like the 6 million dollar man.....

[Gina Marie]

Can we rebuild a watch case? I dont mean take back to near "factory" specs.....i mean do we have the technology to fatten up lugs....to take a polished case and return it to nos? They can rebuild cars and other classic items....why not a watch case. I have heard of some group in hk that can do so and a well known dealer told me that they cannot tell the difference...but can we do so? I am not asking about the ethics but the actual ability. Heck, we know paperwork can be created...

[Zoran]

Originally Posted by Gina Marie

Can we rebuild a watch case? I dont mean take back to near "factory" specs.....i mean do we have the technology to fatten up lugs....to take a polished case and return it to nos? They can rebuild cars and other classic items....why not a watch case. I have heard of some group in hk that can do so and a well known dealer told me that they cannot tell the difference...but can we do so? I am not asking about the ethics but the actual ability. Heck, we know paperwork can be created...

Hi GM,

I have wondered myself how far we have come today already regarding case restoration...
We know laser welding occurs and what purpose it serves today.
Mainly it is being used for restoring dents and nicks in the case, where material has to be added to a certain point/location. I believe even Rolex does this sometimes.
I read it is a time-consuming process, since every point they laser on, leaves a dot that has to be polished out first before they can continue. Not really sure about this since I haven't seen it done in real life, and the last time I welded something was 22 years ago in high school...

Many claim they can tell (by using certain methods) that a case has been laser welded. I believe it will be a matter of time before they come up with a process where you won't be able to tell anymore.
When you see how far 3D printing has come in the past few years, I truly believe that in a matter of years they will be able to restore a case (read fatten the case again) back to original specs.

Top dollar is being payed nowadays for condition, so you can be sure that someone is already testing methods to achieve the best results.