@brouhaha yeah, tubes can be fragile. I have a DAP with vacuum tubes that I use sparingly because I don't want to deal with it breaking and having to repair or replace it.
Alex, the Director at the made.org had a four digit/tube Nixie clock at his house, but I imagine the wrist watch variants are more prone to wear and tear than something stationary.
@teajaygrey @NanoRaptor
When John and I took our custom Nixie tube RPN calculators to the calculator conference last year, I was worried enough that I wanted a sturdy transit case with lots of foam. John just packed his in his suitcase, surrounded by clothing. They both survived fine after the round trip.
It you haven't seen it, these are YUGE, with a 15-tube display using medium-sized tubes. Required a non-trivially sized transit case, and John's took up much of the space in a large suitcase.