Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

I don't think I've mentioned it before (in this model specific thread), but over the last year or so, Danish Seiko and Citizen collector Stian (@sand.sti) has posted a few nice wrist shots of a decent condition 7A38-701A on Instagram to popular acclaim. Stian has an Instagram following of nearly 1.9K, so not surprisingly most of his posts garner 500+ likes (as indeed some of these have done).

It's not perfect, as can be seen from the few tiny chips and dings in the bezel inlay and around the rim of the bezel. Here's another photo of it he posted on Instagram about a year ago, where at least one small chip in the bezel inlay (near the 70 mark) appears to have been re-touched in that photo:

Yesterday evening, he posted it as For Sale on Instagram, but with no price stated.

Out of curiosity, I sent Stian a DM, asking what his price was. He replied 750 Euros.

He also told me that he'd bought it a couple of years ago, so on the basis it had very likely already been posted earlier in this thread, it was just a matter of flicking back a few pages (to near the bottom of page 5 and December 2018), to find a 7A38-701A with the same small chip in the bezel inlay near 70. Here follows a couple of quotes:

Originally posted by myself on December 5, 2018 at 3:29 PM:

Earlier this afternoon, Italian eBay seller simone00simone listed this 7A38-701A in decent cosmetic condition, as a 10-day auction with an opening bid price of 1 Euro. It's only really let down by some small chips in the bezel inlay and what appears to be a shallow ding or graze on the L.H. side of the watch case.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113425370557

Originally posted by myself on December 5, 2018 at 7:23 PM:

If you'd added that (10-day) Italian eBay auction listing for a 7A38-701A to your eBay watching page, as I did, you'll probably have noticed that it's already been bid to over 500 Euros in less than 6 hours ! 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113425370557

Originally posted by myself on December 15, 2018 at 2:02 PM:

The crazy early bidding on that 7A38-701A continued for a couple of days. With a full 7 days of the auction still left to run, it eventually stalled @ 600 Euros. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113425370557

The 10-day auction ended 10 minutes ago, with bidding still at 600 Euros after 33 bids. The extra bid (the only one actually made in the last 7 days) was placed by the winning bidder, 2 minutes before the auction ended - presumably as a 'safety' bid, in case anybody decided to snipe it.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113425370557

Was it shilled ? Of course it was. Let's face it, most Italian eBay auctions seem to be. The losing bidder certainly has 100% bidding activity with the seller. But how many other bidders were involved in jacking it up to that unrealistic selling price ?

This afternoon, Stian uploaded a video to Instagram of his 7A38-701A for sale.

Whatever that mark on the LH side of the watch case is, it's briefly visible. 

Seiko7A38 at October 25, 2020 at 10:58 AM

This suspicious (too-good-to-be-true) looking 7A38-701A was listed earlier this afternoon, by a keyword spamming* Italian eBay seller, as a 10-day auction with an opening bid price of 249 Euros. If you're considering bidding on it, I would advise extreme caution. Firstly the seller doesn't accept any other form of payment than Postal Order or Banker's Draft and doesn't accept returns. Now study the photos carefully. The seller describes it as 'all original'. Compare the fairly worn condition of the bezel insert and faded chronograph hands with the case and bracelet. I strongly suspect they've been refinished. The swage line on the L.H. side of the case looks wonky - as if a ding has been blended in (or filled), before it was re-sprayed.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164469230348

Seems like that determined winning bidder has wisely changed his mind.  That suspect-looking 7A38-701A is back on eBay, re-listed earlier this afternoon by the keyword-spamming Italian seller, this time as 7-day auction, with the same opening bid price of 249 Euros.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164510551371

Seiko7A38 at September 5, 2020 at 1:28 PM

This average worn condition 7A38-701A, with an engraved case-back was listed late this afternoon, by an Italian eBay seller, with a 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of $650, or the option to make a much lower, more realistic offer.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124325969096

Time for a few updates on that 7A38-701A with the engraved case-back, listed by Italian eBay seller strega_68 in the first week of September. I hadn't mentioned it before, but he'd added a 4th photo to the listing after I'd posted the original details (on the previous page).

As many other eBay sellers do (much to my annoyance), he ended that listing as allegedly no longer available.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124325969096

He subsequently re-listed it a couple of times, at some point reducing his ridiculous 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price from $650 to 'only' $600. At the weekend I received one of those unsolicited discount offers from the seller. Unusually it was a 50% discount, reducing the Buy-it-Now price from $600 to 'only' $300. I suspect this automatically went out to everyone else who was watching it.

I didn't even bother to respond. Sorry Giovanni. It looks like nobody else did either, because yesterday evening, after the offer had expired, the seller ended his latest re-listing, once again, as allegedly no longer available.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124420331523

He then re-listed it once again, not as a Buy-it-Now, but this time as a 5-day auction with a realistic opening bid price of $160.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124444489428

The only difference (in the description) is that he's no longer including a box.

