Go with the Phong case, you can always upgrade the dial later. For a standard dial I would try to get my hands on one of the latest from DW (no guarantee you'll ever get it...), Newman dial go for MQ. V72 hands DW if you are on a budget. V726 you might need to go gen.
Both possible, depends on the model / year you are going for. As mentioned before the most important aspect is the depth of the indices, something which has not been done well by any of the existing version.
BMW is more of a drivers car. Audi seems to have become the go-to car for BMW drivers who can't drive. Thinks have improved a lot in recent years as they don't have to make do with the horrible VW platforms anymore, but still not quite there yet. I used to work for Audi (corporate) and drove pretty much everything what had wheels and 4 rings. One exception though, I had the pleasure of driving a pre-production S8 with Lambo engine which was tuned up instead of down...
@Ronin: "Question for the group, I built mine out of a 1603, so what, if any advantage does a 16200 case hold."
The lugs on the 16xx case are a bit on the skinny side. You will struggle to drill the lug holes out to fit gen spec spring bars
The market is a good place for picking up tools. But the watches are mostly low end and the gems are too hard to find for me to bother, especially since I can get them so easy from a TD for pretty much the same price.
Fedex and UPS are safe for the UK. EMS goes through Parcelforce and gets checked by detain-uk and another mom-n-pop outlet I forgot the name. If you want to get it back there is a thread on RWI about what kind of communication to send. Basically they have no right to destroy your property whether rep or not..