Dumb questions...

[automatico]

I ask a lot of dumb quesions.

I have answered a few too.

 

Questions:  What is a 'Vietnam' case?  I see them in projects or for sale on the forum.  How does anyone know for sure where a case is made?  Who sells 'Vietnam' cases?

 

I remember back when River was selling rolex replicas and many said the watches did not have China cases, Taiwan maybe. 

Paul on Abay supposedly sold China cased watches as do probably 90% of the dealers back then and now.

WLD cases were supposed to be 'better than average'...if you ever got the watch.  Made in ?? 

MBW/MBK watches?  I would guess MBW/MBK cases were Thailand made.  Who knows?

How about Yuki cases? 

Phong cases?

 

I always figured the overall quality, accuracy, and detail were what mattered, not where they came from.  If the case looks good, my next worry would be what type of metal did they use (most claim 316L).

Or did they use:

201?  (stainless cookware)

304?  (outside structural applications)

316L?  (common for watches)

404?  (magnetic, easy to work with)

UFO?  UnidentiFied Old stainless scrap metal.

[capre]

Not sure but i think "Vietnam" case is tonnywatches? Maby im wrong but something tells me that the supply of unshaped cases are from Vietnam and then guys like Minh, phong and tonnywatches are grinding them down to supposed to be gen spec midcases.

[Sogeha]

I think you are probably not wrong. Didn't Dbane say the same thing. That in his opinion Phong cases were a little better worked than Tonnywatches, hence the pric difference.

[DVNE]

Unfortunately TonnyWatches no longer caters to the rep crowd. He only deals with gen watches now. I am a repeat customer and I was trying to get a 6538 case to go with the dial I purchased from him a while back.

[Dawagner]

I was wondering what happened to tonnywatches as his eBay store is completely empty now too.

[highoeyazmuhudee]

the mbk shop guy told me the cases were made in japan, i highly doubt that. probably thailand, he could source them pretty quickly (next day usually). yuki cases probably shenzhen given yukis mailing address in the new territories. can confirm vietnam cases are made in vietnam using old equipment to shape and finish them. taiwan does have a huge stainless steel and general manufacturing industry, so its not unlikely that some cases could possibly come from here too. it's been long rumored to be the source of the mbw cases. the quality of metal on the mbw cases was above the chinese made cases at the time too.

[automatico]

Thanks for the info!

 

A few years ago a guy at an NAWCC show said there were some very good 18k gold cases coming out of Vietnam.  Never saw one that I know of and high gold prices may have killed them off by now.  At the same time there were some high quality 18k unsigned cases made in Italy but gold prices have made them very expensive today.  ST has them.

 

My MBK cases are all exactly alike and all the specs are dead on.  They are very high quality, especially considering what they sold for.  Detailing and good letters/numbers would help a lot.  From what I have heard, they are gone for good.

 

I have two Yuki cases (5512, 5513) and they are very good too.  The Yuki cases do not have the O ring groove under the crystal retaining bezel like the MBK cases.  The grooves came in later genuine cases but do not know when they appeared.  Yuki letters and numbers are pretty good.

 

Have one IG44 1680 case, the fit and finish is superb but it has a slight 'canoe' shape looking at the sides, much like some the very early models I have seen in pictures.  Do not know if they were made this way or the shape came from wear and polishing.  Letters and numbers are very good.

The case is shaped like on this 5513:

https://  www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=178015   (close the gap between // and www)