Ex son in law. You could take any watch you have, lay it on his rist and it will stop. Yeah, he is weird.
Of course it is just a cowinky dink. :: shrug ::::
A guy here killed laptops. That got expensive after a while. I was glad to see him leave.
My father gave me his watch to replace the battery since it had stopped. I wore it so I wouldn’t forget and (of course) forgot anyway. When I returned, though, the watch had started again so I didn’t bother telling him and it lasted at least a year (I don’t know after that; just that he didn’t replace the battery within that time).
So send me your poor, your tired, your crippled watches… 
Mechanical watches are sensitive to physical shock such as dropping on the floor. I might also be concerned if you are using a hammer in the same hand where your watch is located. An expensive, good quality watch can be repaired for much less than its value. I would do so and ask the repair person exactly where the problem was. Also remember that a mechanical watch should be cleaned and adjusted periodically, say every 3 or 4 years. Typically, a watch begins to run faster when it needs a cleaning.
In contrast, an all-electronic LCD watch is not sensitive to either physical or electrical shock and, within reason, are water proof and never needs cleaning. I am really surprized that these are a problem as well.
Funny… I have the opposite effect. I ressurect watches and other electronic gear. Ive literally fixed (some) computers, vcrs and clocks just by opening their cases.
The price of the watch isnt a determining factor in the ruggedness and reliability of a watch. Try buying a sports watch that is rated at around 200M diving underwater. Be sure to change the battery every 2 years. If it dies in less than a few months, the store should pop a new battery in for free.
Mrs. Z has the same problem as does her Grandmother. Both of them have killed many timepieces and I assume that her Grandmother had mechanical watches. Mrs. Z’s dad was very frustrated by this and tried many brands and tried to get them fixed, all to no avail.
I know Mrs. Z didn’t swing a hammer frequently as a young girl but I will admit that she is a little on the clumsy side. However I’m just as clumsy and I’ve never had that problem.
I like to think that she is allergic to time.
Interestingly, I am usually very prompt.
However, I think some people are missing the point. Any watch will die if I wear it. A new battery will not make it work. Cleaning will not make it work. Repair will not make it work.
If you have a dead guy, giving him a healthy diet, a bath and a physical are not going to bring him back. Do you see where I’m going with this? These watches are DEAD. Done. Finito. The fat lady has sung.
Maybe they need to get a sundial watch?
I’m afraid I can’t offer any insight other then I’ve seen it to. My Girlfriend can kill a watch in a week. She also seems to be a walking static battery (she’s to stay at least 10 paces from any open computer in our house) so that may have something to do with it
I have a friend who not only routinely kills brand new watches, but also runs through batteries at an incredible rate - her Walkman, her cell phone, her cordless phone, you name it.
She also blew light bulbs while she was pregnant. (Get your mind out of the gutter, you know what I mean.) She went through more lightbulbs during her pregnancy than most people use in five years - incandescents AND fluorescents.
I’m torn between the “It’s what you do/where you go” crowd and the “co-incidence” group.
My parents gave me an inexpensive (but nice) Timex digital watch, (lap, alarm, timer) and it’s lasted me almost a decade now. Replaced the strap 5 times, but I wear it every day, in pools, doing sports, messing with machines, etc. I recall performing surgery on it once after a displaced battery holder caused a short, but that’s it. Perhaps you should perform autopsies on your equipment and get back to us?
Nanoda, not to be rude or anything, but what on earth does your one, anecdotal watch story have to do with me?
Dude - I have an N of 17, a mean of 2.3 months and a standard deviation of 8.3 days. I have some serious, hard core data here.
I work in an office. I look at a computer. I pay bills and set up conferences. There is no hammering. No nailing. No heavy equipment. No submersion in water. No bizzarre chemicals. Just me, in my office, and yet these beasts continue to die.
I’m sorry, but the “It’s a coincidence” group are out to lunch - some weird ass thing is going on, and I’m interested to know what it is.
did I mention I can kill a cell phone at 5 paces?
More anecdotal commentary:
I have this problem, too. At first I thought it was because I bought cheap watches, so I bought two relatively pricey ones in succession. Neither of them lasted more than a month. My last attempt at carrying a timepiece was a gold pocketwatch. (Brand new, from a decent jewellery store.) It told me what time it was-- once. Now it’s correct twice a day, like all those that went before it.
I’ve never had a “Near-death experience,” but I’ve been having more and more “Near-life experiences.”
I can’t offer any speculation as to why it happens. I don’t get a lot of static shocks, and I am and have historically been only slightly less sedentary than the Sphinx, so they weren’t getting banged up.
Evil djinns or the intervention of Loki seem equally plausible at this point. I’m used to peering into shop windows in the hopes of stealing a glance at a clock when I’m on my way to appointments.
alice,
My wife does the same thing to quartz watches only, so far as we can tell. I got her a mechanical kinetic watch (Seiko) and that has worked longer than anything else. We never tried digital watches, just dial watches before.
If you separated her from the watch for a couple of weeks, it would start up again.