A new acquisition. I knew from the seller's photos that the case back was, at best, atypical for an Enicar. The inscription on the inside of the case back is "W.M.R. Watch Case Co." All I have been able to ascertain about this company is that its headquarters were in New York, that it was incorporated in 1959, that it seems to have supplied cases for some lesser brands such as "Vantage" (Hamilton) and "Halgreen," and that it did some business with suppliers in Hong Kong. As I suspected, there is a dolled-up AS 1361N (AR 1034) inside. The same 30-jewel version of this calibre is found inside my pink gold Enicar chronometer. The new addition has the number 2672 inscribed on the movement, and the U.S. import code "EZR." The pink gold one has only the number 2720, and no import code. So the new addition was officially imported into the U.S. My questions: 1. Were the movement/dial/furniture imported without a case, and then cased in the U.S.? 2. Is this a re-cased Franken, maybe post melt-down? 3. Is the case itself original, and is the W.M.R. case back a replacement? I'm happy to have it regardless, as the price was low, but would of course prefer option #1. I haven't seen other Enicars with W.M.R. cases, but these chronometers are oddballs to begin with, and the case seems to suit the watch. Any thoughts?
I think it was re-cased. Present case simply doesn't seem to be correct, with the folded metal retainer ring and general low quality. These types of cases were offered widely to re-case just about anything which had simply worn out through daily use or to make a basic watch fancy. Cool movement though.