Lightning man can no longer wear a wrist watch

[KeyserSoze]

Recently my step-dad told me a story that motivated me to finally sign up to this website to see if I could get a more educated - or should I say 'referenced' - opinion.

Firstly let me make clear that my step-dad is a very intelligent person and he holds honesty to the highest degree in life. He has read enough books and lived an interesting enough life as a doctor that he doesn't need to make up stories, so I firmly believe that the story he told was as accurate as he can recall.

The story is that a patient came into his office one day for a check-up, and unrelated to whatever he was there for, he mentioned that he cannot wear wrist watches. He explained that whenever he puts on a watch, it stops working. This phenomena started after he was stuck by lightning years earlier. My step-dad, being skeptical of the claim, asked him to show that he was telling the truth. A girl from the office offered up her watch, and when he put it on it stopped working, just like he said. They then tried it with a second watch, and it stopped working also. Not only did they stop working while he was wearing them, but they never worked again after that, just as he warned before they volunteered. Everybody who witnessed the event was convinced that he was telling the truth.

I told my step-dad that it sounded like a clever trick. He denied that it was, and even seemed a bit offended that I would bring up an explaination challenging the point of his story, which I think originally started as a discussion about people and electricity.

So what do you guys make of this story? Is it possible? Can anybody find any references to other people making the same claim? I did a quick internet search but couldn't find anything. I would appreciate the feedback.

[arthwollipot]

...I firmly believe that the story he told was as accurate as he can recall.I think it's likely that the bolded bit of your sentence has a pretty big part to play here.

Granted, it sounds like an occurrence that one would likely remember, but it's extremely unlikely that he's remembering it accurately. So many studies have shown the malleability of human memory, I think that the actual events as they occurred are much less interesting than his memory would suggest.

It is true that there are standard stage magician's tricks that can be used to stop and start watches on command. But it seems pretty unlikely that your father used them. I don't have an explanation, and I think that an explanation will be extremely difficult to come by, since the phenomenon did not occur under controlled conditions and all anyone has to go on is a verbal description of the event.

[KeyserSoze]

I do choose my words wisely, which is evident in the bit you pointed out, because I agree that the human memory is a factor that should never be discounted.

I guess you just kind of have to know my step-dad though. He remembers everything. He is the one you go to when you're trying to remember the name of that town we ate at in South Dakota while on vacation, and then he'll tell you the name of the restaurant and what he ate. He is very good at remembering information, just not always so good at figuring things out.

I'm not sure any of that means much to anybody else though. What I am really curious about is if anybody is familiar with any related stories or magicians techniques that could clue in to what the guy could have been doing.

[Whiplash]

Lightning man.. Sounds like a super-hero to me!

[Kevin_Lowe]

Since the human body is not ferromagnetic and cannot hold a powerful static charge for long under normal circumstances I can't see any means by which a lightning strike's effects could linger and victimise watches.

The explanation that seems simplest is that Mr Lightning broke the watches using a magnet. Possibly he was wearing some magnetic "healing" doodad and he was too dumb to make the connection, or possibly he was an attention-seeker who deliberately broke the watches.

[tiger]

Recently my step-dad told me a story that motivated me to finally sign up to this website to see if I could get a more educated - or should I say 'referenced' - opinion.

Firstly let me make clear that my step-dad is a very intelligent person and he holds honesty to the highest degree in life. He has read enough books and lived an interesting enough life as a doctor that he doesn't need to make up stories, so I firmly believe that the story he told was as accurate as he can recall.

The story is that a patient came into his office one day for a check-up, and unrelated to whatever he was there for, he mentioned that he cannot wear wrist watches. He explained that whenever he puts on a watch, it stops working. This phenomena started after he was stuck by lightning years earlier. My step-dad, being skeptical of the claim, asked him to show that he was telling the truth. A girl from the office offered up her watch, and when he put it on it stopped working, just like he said. They then tried it with a second watch, and it stopped working also. Not only did they stop working while he was wearing them, but they never worked again after that, just as he warned before they volunteered. Everybody who witnessed the event was convinced that he was telling the truth.

I told my step-dad that it sounded like a clever trick. He denied that it was, and even seemed a bit offended that I would bring up an explaination challenging the point of his story, which I think originally started as a discussion about people and electricity.

So what do you guys make of this story? Is it possible? Can anybody find any references to other people making the same claim? I did a quick internet search but couldn't find anything. I would appreciate the feedback.

Being a storm chaser for many many years and dealing with all kinds of weather situations I can tell you this if someone survives a lightning strike and walks away unharmed they are very very lucky! That doesn't mean their body is able to manipulate wrist watches to stop working. When someone is hit by lightning it affects their central nervous system and usually damaging nerves. This causes the nerves to miss fire making someones life extremely miserable. I can't count how many times lightning been close to me, but last year during a storm I got extremely lucky when a bolt came really close too close. I felt the hair stand up on the back of my neck stand up and I immediatly hit the ground and assumed the fetile position. When lightning strikes the ground it spreads and anyone hit by it can expect a life of pain and suffering unless your one of the really lucky ones. A 9 yr old boy this year was hit by lightning and walked away with only a minor burn on his arm very lucky young man.

