Advice on Replacement Case

[bleepjay]

My wife has inherited a Ladies Oyster Perpetual M16719/3 from her grandmother who has passed away but it is not in working order and a little beat up. I brought to my local jeweler who sells Rolex, who sent it to their repair center to see what it would take to get it back going. To say the least, it's not in pristine condition, any my wife doesn't care about making it look 'new', but would rather it just be functioning if she is going to wear it.

I received the estimate for service, and on it, they said it was necessary to replace the 'CASE MIDDLE PART' to perform a full service. First of all, would this be necessary to do the service, and if I did replace it, would it decrease the value of the watch a large amount? The watch has a SN of 369XXXX, which seems to be made in about 1972.

They also recommended replacing the bracelet, 62523 two tone, but at approx $2700, I'm not sure if it's just better to try to fix or find a used replacement. From their estimate, it was noted as 'Bracelet worn beyond practical repair'.

Just looking for advice from any of you to see how I should proceed. This is our first Rolex but probably not going to be the only one.