[George]

[ Indeed they do; does anyone know how to un-skip one? We have a nice Starrett that someone made skip, and it just bugs me that ")" is not anywhere near vertical.

To “unskip” dial calipers you use a narrow piece of shim stock or feeler gage .0015 to .002 and insert it between the pinion and the rack, then you can reset the pointer on the dial to where you want it. or, as the old timers do just reset the dial.
As long as the caliper does not skip when you open it up everything should be good
If it does check the rack for chips & dirt
eo