NO SEIKO BOX

The re-listed 7-day Italian eBay auction for that suspect-looking 7A38-701A ended a few moments ago. There had been a bid (of 250 Euros) placed earlier in the week, but the bidder subsequently retracted it a couple of days later. It was looking like it might go unsold this time, until someone else sniped it to win for the opening bid price of 249 Euros in the closing seconds.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/164510551371

The other recently re-listed 5-day Italian eBay auction for a 7A38-701A ended a few moments ago, selling for $191.38 after 4 bids. Somewhat less than the seller's original ludicrous 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of $650.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124444489428

Seems that Danish instagram poster Stian (@sand.sti) has found a buyer for his 7A38-701A, in fellow instagrammer and scandinavian poster Viktor (@vigges66). Earlier this morning he posted a set of 9 photos of it on Instagram. His 'black-lit' lightbox photos tend to accentuate the dings in the bezel and inlay, which weren't always so clearly visible in Stian's many daylight shots.

Seiko7A38 at August 31, 2020 at 6:22 AM

This 7A38-701A in average worn condition, with badly discoloured lumed dial batons, was listed earlier this morning, by an Italian eBay seller, with a 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of 375 Euros and also the option to make an offer. I've only bothered to upload half of the seller's dozen photos as they're a trifle repetitive.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114384689947

Checking my eBay watching page, I noticed that 7A38-701A, with badly discoloured lumed dial batons, listed by an Italian eBay seller at the end of August, had sold late this morning, for a somewhat reduced Buy-it-Now price of 280 Euros.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114384689947

Seiko7A38 at September 22, 2020 at 10:03 AM

Seiko7A38 at June 14, 2020 at 7:39 AM

This well-worn 7A38-701A, fitted with a non-original replacement Seiko bracelet, was listed at lunchtime today, by a German eBay seller, with a risible 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of 649 Euros, with the option to make a much lower more realistic offer. Nice teak Seiko presentation box, though.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/293613111300

When watches remain unsold for 'a while', I don't normally bother posting interim updates, but I'll make an exception in this case. The German eBay seller, who listed that 7A38-701A fitted with a non-original replacement Seiko bracelet, in mid-June, has since made a number of revisions to his listing.

These have so far included six reductions to his original ludicrous 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of 649 Euros, down to 'only' 399 Euros in mid-August and 379 Euros at the beginning of September. He's probably still got some way to go.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/293613111300

With apologies for the lengthy multiple quote, but I'm just carrying over some of the pertinent posts from the previous page. The German eBay seller continued to make revisions to his listing, including 2 further reductions to the Buy-it-Now price on 3rd and 4th October, which bought the Buy-it-Now price down to 'only' 349 Euros. Still it remained unsold. I nearly missed spotting it, but he finally ended the listing early this morning as allegedly no longer available. 

Seiko7A38 at September 30, 2020 at 5:53 AM

Seiko7A38 at August 31, 2020 at 12:07 PM

This well-worn 7A38-701A head only was listed earlier this afternoon by a Spanish eBay seller, with a Buy-it-Now price of 249.99 Euros and currently without the option to make an offer.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274478460132

Earlier this morning, Spanish eBay seller scufutzz ended his listing for the above quoted well-worn 7A38-701A 'head only' as allegedly no longer available.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274478460132

No great surprise, it was back on eBay a re-listed a few minutes later ....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274514800757

In normal circumstances, I wouldn't have bothered posting this, as this dubious practice is fairly commonplace. I would have written 'exactly the same as before' - indeed the photos and pricing are exactly the same as his previous listing, complete with the same 7A38-7A01 error, in both title and description. But the listing page format has changed slightly (in the grey box area) - something I'd noticed recently on a few other 'new' listings. I've tried various screen resolutions, in an effort to reproduce 'the old look', without success. eBay appear to have now updated their .co.uk site in line with other domains.

Belated Edit: Indeed, I really don't know why I bothered posting that. The Spanish eBay seller ended the above re-listing a month later, in a similar manner - once again as allegedly no longer available. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274514800757

Hardly worth the effort of adding another update.  Spanish eBay seller scufutzz continues to re-list his well worn 7A38-701A head only, which he first listed at the end of August last year, regularly pulling his favourite stunt of ending the listing as allegedly no longer available and sticking stubbornly to his unrealistic asking price of 249.99 Euros. I must have been feeling mellow (or got sick and tired of seeing it), but in the end I messaged him pointing out his 70A1 typo in the title and description - which he immediately rectified. So it carried on. He ended his latest re-listing in the customary manner 2 days ago.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274640537631

Needless to say, it's back on eBay again, re-listed this morning - the only difference being he's uploaded a new set of photos - ironically with an orange background.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274643620433

What bracelet would you recommend these days to go with a head like that? 

I recall your thoughts on the Ebay versions (which are scarce to find these days I think) were scathing of their quality. Short of scouring secondhand sites for similar SQ straps and such it's hard to know whether some of those are thin enough around the lug/bracelet joint to fit nicely. 

Any tips would be appreciated.

Personally I'd recommend looking for a better 'head only' or watch to start with. You'll struggle to find any bracelet that looks the part nowadays - as you correctly stated, even supplies of the once ubiquitous 20mm 'Feiko' have since dried up.