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To fit an eta 2836 movement for a cheap replica I bought for my teenage son.  Dial feet were damaged when it dropped off his arm while playing football 

thanks for that info!!  Very helpful!

Thanks fellows!!

Seems like it was a top quality case as I recall that the helium escape valve actually worked on that case.

Does anyone know whether it had the case grooves to accommodate a rolex movement?

was it a 316L stainless case?

Can anyone enlighten me as to what a Jackjo sea dweller case is ?.?  I recall seeing one for sale a fair while ago which attracted a lot of attention but I could not understand what the fuss was all about considering it is not a mbw cae.  Thanx!!

Can anyone enlighten me as to what a Jackjo sea dweller case is ?.?  I recall seeing one for sale a fair while ago which attracted a lot of attention but I could not understand what the fuss was all about considering it is not a mbw cae.  Thanx!!

Would it possible for you to get & post some pix of both movts your old collector friend showed you, dude?

That would certainly help lots...

The old collector came down for the weekend's general fair from interstate. I only see him at these events. I first met him in Hong Kong in 2000 and is an old school watchmaker. He would make obselete parts for timers and hard to get chronographs, but also has connections all over Asia. It caught me by surprise as I least expected with what I saw. I like many others am just as desparate to know what is going on, which is why I posted, in case anyone else has had a similar experience. It has really killed my buzz in collecting any old watches and not just old Rolex. This is a direct result of lack of spares supplied by the company which has led to open up these counterfeit alleys

I was informed that a lot of generic parts are now being made to accomodate for the lack of spares no longer supplied by Rolex themselves. I even heard that you can now get any generic parts for most older movements ranging from the ebauche to gears etc. On Friday, I met up with an old collector who showed me a Rolex movement made completely from gereric parts of which most of the parts are now made in China, being different from the legitimate generic parts offered by material supply houses. He showed me two movements and asked me to pick which was generic. I have seen so many in my life time and I could not tell them apart. He then pointed out the one which was generic and I could have fainted with shock. This makes me wonder, if this is happening, how does one go about telling the quality of what you get when buying genuine second hand or vintage and how does one go about distinguishing the inferior materials used? I am shocked

for non permanent dont bother even for permanent, like i sayd, you can buy complete rolex rep for like 160-350 bucks, you mod it to fit org movement, so you will end up with:

fake looking watch, which everyone can see, and gen movement which nobody can see.

i dont get it.

Oh no, I don't need to spend 160-350 bucks on a complete rep, as I already have the empty replica case given to me by another fellow enthusiast, which is why I was trying to investigate what the cost of machining the inside would be, until I found the real McCoy. I do see you point as it would be ludicrous to spend that sum of money on a complete rolex rep.

For a rolex datejust:

gen case on the bay usd 150-300, gen movement on the bay usd750-xxxx

why would you put a gen movement in rep case? espacially on non see-thru back watches?

It would only be a temporary situation until the right genuine case is found., which is why I was weighing out the pros and cons of whether modifying a replica case for the time being, would have been an inexpensive excercise when compared to buying the real deal. I do not know what is involved or what expense may be towards making such a modification. It may not be worth the trouble if the savings are very minimal for a non permanent solution, which is what I am trying to find out.

For example, I've been told the DW case will accept a genuine v73 movement given a little machining. But the DW movement and case are nearly identical to genuine to start with......

what is a DW?

Just out of curiousiity, does anyone know if the expense of properly modifying the inside of a replica Rolex case which is originally equipped with an eta mvt, so that it would accomodate a genuine movement be almost as costly as replacing it wth the genuine case kit? Sometimes when the genuine cases are not readliy available, I was wondering if this is a temporary cheaper alternative., as I have seen some pretty engenious projects .. Many thanks for your replies.