manodeoro's suggestions for modding a Raffles case may be the best option out there these days. JMB is gone and I don't expect him back.
Gone are the days when you could pick up a 1601, 16000 or a 16200 DJ case for a decent price and use it for a 1016 build.
Another option is to build a 34 mm cased Explorer. 1500 Date and 5500 AK cases are more readily available these days- people take the movements out of them and build 1680 subs and 5513/2 subs.
The more I read about 1016 cases and the fact that JMB probably won't offer his 1016 cases in the future, the more I think about making small batches of modded Raffles cases and put it on sale for RWI members.
I've done some, with all the mods I listed previously, including engravings
(between lugs and inside caseback) and result was really good.
The only concerns is that Raffles randomly send sterile or engraved cases and, when the cases come fully engraved, removing the existing engravings is a real pain in the ass
(I hate to do that).
I'll think about that and if Ken can commit to sending me fully sterile Explorer cases only I'll probably make a first batch.
2824-2 movements - swiss, are expensive these days- around $200. The asian clones are $60 or so- do you feel lucky? I ran across an eta 2840 movement this week- similar to a 2424 in size and it beats at 21600- a plus. It's a Swatch movement- maybe you could buy one for $100 on ebay and service it for who knows how much?
The last Asian 2824-2 and PT5000 movements I used ... bought around $60 shipping included ... were all running really well and the manufacturing quality seems to have improved a lot.
So ... instead of taking my chance in servicing a 2840 swatch movement ... I would only use it collect :
- complete balance
(cock, spring and wheel)
- escape wheel
- pallet fork
- setting lever
(2 positions only)
and put all this on the Asian 2824-2 to turn it to low beat 21600bph and make it a no-date with 2 crown positions.
Costs would be ... more or less :
- 2824-2 or PT500 : 60$ ... AliExpress
- 2840 : $40 to $100 ... eBay
- work : $80 ... if you don't do the work yourself
So final price would be $190 to $250 ... almost the same price of a serviced ETA 2840 BUT without the hassle of dealing with the fact the the ETA 2840 mainplate has no holes for dial feet or movement clamps.
That's exactly what I'm doing those days for a 6350 build ... apart from the fact that I use a Sellita SW200-1 instead of an Asian 2824-2.
A more funny ... but much more challenging too
... option would be to replace the balance wheel and spring only and keep the original balance cock ...
Doing that way you can keep the the fine tuning timing adjustment screw
which is missing on the 2840 balance cock