[arthwollipot]

I have also heard stories about people who can't wear watches. Mostly it's confirmation bias - their watch stopped one day, so they wore another one, and it stopped too, so they stopped wearing watches. It never occurred to them to actually test the idea - they just assumed that they knew what the problem was. In this case, the gentleman had a perfect excuse - he was once struck by lightning - to use as an explanation. Problem is, while lightning may well disrupt or damage modern quartz or digital watches, it would not likely have much of an effect on mechanical watches. I wonder how many watches he "broke" before he decided to stop wearing watches.

I agree with Kevin_Lowe that there is no materialistic explanation why being struck by lightning might make watches stop. If it is a real phenomenon (which I doubt) then it is one that has a very obscure physical mechanism. Occam's razor suggests that this man does not break the known laws of electromagnetism, and that the effect is illusory.

[tiger]

I have also heard stories about people who can't wear watches. Mostly it's confirmation bias - their watch stopped one day, so they wore another one, and it stopped too, so they stopped wearing watches. It never occurred to them to actually test the idea - they just assumed that they knew what the problem was. In this case, the gentleman had a perfect excuse - he was once struck by lightning - to use as an explanation. Problem is, while lightning may well disrupt or damage modern quartz or digital watches, it would not likely have much of an effect on mechanical watches. I wonder how many watches he "broke" before he decided to stop wearing watches.

I agree with Kevin_Lowe that there is no materialistic explanation why being struck by lightning might make watches stop. If it is a real phenomenon (which I doubt) then it is one that has a very obscure physical mechanism. Occam's razor suggests that this man does not break the known laws of electromagnetism, and that the effect is illusory.

Agreed my point was simply giving a reference to how lightning can affect the body. There would be no reason for electrical impulses or anything else to affect anything they are now wearing! In most cases the lightning strike causes damage to the central nervous system. And if this person was able to manipulate a wrist watch due to a lightning strike any electical item he came into contact with would be affected.

[arthwollipot]

Agreed my point was simply giving a reference to how lightning can affect the body. There would be no reason for electrical impulses or anything else to affect anything they are now wearing! In most cases the lightning strike causes damage to the central nervous system. And if this person was able to manipulate a wrist watch due to a lightning strike any electical item he came into contact with would be affected.Of course. And what's more, what possible mechanism could there be which would mean someone can influence a watch well after actually being struck? Apart from the aforementioned nerve damage, being hit by lighning doesn't fundamentally change the electrmagnetic character of the human body (Marvel comics notwithstanding).

[KeyserSoze]

And if this person was able to manipulate a wrist watch due to a lightning strike any electical item he came into contact with would be affected.
I thought of this also. If you really had the ability to effect electrical objects, you wouldn't just go around showing off your ability to break wrist watches, you would demonstrate with other things also. I think this guy had just found some clever way of breaking wrist watches and thought it was funny that he could convince people into letting him do it with the premise of his lightning story.

I wonder if Kevin's idea about the magnet would really work?

[tiger]

I thought of this also. If you really had the ability to effect electrical objects, you wouldn't just go around showing off your ability to break wrist watches, you would demonstrate with other things also. I think this guy had just found some clever way of breaking wrist watches and thought it was funny that he could convince people into letting him do it with the premise of his lightning story.

I wonder if Kevin's idea about the magnet would really work?

Give it a shot!

[krelnik]

Is it possible that this story originates from several decades ago? I remember hearing a semi-plausible explanation for this phenomena when I was a kid.

This explanation comes from the days before electronic watches, when most watches were wind-up mechanical jobs. The theory goes that some people have a wrist pulse that is much stronger than average. Perhaps some combination of the artery being closer to the surface of the skin and other pecularities of their metabolism. (High blood pressure, perhaps?)

Anyway, the idea was that the strong pulse at the wrist would actually vibrate the watch so much that the timepiece mechanism would fail. This would happen over time, usually, so I would have to write off the volunteered watch in the office as a coincidence or an incorrect memory.

I think the lightning part of the story is embellishment by the patient, and actually has nothing to do with the underlying cause.

[Gravy]

The lightning bit is certain nonsense. There are many types of watch movements and power sources, plus electronic digital watches. Some may be easy to break if you know what you're doing. Do you know what types these supposedly were?

[RSLancastr]

I guess you just kind of have to know my step-dad though. He remembers everything.No offense to your Dad, KS, but if this was some sort of a trick on the part of the patient, then your Dad is unlikely to remember it accurately. Magicians (and those who play magician-like tricks) often perform tricks in a way - through misdirection and other means - to make us misremember the details of what actually occurred.

