VDB had done some subjectively egregious things in their builds that I can personally verify though...supergluing dials directly to the top of expensive movements, and custom multi-piece 3646 Cali case-sets with very poor finish work (like casebacks and bezels that wouldn't screw in all the way due to burrs and badly cut threads) are things that I personally experienced, and I heard similar stories from other people. There was also the debacle of VDB censoring legitimate posts on RG when the admins made the mistake of giving them moderator access.
Anyway, prior to VDB, you had users like Enzo on the original RWG (circa-2005) doing a 6152/1 build using (IIRC) an RXW case and Angelus SF240, and sellers like Watchmaster Kenzo offering very neat, but very dimensionally incorrect fixed-lug 3646 style watches. There were some other guys on the old forums from that era doing some other interesting one-off builds, but those are the only ones I can remember by name. It was a long time ago.
... Insanity!!! DSN and The Cartel ... then came H-factory and Noob Factory to really put out real good quality products, and that killed all the little guys.
