Marc - thanks for your input. You are preaching to the choir on this one - I have a BS in metallurgy from the U of W Seattle 1971. While salt water will cause this kind of problem in stainless, it may be more of a persperation problem which is salty and and acidic and can veri from one person to another. The real question is why some cases hold up better than others. Not all of the Heuer cases have this problem and as an example, I have never seen this problem in an Omega stainless case. It would be interesting to know what the quality and composition is of various stainless cases compaired to corrosion. However, this information is probably not available and a study would be time consuming and expensive.

: As a metallurgist, I found this post interesting. The pitting
: corrosion was most likely caused by salt water. All stainless
: alloys are susceptible to corrosion in salt water. Further, the
: anti-corrosion properties of these alloys rely on the presence
: of dissolved oxygen to form a protective coating on the surface,
: for instance as chromium oxide. Where the oxygen-bearing water
: is excluded, such as under rubber gaskets, the protective
: coating cannot form, and the corrosion will be exacerbated. The
: take-away from all this (i) don't expose your expensive watches
: to salt water & (ii) if you must, then rinse liberally with
: fresh water after exposure.