I like nos and patina ;-))
Most of the nos watches when tucked away develop the beautiful panacotta patina and as these have not been worn the lume is often fully intact.
But there are also the banged and rough ones which can have a lot of charm, see the jordan airforce Carrera with the rare inner tension ring....

: I've been reading with a lot of interest over the last year I've
: been collecting Heuer's, about 'patina' and also the ongoing
: debate of mint/nos. My confusion is about the differences
: between them. Not the obvious difference of course, but the
: difference between the collectors view on which is
: best/nicest/most desirable. A lot of messages have been posted
: which congratulate owners on their new purchase of a mint
: example of say, a Monaco. I completely understand this. (I don't
: fully get the whole "NOS examples kept in a safe", but
: it's still early days of my journey into collecting). On the
: flip side though, there seems to be equal congratulations over
: an example that is aged, or has 'patina'. When does a dial that
: is a nice, aged, patina'd example just become a 'tatty dial'??
: There have been a few posts recently about Monaco and
: Silverstone 'paintless wonders', which although look very
: distinctive, and I'm sure are very collectable due to their very
: early issue dates and their un-tried and tested paint
: techniques, in the cold light of day, are defective. I'm not
: saying I wouldn't have one though...

: Can anyone share their thoughts on this to help put me out of my
: misery???

: David H