I rebuild (and use) old classic vacuum tube audio amps as a hobby. In order to keep these units running, I have amassed a large supply of New Old Stock tubes ("valves" to our British friends) that I have purchased from old electronic supply houses, TV/radio repair shops, flea markets and hamfests over the past 20 years. The elements in tubes are contained in a vacuum so as long as you never use them, they should perform as new once you do. "Slightly" used tubes are NOT NOS, period. There are purveyors out there who do try to pass used tubes off as NOS. Especially since certain brands and types of tubes are very, very valuable. Fortunately there are ways to usually determine the status of a tube by visual inspection of the "getter" (which burns off extraneous gases in the glass envelope when turned on) which shows browning of the silver (of the getter) and by testing with a tube tester. Like watches, visual inspection is part of the key determining NOS status for tubes. As another example, NOS audio equipment would need to be in a sealed carton, or opened once for inspection but never plugged in and used. That stuff, by the way, is incredibly rare.

Oops, back to watches. There should be no grey area when it comes to New Old Stock status, in my opinion. For a great example of real NOS watches, go to Old World Jewelers web-site where you will see truly New Old Stock Breitling watches from 1969 to 1975. While these watches no longer have their original packaging (thrown away when the watches were put in safety deposit boxes in the late 70's) they have never been used, still have the purple seal on their casebacks (with original prices in CHF) and are physically flawless. They have also never serviced these watches and do recommend that you have that done by your favorite watchmaker once you buy one from them. As a disclaimer, I am in no way affiliated with those folks. I am simply a customer who has purchased 3 of these watches from these folks over the past 2 years. The model 2105 (caliber 12) SuperOcean I bought from them in 2007 incredibly runs flawlessly even though I haven't had it serviced yet (I know, probably not a good idea but it keeps great time and is very quiet mechanically). Its serial number dates it to 1969 (1316XXX). Go to their site for the story on how they acquired the watches back in the late 90's. (www.oldworldjewelers.com) I hope its okay to mention that site, Jeff.
Put together watches with new, never used parts should be noted as (in my opinion) "watches newly assembled with New Old Stock parts" if in fact that's what they are. "Newly assembled" are the key words that MUST be mentioned, again in my opinion. They do not qualify to be called NOS watches. That must be reserved for never worn or used, originally manufactured watches (or any other item). Just my two cents.
Steve

: My definition of a "New Old Stock" watch would be a
: watch: that is comprised of the parts with which it was
: originally manufactured, with no replacement parts or
: modifications of the parts, and has never been worn, except
: maybe for a customer to try it on, in the dealer showroom.
: According to my definition a NOS watch may have moved from one
: dealer to the other, or even from one customer to another, and
: even been bought and sold a few times, but when it is worn by a
: buyer, then I would suggest that it loses the NOS status after
: sitting on the retailer's shelf for a long time, the watch may
: require servicing in order to run well (fresh oil, etc.); I
: would suggest that the watch would still qualify as NOS, even
: after this servicing, so long as parts are not replaced during
: this servicing. Maybe other readers have different views about
: this definition of NOS and will share them here?

: Based on this definition, this watch that you show would not appear
: to be NOS . . . hands seem to have been replaced; dial seems to
: have been relumed; etc.

: Jeff

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