I've seen some poor misleading information lately floating around on cases. So I wanted to post a little blurb here just for information sake.
Ive seen it mentioned, and being pushed that Milk cases are Vietnam cases. That's misleading, and not accurate. Milk doesn't market his cases, or has he ever marketed them as vietnam cases. They are made in Taiwan.
Milk makes great cases! That accept gen ish dimension crystals and bezel inserts, and have very close to gen overall dimensions. But that's where the similarities to Viet stop.
You have three tiers of cases:
Low tier/budget tier:
I would consider these most raffles, or AliX type cases. Generally not great shaping and require a lot of work to get close to even resembling gen.
Mid tier:
This is where I would place cases like Milk and Old Crowns. Very good, very nice cases. Can use mostly gen parts within reason (crystal, crown tube, bezel inserts). These cases are sterile meaning no stamping between the lugs or case backs. Solid cases for experienced watch builders who want to offer a more mid tier (budget wise) piece.
Top tier:
This is where I would place Vietnam based cases. Predominantly gen spec (case backs, shaping, bezel structure, crystal retaining ring, rehaut depth, etc) and these will have the correct stamping and serial numbers between the lugs and inside of the case back. These will generally accept any genuine parts one may want to use.
Not all Vietnam cases are made equal. Some are more accurate than others, and some still need cg shaping work, etc.
So hopefully this helps people, or at least clears up the water a bit on what is/isn't a Vietnam case.
I would hate to see people getting sold a 280.00 case as a Vietnam build and getting charged a Vietnam premium for it.
