[Leica] Questions about recent M3 repair

[jshul at comcast.net (Jim Shulman)]

Bruce,

The first thing that I would assume, if you're having the work completed
from a reputable repairperson (such as those listed on the LHSA's website),
is that you received New-Old-Stock (NOS) top plates.  NOS material is brand
new, unused old stock material.

Many expert repair people will stockpile parts in anticipation of future
repair work.  The parts may come from the manufacturer (from some time in
the past), or may come from other repair specialists who had them in stock.

For example, in the old car hobby original-style oil filters for V-12
Packards are an extremely rare and expensive item.  One restoration company
found a large cache of these NOS filters some years ago when they bought out
a Packard parts distributor; they are still installing them in their V-12
Packard restorations.  

Best,
Jim Shulman
Bryn Mawr, PA

  

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+jshul=comcast.net@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+jshul=comcast.net@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
bruceslomovitz@comcast.net
Sent: Sunday, January 07, 2007 11:31 AM
To: lug@leica-users.org
Subject: [Leica] Questions about recent M3 repair

I recently sent a chrome M3 to a well known repair person.  I will not
mention the person's name at this point as I do not wish to  impune his
reputation.  The M3 was in reasonably good shapen when I sent it.  It had
new strap lugs, a new shutter curtain, new leatherette, etc.  The only thing
about it which detracted from it's appearance was that the top and bottom
plates were scratched and dented.  

The repair person said it would be too expensive to remove the dents and
re-chrome.  He therefore offered to procure new top and bottom plates from
Leica.  The camera looks quite new now.  However I subsequently learned from
E. Puts that to his knowledge, Leica does not supply new top and bottom
plates.  I'm wondering if anyone has any insight into where these plates may
have come from.  They look genuine but I'm no expert.  

Does anyone have any techniques for determining the authenticity or origin
of the plates?

Appreciate your input.

Bruce S.