And, once our minds have decided that something highly unusual has occurred, we seem to be prone to misremember details in such a way as to heighten the perceived unusual nature of the event.

James Randi tells a story of appearing on a TV show with Barbara Walters, not long after Geller had been a guest on the same show. Walters was describing a "psychic feat" which Geller had performed, and swore that Geller had never touched some item (perhaps a spoon or watch, I forget what it was).

Fortunately, Randi had taped the broadcast with Geller on the show, and played it for Walters, showing that indeed, Geller had touched the item multiple times. Even after seeing the tape, Walters - perhaps jokingly - said "No, that's not what happened!"

The point is, even a reasonably intelligent person, with a reasonably good memory, is unlikely to accurately recall the details of a well-executed trick.

[Gord_in_Toronto]

My third or fourth response to this (after the obvious ones) is -- why don't the watches ever work again? What happens if you ask a watch repairman to fix one? Does he say, "Gosh. This absolutley amazing. I've cleaned the mechanism and it's fully wound but still does not work!" Or what?

I find these stories pretty worthless otherwise.

:boggled:

[Locknar]

Recently my step-dad told me a story that motivated me to finally sign up to this website to see if I could get a more educated - or should I say 'referenced' - opinion.

Firstly let me make clear that my step-dad is a very intelligent person and he holds honesty to the highest degree in life. He has read enough books and lived an interesting enough life as a doctor that he doesn't need to make up stories, so I firmly believe that the story he told was as accurate as he can recall.

The story is that a patient came into his office one day for a check-up, and unrelated to whatever he was there for, he mentioned that he cannot wear wrist watches. He explained that whenever he puts on a watch, it stops working. This phenomena started after he was stuck by lightning years earlier. My step-dad, being skeptical of the claim, asked him to show that he was telling the truth. A girl from the office offered up her watch, and when he put it on it stopped working, just like he said. They then tried it with a second watch, and it stopped working also. Not only did they stop working while he was wearing them, but they never worked again after that, just as he warned before they volunteered. Everybody who witnessed the event was convinced that he was telling the truth.

I told my step-dad that it sounded like a clever trick. He denied that it was, and even seemed a bit offended that I would bring up an explaination challenging the point of his story, which I think originally started as a discussion about people and electricity.

So what do you guys make of this story? Is it possible? Can anybody find any references to other people making the same claim? I did a quick internet search but couldn't find anything. I would appreciate the feedback.
So to be clear...a doctor (a MD?) believes that the human body, after being struck by lightning, would be able to posses or otherwise generate some type of field, years after the fact, that render wrist watches and only wrist watches inoperable?

When did this occur (the lightning strike, the visit), what type of watches (mechanical or digital)? Were these watches checked after the demonstration...and after examination/repair (say replacing a battery) still did not function? Did the patient handle the watches?

Your step-dad, being a doctor, I assume documented this event? I mean, given such an unusual…dare I say never diagnosed before…medical condition I’d think he’d jump at the chance no?

[ksbluesfan]

If you pop out the part that winds the watch, it usually stops running. That could explain why it worked when he handed the watch back to the owner. He just pushed the pin back in place.

[RSLancastr]

If you pop out the part that winds the watch, it usually stops running. That could explain why it worked when he handed the watch back to the owner. He just pushed the pin back in place.The OP says that the watches "never worked again."

Of course, there is no way the OP's father could know that.

[Locknar]

The OP says that the watches "never worked again."

Of course, there is no way the OP's father could know that.Obviously he's stayed in touch with the watch owners all these years.... *lol*

Kidding aside, this story has all the typical elements of say some else's stories..... That is to say, person makes unusual claim which is challenged by a skeptic (in this case, a educated one...a Dr no less) as well as other witnesses. Claim is tested, validated, leaving all puzzled.

Missing of course are any real specifics....location, date, names, "testing" details, etc. Further casting doubt, being a Dr he would have documented this event, written it up, etc. as any Dr encountering something new would have.

I don't buy it; I'm throwing the Corn Dog of Disbelief. Of course, you (KeyserSoze) are welcome to prove me wrong...do a good enough job, heck might even qualify for (and win) the MDC.

[RSLancastr]

Well, since one of the watch-owners worked in his office, perhaps he knew him/her for some time after the LightningMan incident.

But if the father actually said that the watches "never worked again," that is precisely the kind of inaccuracy/exaggeration that come up when someone describes a magic trick they have witnessed.

I have a friend who is a hobbyist magician, and one of the ad-hoc illusions he likes to do is what is known to magicians as "the balducci levitation." It is an illusion which, if done right, under the right circumstances, makes it look as though the magician is levitating in a standing position, with both of his feet a few inches off the ground.

