Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

This well-worn 7A38-701A, fitted with a non-original replacement bracelet, was listed yesterday evening, by an Italian eBay seller, as a 5-day auction with a laughably over-optimistic opening bid price of 450 Euros. 

As far as the 'Alarm' goes, the bells are already ringing out a warning. Check out the date - halfway through the change-over @ 5:38 !! 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/202789512795

Seiko Men's 7A38-701A Chronograph Alarm Watch Black Dial very Rare to find. in perfect working conditions, glass in good conditions, case have just small sign of use as in photos. Case diameter is 37mm.

• Asta parte da solo 450 € / bid start 450 €

• Spedizione in Italia 10 euro / Shipping in European Union 20 euro

• Shipping in USA 25 €

• For shipping outside or Island (Canary island .....) please contact me before you bid it

This well-worn 7A38-701A, fitted with a non-original replacement Seiko bracelet, was listed earlier this evening, by a German eBay seller, as a 7-day auction, with an opening bid price of 1 Euro. Not the best of examples; the dial batons and smaller hour marks have been re-lumed. The suitably well-worn stainless bracelet is a Seiko p/n C163, presumably off some 1970's digital. I'm sure it will sell, regardless.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113945714580

Seiko 7A38-701A Quartz Chronograph. Zustand: Gebraucht, siehe Fotos.

Datum in deutsch/englisch schaltet sauber.

Drücker gehen butterweich und Chronograph nullt perfekt. War letztes Jahr bei einem Seikospezialisten vom Uhrforum beim Service, Glas ist neu.

Band ist leider nicht das Originale, aber ein ähnliches von Seiko aus der Zeit.

Laut Seriennummer ist die 7A38 vom Oktober '83.

Versand mit DHL Paket bis 2 kg.

I can't say that I'd been watching it that closely, but the last time I'd looked at the above German eBay auction for a well-worn 7A38-701A, fitted with a non-original replacement bracelet, the bidding had reached somewhere around 25 Euros. Yesterday afternoon, the German eBay seller ended the listing early, cancelling all 5 bids in the process (checking the bidding history, the high bidder's maximum bid was 50 Euros). Presumably sold off eBay for a back door offer.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113945714580

When I wrote above: 'I'm sure it will sell, regardless', I was alluding to the previous example, in similar condition, at the top of the page, that was listed by an Italian eBay seller at the end of September. Needless to say, it went unsold. The Italian eBay seller did re-list it once, as another 5-day auction, with the opening bid price reduced to 400 Euros. The outcome was predictably the same - unsold again. He hasn't re-listed it since.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/202793668023

Another well-worn 7A38-701A, fitted with an incorrect replacement Seiko bracelet (a p/n Z167) was listed yesterday evening, by a Swiss eBay seller, as a 10-day auction with an opening bid price of $1. As clearly stated by the seller in his description, it's also fitted with the wrong case-back off a gold-tone 7A38-728A. Which begs the question why the seller went to the trouble of obscuring the serial number.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153721429243

Rare Vintage Seiko 7a38-701A

Beautiful cross-hatched dial (a real eyecatcher)

Time, Chrono, Reset all working perfect

See picture for details and condition

>>>Wrong Caseback. From a 7a38-728A (fits perfect)

Follow me.

Will add more Seiko Vintage pieces, soon.

Thanks

Private seller.

The above 10-day Swiss eBay auction for a well-worn 7A38-701A, fitted not only with an incorrect replacement Seiko bracelet, but also the wrong case-back, ended yesterday evening, selling for $255 after 36 bids - a surprisingly high figure, given the overall condition.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153721429243

I didn't think for one moment that would have been the last we'd seen of it. 

Yesterday evening, deluded would-be Italian eBay seller infbou7 re-listed his well worn 7A38-701A, fitted with a non-original replacement bracelet, as a 5-day auction with the same over-optimistic opening bid price of 400 Euros. See my post at the top of this page and follow-up dated November 5, 2019. He's re-used the same set of photos from his original listing and still has 'Alarm' in the title. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/202840743618

This well-worn non-running 7A38-701A was listed yesterday evening by an Italian eBay seller as a 7-day auction, with an opening bid price of only 12 Euros, or the option to make an offer. Whereas it could be broken up for parts - the bracelet appears to be a half-decent original p/n Z1118S, it's mostly complete, so also eminently restorable.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/293360475450

Vintage Seiko 7A38 -701A non funzionante. Non so dirvi quale sia il problema, vendo uso ricambi.

Note that it's missing the dial minute ring, which has been replaced by a random black plastic / nylon spacer, to fill the gap. It reminded me of the 7A38-701A that was cited as an example, a few years ago in the 3 W's thread. Obviously not the same watch, but I'm wondering if this watch's minute ring suffered the same fate.

