Indeed, I do think that my only course of action is to 'grin and bear it' , ( although I am finding it difficult to grin about the whole situation ) . It was my first, and last , experience of using Fedex and I remain amazed that it was so easy for an employee to get away with such a thing. I guess if I had been more prudent and typed ' fedex stole my watch " in google BEFORE I shipped then I would have realized that it is definitely NOT a company that can be trusted to do what you pay them to do.
Oh well, you live and learn...