I have seen him do it at parties, and later heard people describing him as having been a foot or two off the ground, when in fact, he was maybe four or five inches off the ground (which is about the best this particular trick can do).

In fact, I have seen him actively encourage this! After he slowly levitates, and slowly comes back down to the ground, he turns to the audience and excitedly says "How far off the ground was I?!" As he holds his hands a foot or more apart. The audience excitedly agrees with him and holds their hands a similar distance apart, and you can bet that when they describe this "miracle" to their friends, that is exactly how high off the ground they remember him being.

The OP describes the patient as having said that the watches would never work again. That planted the thought in the doctor's head, where it seems to have stayed (again, if the phrase came from the doctor and not the OP).

[Giraffe107]

snip...
This explanation comes from the days before electronic watches, when most watches were wind-up mechanical jobs. The theory goes that some people have a wrist pulse that is much stronger than average. Perhaps some combination of the artery being closer to the surface of the skin and other pecularities of their metabolism. (High blood pressure, perhaps?)

Anyway, the idea was that the strong pulse at the wrist would actually vibrate the watch so much that the timepiece mechanism would fail. This would happen over time, usually, so I would have to write off the volunteered watch in the office as a coincidence or an incorrect memory.

I think the lightning part of the story is embellishment by the patient, and actually has nothing to do with the underlying cause.

My grandfather-in-law can't wear mechanical watches- well he can, but they don't work. They do work after he's taken them off. He hasn't been struck by lightning, his idea is that he is more magnetic than other people or something (I don't think this is right). Has there been any testing of the strong pulse idea?

[shadron]

There are any number of ways you can stop a watch from working - for mechanical watches, a good, hard rap onto concrete or substantial hard wood (say, 20 or 30 g's worth for a milliseconds) will permanently jam the mechanism. That's one way it can done. Timex built a business on this fact. Magnetism (using a good-old permanent magnet to magnetize the steel in the main spring) is another.

The second part of that story is the part that Randi rants about all the time - your father is/was a scientist. He was not mentally prepared for handling trickery and deceit. That is the eminent domain of the conjuror-magician. He should not even expect to be able to detect how the disablement is pulled off - it is the professional skill of the magician to make this impossible, and to obscure the memory afterwards. Right now, you may be thinking that I'm dissing your step-dad's ability to "do science", but I'm not - I'm only pointing out why having a professional magician observe any purported displays of anomalous science involving humans is basic to a complete understanding of the phenomenon. Honesty is not the key - knowledge of trickery, ways and means, is.

[arthwollipot]

I'd just like to point out - the watch-stopping trick can be done by stage magic, but this does not necessarily mean that this is how it was done in the OP. It's possible that Lightning Man was an amateur magician. But there might also be other reasons, including the highly implausible one that the watch stopped because he had been struck by lightning. My point is that we can't know for sure.

[padego]

Magnetism can indeed disrupt a mechanical watch but it's the hairspring that's effected not the mainspring. This is the spring attatched to the balance wheel and controls the beat of the watch, driving the palet fork what gives the distinctive "tick". There is an easy remedy in the form of a demagnetiser and is part of any well equipped watchmaker's bench.
Having said that this was primarily a problem with older watches as developments within the industry, ie the use of non magnetic metals and more recently, silicon, has pretty much rendered this problem to the past.
Quartz analogue watches can be effected due to the fact that one wheel within it's small gear train is magnetic, responsible for the "one second" tick you see. A strong magnet can stop the watch.

[Beanbag]

Okay, I'm (sorta) qualified to talk here. Degree in watchmaking and all.

First off, it is possible to fry an LCD watch with STATIC electricity. Back when they first came out, I'd cause my Texas Instruments LCD watch to jump ahead a random number of hours and days by taking off a wool sweater in winter. Seems the plastic grommets sealing the command buttons served as an insulator and allowed the charge to go directly to the contacts on the circuit board. Do that often enough, and the integrated circuit dies. The newer models don't appear as vulnerable. I think they've diode-clamped the inputs to shunt the static charge to ground when it's more than a few volts.

A good magician LOVES mechanical watches, because they can pop the winding crown with one finger while talking and reset the time, giving the illusion that they can stop or cause a watch to run fast just by thinking. I saw Randi do it once. Excellent distraction technique.

It is quite possible to stop an older-vintage watch (say from before 1960) by magnetizing it. More steel and ferrous materials used in them. It was in the 60's that you started to see the words "antimagnetic" stamped on the back of the watch. The alloys used for different parts were changed to materials that didn't magnetize as easily or not at all.

You can magnetize modern mechanical watches, but they don't stop -- they just run FASTER because the rotation of magnetized parts causes resistance to motion, and it's like you've installed a stiffer hairspring. I've never tried holding a strong magnet to a modern watch to see if I can freeze it while the magnet is there.

