The alternative is to just apply mint to all the put together watches however obviously you would still rsther have a mint original than a mint put together.

The REAL question is misdescription by some sellers, that is what i think Davids original point was...

: Jeff, your definition is the correct one. New Old Stock means
: exactly that, an item that has sat on a dealers shelf, totally
: unused for, perhaps, many years. Its "New", nere used,
: but "Old Stock". As long as a buyer of such an item
: never wears that watch, it is still NOS, until they use it.

: 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