I’ve bought a few of these over the years and honestly, the quality has been pretty awful. Ended up binning all of them - they kept catching the strap, scraping the leather, and none of them were made to proper specs. Either too tight or too loose for 16mm.
At this point, the reality is there are only a handful of dealers left who still a few original buckles left for sale, and they know exactly what they’ve got. Prices are high (sometimes painfully so), but supply is basically gone. I eventually tracked down a correct 1940s buckle for my Universal Genève Tri-Compax from 1945, and it set me back close to USD 300 all in with shipping to Singapore.
Took years of searching to get there...in the end, I’d rather just pony up and buy from someone who actually knows what they’re selling and can stand behind the product, instead of rolling the dice on random eBay listings. Expensive, yes.... but at least you know what you’re getting.