I've repaired numerous "overwound" watches that wouldn't run. The usual story is that Granddad comes in with his Benrus watch, saying that his grandson found it and overwound it. 90% of the time, one of the balance wheel pivots was broken, caused by grandson dropping the watch on the floor while playing with it, then frantically trying to get it to run by winding it all the way.

Easiest way to stop a mechanical watch is to pull the crown out to the set position. Most watches have a "hack" feature that stops the movement with the crown out, allowing you to synchronize the time to the second. Most people don't see the crown's out a millimeter or so. They're too busy looking at the second hand not moving.

An old watchmaker gave me the best advice for dealing with those people who insisted they had too much electricity in their bodies to wear a watch. He would sell them a "special" watch strap made from electric eel skin that would bleed the charge out of them. It was amazing that it worked every time.

Beanbag

[ponderingturtle]

You can magnetize modern mechanical watches, but they don't stop -- they just run FASTER because the rotation of magnetized parts causes resistance to motion, and it's like you've installed a stiffer hairspring. I've never tried holding a strong magnet to a modern watch to see if I can freeze it while the magnet is there.


I know that happened to the watch I was wearing when I was doing an experiment with a large electro magnet.

I believe it was a quartz with a dial.

[volatile]

I wish there were more of these types of thread - they're so few and far between these days.

What a fascinating discussion - especially that last contribution from Beanbag!

[Beerina]

Since the human body is not ferromagnetic and cannot hold a powerful static charge for long under normal circumstances I can't see any means by which a lightning strike's effects could linger and victimise watches.

The explanation that seems simplest is that Mr Lightning broke the watches using a magnet. Possibly he was wearing some magnetic "healing" doodad and he was too dumb to make the connection, or possibly he was an attention-seeker who deliberately broke the watches.

Well, it should be trivial to test this, whether it be a magnet, trickery, coincidence, or a True New Phenomena.

I also wouldn't rule out that it doesn't, didn't, and never happened, and is an old wive's tale, retold as "friend of a friend" so many times whatever kernel was there, if any, has long since been exaggerated out of all proportion.

[lumos]

There is a device that magicians (or conmen) can use to build up a static charge on their bodies and use that to shock people repeatably. They call themselves "lightning men" etc. I read about that device here on Randi's website. It is possible that a static charge, built up by this hidden device, could fry the watch. It's simply a difference in electric potential between the charged human and the non-charged watch than can cause a nifty spark providing a brief but exciting high voltage exchange to even the potential. (I fried a calculator with a stungun once. Don't worry, it was a cheap calculator.)

[Beanbag]

Oh yeah -- I have to remember to use my right hand when demagnetizing tools at work. One time I used my left to hold on to what I was demagnetizing, using the large industrial demagnetizer. Went to check the time later on, and discovered it was time to go home before I'd even had lunch. The 60hz demagnetizer causes a quartz analog watch to go into fast-forward as long as it's in the demag field. It's another watchmakers' trick to hold a cheap quartz watch in a demagnetizer field when it has stopped after a new battery has been installed. The intense magnetic field can break loose stuck gears and help redistribute oils.

Beanbag

[Lynx2174]

I should get him and uri geller to have a watch face off. I'll schedule them right after the humidifier and dehumidifier.

[RSLancastr]

..and the cloudbuster and cloudmaker.

[Senex]

So what do you guys make of this story? Is it possible? Can anybody find any references to other people making the same claim? I did a quick internet search but couldn't find anything. I would appreciate the feedback.

This is a million dollar ability. (Of course there are no million dollar abilities and this rascal will be a no show just like all the others). Stopping watches would be cool if you really could do it. Bring him to Florida.

[Senex]

But if the father actually said that the watches "never worked again," that is precisely the kind of inaccuracy/exaggeration that come up when someone describes a magic trick they have witnessed.

I have a friend who is a hobbyist magician, and one of the ad-hoc illusions he likes to do is what is known to magicians as "the balducci levitation." It is an illusion which, if done right, under the right circumstances, makes it look as though the magician is levitating in a standing position, with both of his feet a few inches off the ground.

I have seen him do it at parties, and later heard people describing him as having been a foot or two off the ground, when in fact, he was maybe four or five inches off the ground (which is about the best this particular trick can do).

In fact, I have seen him actively encourage this! After he slowly levitates, and slowly comes back down to the ground, he turns to the audience and excitedly says "How far off the ground was I?!" As he holds his hands a foot or more apart. The audience excitedly agrees with him and holds their hands a similar distance apart, and you can bet that when they describe this "miracle" to their friends, that is exactly how high off the ground they remember him being.

The OP describes the patient as having said that the watches would never work again. That planted the thought in the doctor's head, where it seems to have stayed (again, if the phrase came from the doctor and not the OP).

