I collect, rebuild, and use, vintage audio vacuum tube amps from the 1960's. When I first starting doing this, around 1988, I searched for spare new tubes from electronic supply stores, authorized repair shops and tv/radio dealers (who serviced what they sold). An "NOS" vacuum tube, to me, is exactly what it stands for "New, old stock". That is, never used, original tubes in their original box with absolutely no use whatsoever. That was usually pretty easy to verify, in particular, when bought from an "electronic parts jobber" (aka: wholesale electronic supply house/store that sold to tv/radio/audio repair shops). I would apply the same definition to a watch described as NOS. That is, in its original packaging and absolutely, positively never worn on a wrist and used. One exception would be the NOS Breitling watches sold by Old World Jewelers (Chicago) up until their inventory ran out 10 or 12 years ago. Those watches had been stored in safety deposit boxes in a Zurich bank, complete with the original purple wax seal on the back but, alas, no original boxes, papers or bands (too expensive to save and store with the watches). They were, however, completely original, factory fresh from the late 60's to mid 70's and never, ever worn or used until the day they sold to two individuals at auction.
: Mark,
: As usual, I can find nothing objectionable in your logic. My pet
: peve is not really that Jeff used the word rare. It is that
: words like rare and NOS are thrown around helter/skelter and
: they end up having no meaning. I got an email from a well known
: watch sale site this morning, informing me that they had 3 or 4
: new watches which were in my range of interest. One of them was
: described as NOS. It was nice...maybe "near mint." It
: had traces of the schmutz of having been worn. It had some minor
: surface scratches. It did not have the original bracelet and it
: had no box and papers. Can we agree that this is far from NOS?
: I would say that NOS is RARE....and again...I guess I am just an
: ass.
: Little Johnny...the ass.
