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"And yet the value of vintage rolexes is still quite strong even at the lower end where I generally hunt." Agree. I have snagged a few pretty good rolex buys in the last few years but they were not mainstream models. One was a gold top 6694, one was a manual wind no date model, and one was an older 17 jewel (1520) 5500 AK. Otoh I looked on eBay at sold 6694 just now and they are going for around $1100 to $2500 so that's not too bad at the lower end of the prices. I paid $500 for the gold top 6694 and the owner threw some other watchjunk in with the deal so I ended up with about $400 in it but it needs a case tube, crown, crystal, and clean/oil etc = about $500 when finished with crystal, gaskets, spring bars, strap, buckle, ST case tube, swiss Générale Ressorts mainspring, and a good used crown, c/o is free. It probably sold for $250 or less when new. Gold top vintage rolex watches were said to have around 80 microns of gold on top of the case and the bezels were solid gold, usually 14k. The gold case top was a gold cap soldered on the steel case similar to heavy gold fill...you can see the edge of the gold cap on the bottom of the cases. They seem to hold up for many years with no wear through unless some Gomer buffs the gold off the case. A lot of older watches had 20 microns of gold plating on the case, a few were 40 microns, and watches with heavy plating usually have the thickness stamped on them somewhere. Today the better brands are usually 10 microns or less and some cheaper brands are 'flash plated'...you can rub the plating off with a Fabulustre polishing cloth in two or three swipes. Here is a 40 micron rolex case: http://www.passions.com.sg/v2/watch/rolex-30mm-c1960s-oysterdate-precision-ref6466-yellow-gold-40microns-plated High quality Générale Ressorts mainsprings come in many swiss watch brands. A few US GR mainspring suppliers: Cas-Ker Inc Esslinger And Co Jules Borel & Co Otto Frei Some may market them under a supply house brand or other brand name.