I'm a Balducci performer -- especially after a couple of drinks. I am also very knowledgable about suggestion. Sometimes the Balducci and making love have something in common. I hold my hands about 9 inches apart afterwords and the girls just laugh and say, "it worked, let's just let it go at that." ;)

[Locknar]

Guess we'll never get the answers to our questions; KeyserSoze seems to have left the building.

[Cainkane1]

This is more common than you think. My manager now deceased couldn't wear a watch. It would stop. There are anti magnetic watches out there but even these would stop after awhile when he wore them. I'm sure theere is a scientific explanation and there is no woo factor.

[kosai]

Is there a name for this supposed effect? I looked online a little and there is many claims and very little evidence. Some people even claim the watch begins to go backwards... It should be fairly easy to video that but I don't see anyone having done it. I did find an article that told about a "chi" line running from the heart down the left arm though. I'm leaning towards the woo crowd for this claim.

[rsaavedra]

My manager now deceased couldn't wear a watch. It would stop. There are anti magnetic watches out there but even these would stop after awhile when he wore them.
This is so uncontrolled. How long is that while? Weeks? Months? Who knows what the guy does to the watch in between. How he sleeps or showers, with the watch on? And near what? What's on the car near the watch when he drives? Does the guy play tennis with the watch on the hand holding the racket? What habits does the guy have that might impact any watch he wears?

For what it's worth, I don't buy the stronger wrist pulse idea AT ALL. I would argue that it would be extremely hard to build a watch that can actually work trouble free from the manufacturing through packaging through transport through being placed on the shelf at the store, then moving the box up and down, then holding the watch and moving it in your hands, turning it over and such when inspecting it before buying etc., the watch would have worked trouble free after all that manipulation, but then would stop working simply when placed on a wrist and exposed to a pulsating minor push from the veins underneath every so often. Ridiculous. And pushing it further, it would be even harder to build a watch that would work trouble free after being worn by pretty much anyone for quite a long time, but then when placed on a specific person's specially stronger or resonating pulsing wrist, the watch would stop. I say nonsense.

[Beanbag]

Generally speaking, ALL watch stoppages can be traced back to some definitive cause -- the problem is finding the cause. I had one "repeat" repair job that kept returning after a month or two for the watch running fast (it was a high-grade mechanical watch, retail price over $3K). In each case, the solution was to demagnetize the watch, after which it ran perfectly.

The last time the watch came in, the owner included his business card, which listed him as the president of a sound company. I got on the phone with him and found out that every month or so, he liked to get out of the office and help set up at one of the concert events his company was hired for. He particularly liked rigging speakers. Seems that working his watch in close proximity to the enormous magnets in the sound reinforcement speakers was causing the problem. I suggested he take the watch off while rigging, and if the watch started to run fast again, to take it by his local jeweler and have them demag it, rather than ship it back to the factory service center. Except for the every-other-year service, I never heard from him again, so I guess it worked.

There's always something that stops a watch. Water-resistant watches are just that -- resistant. Even if the watch says ten meters, it's only good for splashes, not swimming or showering. Colognes, perfumes, and skin care products are particularly insidious. They can migrate through the rubber gaskets and alter the lubricating oils, turning them to wax or sludge. Case in point is the gasket material Cartier used. The stuff was military-grade, would resist most oils and hydraulic fluids. However, certain skin care lotions would turn the rubber compound to tar. Ed only knows what manufacturers put in that witches' brew that women slather on themselves -- chipmunk sweat, whale barf, rendered bug squeezings, sheep fat, grub parts. Yeesh.

Beanbag

[Senex]

What is the true brilliance of life is that a four dollar watch will keep perfect time for years. Inexpesive watches last forever. I'll put a woo against a four dollar watch any day -- and I will win everyday.

[Locknar]

This is more common than you think. My manager now deceased couldn't wear a watch. It would stop. There are anti magnetic watches out there but even these would stop after awhile when he wore them. I'm sure theere is a scientific explanation and there is no woo factor.Yes, the claim is more common then folks think. However, the scientific explanation is there is no such real phenomena.

[Ashles]

That's nothing.

I once knew a guy who made a completely unlikely sounding claim on an internet forum and even backed it up with reference to a doctor who was a family member no less.

Then I watched other people respond logically to his claim and he disappeared!

It was well mysterious.

[blutoski]

The most suspicious part of the story as far as I'm concerned is that the MD let the guy just walk out of the office without asking to write it up.

In this age of publish-or-perish, a newly documented physiological condition is the opportunity of a lifetime. Not the least of which would be the patient-oriented goal of alleviating the problem. If the patient says "no thanks, I like being a walking risk to watches," then you have a very suspicious situation.

[Ashles]

Man walks into a doctors office exhibiting a phenomena inexplicable (as far as I am aware) by current medical science - and doesn't take it any further?
Doesn't write it up, send the patient for further testing, contact universities... Just seems to go "That's interesting, I'll tell my stepson and no-one else."

