "I was building a fence placing posts in the ground. We finished lunch at 1.15 and was back to work. I felt terrible—like I had a really bad flu. I worked for maybe ten minutes but said to my helper I need to sit down.

"So I sat on a trailer for a couple of minutes and was planning to go home—I felt all over the place. As I sat there I started to fiddle with my Apple Watch.

"I had only had it two weeks and had become obsessed with checking my pulse on it. I have a very low pulse normally—about 50. Most people are 55 to 75. I brought it up, and it was 210 bpm.

"I turned to my helper and said: We need an ambulance. They came out, figured out I was having a heart attack and I was off to hospital. They cleared the blockages so I didn't have another attack.

"They told me that if I had gone home and gone to bed—as many people do—I would likely have had another, more serious bout in the middle of the night. Those second attacks are the ones that kill. That is a common problem."

Granted, any watch with a heart rate monitor could have done the same job, but this time it was the Apple Watch to the rescue. Maybe not a reason to buy one, but a reason to check your heart rate now and then if you already have.

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