Not necessarily. A well-designed movement, properly maintained, will last for generations. The main sticking point is that your watchsmith will have PARTS for the genuine movement, and no parts of the Asian version. Something to think about if you want to be able to fix something .. the other side of the coin is that Asian movements can be replaced instead of fixed .. so ..
Hi Bill .. It's important to know that ordering from ETz *can* and often does take a month to arrive. Real in-house inspections, with no drop-shipping takes *time* .. your best plan is to forget you ordered it and act like it's New Years and your birthday all rolled in one when it arrives.
My v5 bracelet is like satin to the touch and all screws are flush as can be to the links .. where are the problems you describe? I don't think I've seen them mentioned before.
Beyond that, the V3 case back is utterly incorrect .. the V5 is the correct case back.
I have an outstanding Miyota quartz chrono in my BR 01 94 that keeps time to less than a second per month, and a terrible plastic fake Miyota in a rip-off BRASS Cartier with chrome plating that died in 6 months.
Japanese movements (meaning Miyota) are outstanding, not "cheaper" ... Chinese quartz are the devils, especially a Chinese movement stamped "Miyota" LOL.
My B&R 01-94 has a Japanese Miyota movement and is dead-bang accurate to less than a second per MONTH, not per day. That's how I knew I was ripped off and send a Quartz instead of the promised Automatic!! LOLOLOL!!!! The chrono function is flawless and is still working perfectly after 9 months of ownership.
Anyway, the range you get in reps is from a true Miyota to a absolute piece of crap Chinese quartz movement. That's what came in the Cartier LaDona I got for my wife. It didn't last 6 months.
I paid $150 for each of these watches ... so what you pay for is seldom what you get