I rate this story as 9/10 bundles of whole cloth. (The last 1/10 is that I believe the OP may have once encountered a doctor)

[KeyserSoze]

Sorry guys, I forgot about this thread until I just got a bunch of subscription updates in my email.

I'll bring up the subject again to my Step-dad at dinner tonight and try to get some of these questions answered. I don't want to mention that I made a topic about him on the internet though, because he might not like that.

[Lucky]

Your step-dad, being a doctor, I assume documented this event? I mean, given such an unusual…dare I say never diagnosed before…medical condition I’d think he’d jump at the chance no?
Further casting doubt, being a Dr he would have documented this event, written it up, etc. as any Dr encountering something new would have.
Not necessarily – doctors can be gullible and scientifically ignorant, just like anyone else. Also, it depends when this happened. As a few people have mentioned, the tendency of some people to cause a watch to stop (or run slow) was a common belief in the days of mechanical watches. Even as a doctor he might not have thought it particularly remarkable.


Sorry guys, I forgot about this thread until I just got a bunch of subscription updates in my email.

I'll bring up the subject again to my Step-dad at dinner tonight and try to get some of these questions answered. I don't want to mention that I made a topic about him on the internet though, because he might not like that.
You have missed out some rather crucial pieces of information.


How long ago does your step-dad say the incident occurred?
How long before that did the man claim the lightning strike had occurred?
What type(s) of watch did he claim to be able to stop? Mechanical? Electronic analogue? Electronic digital?
Without this information it's hard even to guess the explanation (though it does sound very much like an inaccurately-recalled trick).

[ponderingturtle]

This is more common than you think. My manager now deceased couldn't wear a watch. It would stop. There are anti magnetic watches out there but even these would stop after awhile when he wore them. I'm sure theere is a scientific explanation and there is no woo factor.

Maybe he was just hard on watches.

[Locknar]

Not necessarily – doctors can be gullible and scientifically ignorant, just like anyone else. Also, it depends when this happened. As a few people have mentioned, the tendency of some people to cause a watch to stop (or run slow) was a common belief in the days of mechanical watches. Even as a doctor he might not have thought it particularly remarkable.
Maybe...but I'm thinking a MD would know the human body can not retain or generate the type of electrical/magnetic field that stops watches for all time.

Granted, this is not "iron clad"...but finding someone with a never before documented condition...I'd be shocked if a MD did not document it, write about it, etc.

As I commented before, this story seems to follow the typical "tall tale"/campfire type. Vaguely plausible claim that is challenged by a skeptic (a educated MD in this case) only to irrefutably validate the claim.

Missing are any specifics, such as locations, dates, names, witnesses, supporting documentation, etc.

Kind of like the dry lube story from another thread.

[Lucky]

Maybe...but I'm thinking a MD would know the human body can not retain or generate the type of electrical/magnetic field that stops watches for all time.

Granted, this is not "iron clad"...but finding someone with a never before documented condition...I'd be shocked if a MD did not document it, write about it, etc.

As I commented before, this story seems to follow the typical "tall tale"/campfire type. Vaguely plausible claim that is challenged by a skeptic (a educated MD in this case) only to irrefutably validate the claim.

Missing are any specifics, such as locations, dates, names, witnesses, supporting documentation, etc.

Kind of like the dry lube story from another thread.
Obviously the whole thing could have been invented – as could almost any incident related by any poster in this forum. I don't see any particular reason to disbelieve it, though.

It seems unlikely the OP would have made it up for effect, as it just doesn't impress as an unverifiable incident that supposedly happened to someone else. More likely, of course, that the doctor invented it - but it's a perfectly plausible story. After all, there actually are people who specialise in 'stopped watch' tricks, and one of them might well have thought it amusing to fool a doctor.

We are told that the doctor believed that the patient could stop watches by wearing them, but not whether he believed it was due to a lightning strike – this is one of the missing pieces of information. What I had in mind was that he might have accepted the phenomenon (which was quite commonly believed at one time) without thinking there was anything particularly unusual about it, and assumed there was some ordinary explanation – rather than the 'lightning strike'. If so, it doesn't seem at all suspicious that he didn't investigate it.

[MRC_Hans]

I guess you just kind of have to know my step-dad though. He remembers everything. He is the one you go to when you're trying to remember the name of that town we ate at in South Dakota while on vacation, and then he'll tell you the name of the restaurant and what he ate.

I have a memory like that. Only, I have to tell you that it is not as reliable as I once thought myself. I have had total visual recall of events and places, but sometimes when I have the opportunity to check, this total recall can be disturbingly imprecise.

It is just when you are the one in the group with the best recall, nobody else can check you and challenge your ability.

For instance, in the example you mention above; so he can tell you the name of the restaurant and what he ate, but since you can't even remember the name of the town, how can you know if he is right?

