David:

I am with you, in terms of wearing every watch that I own . . . so I have had only a few true NOS watches, and I have typically sold or traded them away, to people who really want the NOS ones.

In our current market, I believe that the use of "NOS" as a description is far overused . . . in many instances, to the point of being fraudulent. We discussed this at length a few weeks ago and I posted my own definition of "NOS". I am of the opinion that when a watch has been worn regularly for the better part of 20 years, there is nothing the new owner can do to make it New Old Stock . . . he can replace, restore, refresh, refinish or even repaint, but there is no way that this watch becomes New Old Stock. But we see these advertised as NOS, with some regularity.

I have come to agree that there is a category of "From New Old Stock Parts" [for example, when today's watchmaker produces a watch from true NOS parts], but how many of those have we seen described that way? People seem to leave off the words, "from" and "parts".

Personally, I am happiest with "near mint", but sellers keep coming up with the NOS ones . . . whatever they need to do to produce them.

Jeff

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: Personally I have not seen any in the flesh..I have seen plenty of
: almost NOS: watches that are blemish free, have a sticker on the
: case back (not necessarily an NOS indicator), barely worn, etc..
: Not a must for my collection, because quite honestly, the minute I
: get it, it is no longer going to be NOS!! I wear my watches,
: regardless of condition..case in point: I was extremely
: fortunate to be offered a transitional 1133b, as close to NOS as
: I have ever owned, at a very modest price, given the $$ they
: have been exchanging at..it is presently being serviced for what
: el maestro believes is its first time. He told me it is as
: pristine and original/untouched a version he has ever worked on.
: The watch sat in a drawer for quite some time..poor watch being
: neglected like that! I can tell you that the minute it gets back
: to me it will be on my wrist, doing what it was meant to do..
: So to answer your question, NOS is nice, and to some it may be the
: be all and the end all, but for me it would just be an extra,
: and not something I search for..
: hope this answers part of the question, hopefully some other NOS
: owners will chime in..
: Best,
: David