Classic 18038 bracelet authenticity discussion.

[LordNinja]

I noticed a recent seller of a similar watch had issues when the buyer declared his band was after-market. I am aware that this happens quite a lot on presidential bands as the gold is soft... often gets melted down after the infamous stretching and life goes on.

I did some research on the band I had and all looked well enough. I noticed there were mainly two kinds of bands seen on the 18038 wherein where the hinge meets one seems to be squared off.. the other has a rounded back.

On one site they point to the squaring as evidence of the band being a copy.. on other sites it's just the stamping they are interested in and so forth.. I've sorta given up being able to tell at all.I've seen plenty of squared clasp holes on watches posted on here sold as factory as well.

I recently sold the watch and the buyer thinks the band is a replacement due to how it drapes, I'll provide a shot of that as well.

I am in a very lucky position of being friends with the buyer so we can work it out just the same.. but what do you guys think about the band pictured? The gold was tested as 18k. My confidence was high on the band so I'm rather surprised though I am not generally dealing with pieces from this era so I could be wrong.

The clasp code is centered '55' on stamped inside the endlinks, I did not snap a picture of that but it looked as expected.

Keep in mind the band would be around early 80s.

Thanks for your time.