I was told years ago that Howards only fit in Howard cases. Is this true?

Jim

That is true, Early Howards, not Keystone Howards, require a special case. Many cases have been modified to fit a Howard but there are many ways of spotting a re-case. A fifteen hundred dollar original cased Howard maybe only be worth a couple of hundred dollars if its been re-cased. In KW models look for extra screw marks, do key holes line up properly over the arbors? do arbors have authentic looking borders around them? evidence of filled in keyholes? Is there a gap between housing and movement? those are just a very few of the clues available for spotting a re-case. Be careful when buying an early Howard. If its a stem wind look for a detent screw on the pendant, if its there, dead giveaway that its a re-case, Howard detent screw is on movement not case, with the exception of a very few Abbot conversions. Hope this helps, Howards are my specialty love to talk about them. Have pics of almost all models so if there is any certain version anyone wants to see just holler.
Harold