re: #60 GeneJockey

I’ve occasionally thought of buying nonrunning watches on Ebay for cheap, cleaning them up and selling them. Often a nonrunner only needs cleaning to be able to run well, so I figure it would be pure profit!

Then I run across a watch like one I got recently. If I fixed it all up, and got a new quality strap, I could probably sell it for $75-125. The problem is, I’ve already got 8 hours of work in it, and it’s still not behaving. If I check each piece separately, they all check out fine. Groups of components check out fine. It’s only when it’s all together that I run into problems.

You generally can’t tell why a watch isn’t working till it’s on your bench. Often not till you take it apart. Sometimes, not till you put it back together. And occasionally, not even then.

Yeah, bikes are much easier to diagnose, and the parts are more interchangeable. And if all else fails, they are worth more as scrap than a watch would be!