TIRANA, Albania -- So, what exactly happened to President George W. Bush's wristwatch? We may never know.

Video: Bush Gets Rock-Star Welcome

It seems that one moment Bush was greeting and shaking hands with Albanians on Sunday, while wearing a watch with a dark strap on his left wrist. Moments later, nothing. The watch was no longer on his wrist. Click here to watch that video. (Warning, this is YouTube.com video and comments are not monitored.)

People are wondering. Did it fall off? Did one of his bodyguards remove it? Or did one of the crowd artfully slip it off his wrist and pocket it?

According to The Associated Press, the United States Embassy in Albania on Tuesday is denying that the president's watch was stolen during his visit to the country, where he was acclaimed as a hero. Dana Perino, a White House spokeswoman, said the president has his watch again but gave no indication as to what happened to it in Albania.

The Albanian media and Web sites around the world are showing the moment that the wrist watch seemingly vanished as he shook hands with people in Fushe Kruje, 15 miles north of Tirana.

The Albanian people treated the president like a rock star or a movie star, shaking hands with him, grabbing him by the arms and wrists, reaching out to embrace him and even ruffling his hair.

The video showed Bush's obvious delight at the attention being poured on him. He continuously reached into the crowd. He was even kissed on the cheek.

An Albanian bodyguard who accompanied Bush in the town told The Associated Press he had seen one of his U.S. colleagues close to Bush bend down and pick up the watch.

Bush's visit to the tiny Balkan country, the first ever by a U.S. president, was considered as historic.

Albania issued three postage stamps with Bush's picture and the Statue of Liberty, renamed a street in front of parliament in his honor and awarded him the highest National Flag medal, and the Fushe Kruje Town Council also declared him an honored citizen.