I just checked my notes. Since September of last year, Ive been annoyed by the jammed up bezel of my Seiko Black Monster. It no longer spun easily, making it a trying process to time anything. I tried turning it in soapy water to try to clean it. Didn't work. I gave up. I figured I'd one day have a jeweler fix it when I finally have the watch mechanism serviced.
For some reason, perhaps my frustration with a lot of things failing or breaking lately, I decided to fix the bezel. I did a quick search on the Internet on how to remove a bezel yourself and went for it. I slid the thin blade of a Swiss Army knife between the bezel and case. I used my leatherman pliers to grip the blade and gently pry the bezel. A small gap appeared. I then used the can opener blade to pry the bezel off.
Success! Eeeeewww! Almost 10 years of what probably was dead skin cells and soap scum was built up on the inside. I used a buck penknife (if you're keeping count this is the third knife involved) to scrape away (gag) the build up. A q-tip and paper towel later, all parts were nice and clean. I set the bezel and watch face down on my mini chopping board and pressed down. After a few failed attempts (where the bezel actually jammed worse) I finally got the bezel back on! Success! Zero cost. A lot of satisfaction doing it myself. And knowledge for the future when it jams up again. You know the old saying, teach a man to clean his bezel...
All this brings me to the point of my post. Select your possessions carefully and be willing to perform your own maintenance and repairs.
Your stuff should:
1. Last "forever".
Or at least as long as you do.
No disposable items.
2. Be a simple design with fewest failure points possible.
3. Zero or low maintenance.
4. Field maintainable.
You should be able to perform repairs or parts replacements on your own with simple tools. Shouldn't have to be a genius.
5. Durable.
6. Be environmentally considerate.
7. Does not become obsolete.
8. Move to space (Suggested by my girlfriend).