The above 7-day Italian eBay auction, for a non-running well-worn 7A38-701A ended yesterday evening, selling for an unexpectedly low 66 Euros after 17 bids.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/293360475450

Seiko7A38 at July 23, 2019 at 11:34 AM

Seiko7A38 at November 3, 2017 at 6:36 AM

This well-worn partly functional 7A38-701A 'Head Only' was listed overnight by a US eBay seller with a ludicrous 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of $600 !!  To add insult to injury, he's offering it through eBay's GSP programme, which for anybody in Europe stupid enough to even contemplate anything like that price would potentially add a further $188 in charges on top !

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362148041161

Lately, it seems like everything sells eventually, no matter how poor the condition and however stupidly over-priced. That well worn, only partly functional 7A38-701A 'Head Only', which had been automatically re-listed by the US eBay seller since November 2017 finally sold in the early hours of this morning against a best offer.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362148041161

The eBay Purchase History reveals that over the 20 months plus duration, there had only been 3 other previous offers made (two by the same person), which were summarily declined by the seller. You can ignore the one at the bottom - that was me deliberately trolling the seller (offering $60 versus his $600 asking price). 

Buyer message: You're having a laugh, aren't you ? I'm not. 

We're sorry, but nite_flite_time has declined your Best Offer for US $60.00.

Unfortunately that annoying eBay API feed 'glitch' means WatchCount.com look-up tools still can't provide any clue as to what price it may eventually have sold for.

Belated Update (25th August):

Nearly a month later, using the latest eBay 'BO workaround', I'm pleased to be able to report that 7A38-701A 'Head Only' finally sold for a best offer of $300 - half the original ludicrous Buy-it-Now price ! As revealed by this alternative eBay link:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=362148041161

I make no apologies for the lengthy double quote. It'll save anyone who isn't familiar with the back-story flicking back through a couple of pages. Guess what ? It didn't sell evidently, because it was back on eBay again, re-listed earlier this evening. This time, US eBay seller nite_flite_time dropped the Buy-it-Now price from his original absolutely ridiculous $600 (which he'd stubbornly stuck to, since the first week of November 2017) to 'only' $200, but still with the option to make an offer.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362905625478

The rather washed-out looking photos appeared to be new for this re-listing.

Watch has been tested with a new battery. Sold as non working. Date and day won't turnover. No band. Scratches on the crystal and bezel. Case does have scratches. Case back has been engraved with a name and number. 

Case diameter is 36mm. 

Extremely rare watch.

Domestic Shipping & Handling is FREE.

Questions, please email us! We work 24/7 and you will receive an answer promptly.

It sold again, rather quicker this time around, just a couple of hours later.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362905625478

Not for the much reduced Buy-it-Now price of 'only' $200, but as revealed by the alternative 'true selling price' link, for a best offer of $125, which given the condition, frankly makes a lot more sense than the supposed previous 'selling price' of $300.

https://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=362905625478

This one-owner 7A38-701A in decent, well-cared-for cosmetic, but non-working condition, was listed this morning, by a UK eBay seller, as a 7-day auction, with an opening bid price of £54. Judging by the apparent discolouration of the movement's anti-magnetic back-plate, I suspect it's probably suffered from a leaking battery (while left for 20 years in a drawer).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313006776783

Very rare mens Seiko 7a38 701a chronograph watch excellent condition non working. Condition is Used. Original box is included in the sale. This watch is my own bought around 1983, recently rediscovered after 20 years in a drawer but failed to restart with a new battery. Dispatched with Royal Mail 1st Class.

The above 7-day UK eBay auction for a non-working 7A38-701A ended a few moments ago, selling for a hefty £322 after 27 bids.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313006776783

As some readers may have guessed, I was the winning bidder of that UK eBay auction for a non-working 7A38-701A. I ended up paying rather more for it than I'd originally planned, but I'd made my mind up that it was about time I bought myself a better example. I collected the package from the local Royal Mail sorting office depot yesterday morning. Initial impressions are favourable - it's in very good well-cared-for cosmetic condition, with only one tiny mark on the bezel inlay and another on the crystal. There are a few very light scuffs on the 12 o'clock side of the bracelet and the clasp. It's pretty much all-original too - apart from someone having replaced the original 16mm short bead springbar in the clasp with a normal 'double shoulder' type. I haven't counted them up, but it appears to have its full original complement of bracelet adjustment links, too. Here's an exactly 'as received' photo I took earlier this morning. Obviously it needs a good clean.

This morning I decided to investigate why it wasn't working. I unscrewed the case-back and popped a new battery in (it came without one), just to see if there were actually any signs of life. It was completely dead. Well almost. Pressing any of the chronograph pushers (with the crown in any of the 3 positions) made the hour hand twitch. An indication of a fairly serious internal short. The movement's anti-magnetic back-plate looked pretty clean (what I'd misconstrued as discolouration in the eBay seller's photo must have been shadow).

