Well, maybe I'm not one to talk (I wear a $3300 Omega Speedmaster), but that's a perfect example of not knowing your rights/TSA rules (On the otherhand, it's a perfect example of TSA ignorance of their own rules/requirements). She in fact did not have to take the watch off. I never do. I walk through the metal detector with my watch on and have never had it go off (if it does, then I get the special screening, no big deal to me) nor have I ever been told by a TSA official that it has to come off.

She also could have requested a private screening which would include a required witness.

I worry more about other passengers swiping my watch or laptop than I do TSA employees. TSA should have never told her she had to remove the watch, but she could have saved herself by knowing the rules.