While on vacation in Israel, I happened to go to the Ein Gedi Spa on the shores of the Dead Sea (a.k.a. the Salt Sea), the lowest depression on Earth if you don't count high school.

First, we enjoyed the mineral baths in the spa itself. I kept my generic-style Timex watch with me (I do not know what kind of watch it is, since it was packed as a turn'n'pull, which it is not) because you're only supposed to stay in for about 15 minutes, and I'm not one to screw around with potentially dangerous minerals. My watch got quite wet, and was submerged often.

We then went on to the Dead Sea mud, which we covered ourselves in, neck to toe, including my watch. After it dried, we washed it all off in the minerally-water showers, which I got in my eyes, so I rinsed off in the normal water showers too.

We then went to the pool and splashed around for a while. My watch got ever-more wet in this situation. After that, we went to the Dead Sea proper, and floated in that until some rather unpleasant side-effects of the salt took effect. Again, my watch got wet, and salty too.

Soon afterwards, I noticed that, though my watch still worked, the Indiglo light had stopped working, much to my dismay. What would I use as a flashlight at night? Eventually it started working again. Then it stopped. Then it started. Then it stopped. Then it started again and it works now.

I can't help but feel two things. First, luck, for it not breaking (let's face it, water so salty that you can see the eddies is not what it is designed to resist); second, respect for Timex. Not only did it take a licking and keep on ticking, but when something that doesn't tick broke, it fixed itself on its own. Now that is engineering.

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