However, it was a portent of what I'd expected to find once I started stripping it down. Note the electolytic deposits on the underside of the anti-magnetic back-plate, in the area of the battery negative contact. If you zoom in on the photo, below, there's also some wetness around the battery recess on the back of the PCB.

I gingerly removed the PCB to find more or less what I expected - to a lesser extent. The gold-plated battery negative contact is badly corroded and the track leading from it is almost completely eaten through. I've seen many (much worse) battery acid damaged PCB's in my time, but unfortunately that's all it takes to kill one.

There was more wetness (leaked battery fluids) on top of the green plastic '710' insulator spacer (not particulary visible in the next photo). Note also the tarnishing / deposits on the PCB contact area of the negative battery contact.

I decided to withdraw the '710' spacer, just to check underneath. Difficult to see in this photo, but again there's some wetness on the underside of the battery well.

Thankfully the movement underneath is almost squeaky clean. 

At which point, my camera's battery ran out, so I'm going to finish the clean-up operation while it's on charge.

Movement now cleaned up and reassembled with a new replacement PCB. 

Almost everything works. Initially, the sweep second hand didn't move at all (as you'd expect it to, after replacing the battery). I was considering replacing the coil, but then instead, I popped the movement out and gave the sweep second hand a couple of nudges with the point of a wooden cocktail stick. It nearly managed one complete rotation on its own. It's still a tad recalcitrant and tends to stick, rocking back and forward between the 4 and 5 marks (where I've left it, for now). I'm hoping with a bit of exercise, it may right itself. Next step is to properly strip and clean the watch case and grease the pushers.

I reassembled the watch this morning and took these two photos using flash.

Since then, I've been struggling to take a decent wrist shot, which shows the true dial, hand and Tachymeter lettering colours, without getting reflections in the crystal. Not an easy task, believe me. Here's a few of my earlier efforts:

I've posted a couple of slightly better ones in the WRUW thread.

This well worn 7A38-701A, fitted with a non-original generic replacement bracelet (with a Seiko clasp) was listed earlier this morning, by a Tunisian eBay seller, with a laughable 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of $300, or the option to make a much lower more realistic offer. The seller's description is a little strange. I suspect he probably copied it from someone else's listing, but I haven't figured out which.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124110666413

Each button and counter works correctly, reset to zero included. 

Original very rare bracelet. (NOT !!) 

Introduced in 1982, this was the first analog chronograph movement with quartz timekeeping and power reserve.

The family was begun with Calibre 7A28, which was the world's first analog quartz chronograph. Calibre 7A38 added a day/date window.

Early this morning, the Tunisian eBay seller ended his above listing for that well-worn 7A38-701A, fitted with a non-original replacement bracelet, because of an error in the listing.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124110666413

There were more than one that needed rectifying, but the most obvious error being the pricing.  He re-listed it a couple of minutes later, as a 7-day auction, with an opening bid price of $100, but quite incredibly, with the option to Buy-it-Now for the even more ridiculous price of $400. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124111667859

That mistake was rectified for him, when someone placed a bid mid-morning:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124111667859

The description remains exactly as before, including the sentence:

Original very rare bracelet. - Which it clearly IS NOT ! 

The re-listed 7-day auction for that well worn 7A38-701A, fitted with a non-original bracelet ended earlier this morning, selling for $152.50 after 3 bids. All 3 bids were placed within the last 15 seconds. If you check the bidding history, you'll see there was an earlier bid for $155.55 (as I mentioned in my previous post), but whoever placed it obviously came to his senses and later retracted it.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124111667859

This well-worn 7A38-701A, fitted with a non-original replacement Seiko bracelet and an unidentified replacement minute marker ring, was listed earlier this evening, by a German eBay seller, as a 3-day auction listing, with a wishful opening bid price of 140 Euros, or the option to make an offer - for anybody desperate enough. Comes with a nice vintage Seiko presentation box though.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133378268936

Aus nachlas verkaufe ichein Seiko chronograph Herrenuhr 7A38-701A Vintage. Zustand: Gebraucht. Bj.ca.1983. Die uhr funktioniert einwandfrei, hat aber Gebraucht Spuren. Kratzer auf Glass, Chapter ring ist defekt. Nachdem Verkauf keine Garantie und Rücknahme. Die uhr hat seltene karierte Ziffernblat. Es ist Privat Verkauf. 

Somebody must have been desperate.

The above 7A38-701A, fitted with incorrect replacement bracelet and chapter ring, sold this morning for an undisclosed best offer. Hopefully one lower than 140 Euros.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133378268936