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General Science / Re: Why do watches stop when some people wear them?
« on: 10/02/2016 19:51:40 »
When I was 12, in 1967, my grandmother gave me a very nice wind-up style pendant watch. I wore it on several occasions, but each time I did, it stopped running shortly after I put it on, despite careful winding. Each time my mother said I must have broken it, and put it away, but after a few months she would give it back, and I would try again. She herself could wear it and it would behave just fine for her. I finally stopped asking for it and just let her have it. A few years later I was given a wind-up wristwatch, and I experienced the same problem, so I gave up trying to wear a watch. When I was 20, my mother-in-law noticed I didn't wear a watch, and bought one for me from the gift shop while she was in the hospital - another wind-up type. I told her that I appreciated the thought, and explained the problem, and urged her to get her money back. Thinking I was crazy, she told one of her nurses the story. As it happened, that nurse confirmed my story, because she had a sister with the same problem, and the nurse even had a solution. She stuck a piece of rubber- backed surgical tape to the back of the watch. My mother-in-law gave it back to me, and it never gave me any trouble, except when the tape bagan to curl up from wear. However, when I stuck fresh tape on, it worked just fine again. It worked well for me for years, until my first battery powered watch. Battery watches will work on me OK, but the batteries don't last very long. As of a few years ago I have given up on watches and now I just refer to my Android phone for the time.
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