If you will, you could sometimes check him out, when there is something you actually have on some kind of record (say, the restaurant bill), ask him about it. .... If you find that he is wrong, do think twice before telling him.

As for the story, I can't explain it. Or rather, there are a number of explanations, trickery, faulty memeory, even fabrication, but I have no idea which it could be.

.... I'm thinking of still another possibility: Some people have a tendency to recount stories they have heard, in first person. That is, they tell it as if it was something they experienced themselves. Once caught in a story that rises skeptical questions, it is difficult for them to admit: Ahh, well, it is really just a story I heard. Especially if you are known as Mr. Total Recall. Have you ever noticed a tendency in your father in law to recout stories, e.g. jokes and anecdotes, in first person?

Hans

[Lucky]

.... I'm thinking of still another possibility: Some people have a tendency to recount stories they have heard, in first person. That is, they tell it as if it was something they experienced themselves. Once caught in a story that rises skeptical questions, it is difficult for them to admit: Ahh, well, it is really just a story I heard. Especially if you are known as Mr. Total Recall. Have you ever noticed a tendency in your father in law to recout stories, e.g. jokes and anecdotes, in first person?

Hans
Also very plausible.

The doctor could have been relating a story told to him by another doctor as though it happened to himself. Or he could have told it as having happened to a colleague, but the OP misremembered.

It's very common when passing on a 'someone I know told me that someone he knows' story to miss out one person in the chain, either by misremembering, or intentionally for effect, or semi-intentionally. That's why urban legends generally 'happened' to someone precisely twice removed from the person telling them, no matter how long they've been around – the chain doesn't lengthen as the story is passed on.

[MRC_Hans]

Also very plausible.

The doctor could have been relating a story told to him by another doctor as though it happened to himself. Or he could have told it as having happened to a colleague, but the OP misremembered.

It's very common when passing on a 'someone I know told me that someone he knows' story to miss out one person in the chain, either by misremembering, or intentionally for effect, or semi-intentionally. That's why urban legends generally 'happened' to someone precisely twice removed from the person telling them, no matter how long they've been around – the chain doesn't lengthen as the story is passed on.

And, of course, the reason this is an "explanation" is that if it is established not to be a first-hand account, then the opportunities for fabrication, 'improvements' on a possible original event, etc. rise exponentially.

Hans

[hopfen]

I don't know if this sort of thing is really that common, but here's another anecdote.
I used to work with a woman who made some interesting claims. She felt that her body was somehow "charged" with static electricity, and it caused continual havoc for her. She got a large, painful shock whenever she touched her car door, either entering or leaving the vehicle. She had clocks quit working when she walked in the room. She had computer monitors and hard drives die when she touched the keyboard. She couldn't wear a watch because it always stopped soon after she put it on. And so forth.

She was a very intelligent woman, and a software engineer. She said she had looked into all the usual remedies (switching to cloth or leather car seat covers, moving her computer to a room with no carpet, etc. with no luck.

She never actually demonstrated any of this, and was unwilling to have anyone accompany her to her car to observe the static shock in action, because she said it was too painful, so why do it unless she had to?

I just put it down to a misguided bid for attention. Her husband vouched for every bit of it, but that seems irrelevant.

Since there is no physical mechanism I'm aware of to explain such behavior, and since it never seems to be demonstrated under controlled, repeated conditions, I think it's in the same category as claims for dowsing or telepathy.

Just another two cents worth.

[ponderingturtle]

I don't know if this sort of thing is really that common, but here's another anecdote.
I used to work with a woman who made some interesting claims. She felt that her body was somehow "charged" with static electricity, and it caused continual havoc for her. She got a large, painful shock whenever she touched her car door, either entering or leaving the vehicle. She had clocks quit working when she walked in the room. She had computer monitors and hard drives die when she touched the keyboard. She couldn't wear a watch because it always stopped soon after she put it on. And so forth.

Well the car thing, especialy on leaveing a car is real, if you buy the wrong tires. A simple solution is they make wire grounds that hand off the bottom of a car to ground the car before you get in or out.

The rest seem to be unlikely unless say she liked static generating shoes or something, but it seems unlikely that a static charge would wreck a harddrive unless you touch the harddrive.

Hmm I wonder how much of this could be explained by a tendency to buy the cheapest off label stuff? So you end up with harddrives, monitors and tires that either generate static or are likely to die more frequently.

[Senex]

Maybe he was just hard on watches.

He could be a ghost hunter who uses equipment for purposes in which it wasn't intended -- like a watch as a hammer.

[Locknar]

Sorry guys, I forgot about this thread until I just got a bunch of subscription updates in my email.

I'll bring up the subject again to my Step-dad at dinner tonight and try to get some of these questions answered. I don't want to mention that I made a topic about him on the internet though, because he might not like that.I can't help but notice...KeyserSoze seems to have left the building, without providing any of the additional detail we've been discussing.