Jason,
Thanks for your patience. I have replace the code with the die code as your recommended. It outputs the following sql:
UPDATE `ws_inventory` SET `viewCount` = 1 WHERE `id_inventory`=980
viewCount is always output as equal to the current value in the database (not one over the current value)
If I run this on the database in PHPMYADMIN it sets the view count to 1 for that specific record (#980).
Attached are screenshots of update record wizard steps and code.