I don't mind picking up 12 size pocket watches and saw an 21j Abe Lincoln up for BIN on ebay for about $100 and it had a yellowed crystal and the hands had suffered as a result but the case did not look to be brassed but definitely needed a cleaning. When it arrived I just took what was left of the hands and tossed them, took off the back and wound it up and it runs, hard to tell how accurately without hands though, the movement was spot free and very nice looking. It is a green gold case 25 yr B&B case but I had the hardest time getting the bezel off. It looked as though someone had put like glue or something to seal it, strangest thing I have ever seen in dealing with watches but finally got it off and was able to clean the case up and put the movement back in. It has a beautiful double sunk dial which is a bit uncommon on 12s watches without any hairlines. So I need a new crystal and hands and I should have decent looking Abe Lincoln.

I wonder what is the oddest thing you have seen done to a watch that you purchased that made you think what they heck were they thinking when they did this??