If you want to minimize the likelihood of having your watch ID'd as being 'fake', stick with a mechanical 7750 & be prepared to deal with the issues discussed above (less-than-perfect accuracy, cost of maintenance, etc). If, like TeeJay, timing accuracy trumps aesthetic accuracy, then, by all means, save the money (& headaches) & go quartz.
You will need to direct your question about the watchs' construction to the seller, but mechanical movements (which is what the gen uses) always cost more. The retail cost for a quartz movement is about $25; the Asian-made version of the (Swiss made) 7750 is about $75. You can do the math.
Just knowing the seller does not guarantee anything. The seller has to have a track record of selling 100% genuine Rolex parts for many years. A lot of well-known sellers have mistakenly sold aftermarket parts as genuine. Unless the bezel came in a sealed Rolex package directly from an AD (or Rolex), you can never be 100% certain. Post your bezel on VRF & see what they think.
Looks like a good reproduction part, but I could be convinced otherwise if it came with proper provenance or was sourced through a well-known, long-time vintage Rolex dealer.
Great work (as usual), Zig. My only question is whether it is safe to operate the jumping hour function after the overhaul or are the parts still too finicky to trust?
If both cases are 316L steel (most Rolex cases prior to about 1995 used 316L), scratches should appear the same. Some Rolex owners have reported that newer Rolex cases (made from higher grade 904L) are slightly more scratch resistant than older cases. However, as there is little consistency between reps, it is impossible to make any blanket pronouncements regarding the compostion of a given rep case.
Neither looks gen, but I think the dial on the left is the better of the 2. A better pic would help. Re-shoot the pic above (at 1024x768 pixels) as a macro (close-up) with the inner edges of the dials touching (so they are closer together) so they (the 2 dials) fill the screen (leave out the all the area beyond the edge of the lego block).
For a hunk of bling, it is a beautiful sight to behold. I would have it properly serviced asap, so it works when that special event arrives.
If you fit the bill & in the right environment, it should work nicely. Just be sure not to be seen evacuating an Evo, Suburu, minivan or similar vehicle when you arrive.
It all depends on the quality of the case used to make the rep. Unfortunately, with a few notable exceptions (MBW), there is little consistency within manufacturing runs of reps, so it is impossible to say, beforehand, whether a given rep will accept gen parts. In these cases, I think your best option is to follow Nanuq's advice. Measure your case & then see what fits. You might even get lucky & find that your case dimensions are close enough to the gen's so that you can install a gen crystal (which may cost more than your rep).
The crystal for a gen 1675 is the Tropic 116 (sorry, I do not have its dimensions).