Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

I'm going to start off this thread by copying and pasting something I've written / quoted a number of times before ....

Harking back to this vague statement included in an email reply which I received from the Orient Watch Co., back in February 2010:

We had several type of J39 chronograph models until 1990 year, but it is regret to say that we do not have such records in hand now.

.... You've gotta wonder just exactly how many different variations of J39 they produced. Or at least I do, anyway. 

Particularly when you start adding the Racer branded versions and looking at different dial / colour combinations. 

Because that several type(s) quoted by Orient Watch Co. seems to be endless - as do the permutations / model numbers. 

I've just bought myself yet another (variant of) Orient J39. 

Bit of a cheap 'beater' using that familiar Breitbling style case with the rotating bezel with quarter markers.

I spotted it listed on eBay last weekend, by an Italian seller:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182086740482

I've only bothered uploading 2 of the sellers 6 photos. His description was written in both Italian and English:

SPORT ORIENT CHRONOGRAPH DAY DATE 10 BAR , MADE IN JAPAN , BATTERY OPERATING, REF KW J39722 - 70 CA, WELL WORKING (EXCEPT CHRONO RESET : ITS RIGHT DOWN BUTTON SEEMS FITTED AND I SUPPOSE IT NEEDS JUST ONLY BE CLEANED )

FINE BLACK DIAL THREE COUNTERS AND DAY DATE AT 3 O'CLOCK . ZAPHIR CRYSTALL , TURNING BEZEL, STAINLESS STEEL 40 MM CASE, SCREW DOWN STAINLES STEEL BRANDED AND NUMBERED BACK . GENERIC NEW TRAP AS GIFT (NEVER USED AND FINE BUT NOT SUITABLE FOR XXXL WRISTS - SEE LAST PICTURE FOR SIZE)

EXCELLENT CONDITIONS

IN AUCTION FROM € 29,90 + € 15,00 FOR SHIPPING OUTSIDE ITALY

Needless to say, I nailed it (just to be sure, 3 times) - for the opening bid price:

Couple of reasons for posting this ....

Firstly, I wanted to use this example to reinforce something I wrote in this other recent Orient J39 thread ....

That although Orient Watch Co. may sometimes appear inconsistent in their watch case model number allocation ....

There still always exists a direct relationship between the dial part number and the watch case it is meant to be used in.

In this instance, the seller had actually included the case-back model number in his description: J39722-70.

So, after my recent experience with deceptive Franken dial-swapping Italian eBay seller pinup50miss - a little due diligence ....

Zooming in on the case-back stamping (which you could easily read without doing so):

And the dial part number:

   J3927227-018. The 7227 part being correct for a J39722-70. 

But what actually first caught my attention when I saw this particular Orient J39 was the dial printing ! 

Most 'ordinary' Orient J39 models simply have this printed at the top of their dials:

  ORIENT 

CHRONOGRAPH

     QUARTZ

(The J39x01-70 divers also have 100m printed underneath that.)

But there are a few other (related) models which have additional printing lower down their dials, between the sub-dials:

Orient J39725-70:

and the two Racer branded Breitbling siblings:

J39027-70:

and J39026-70:

But No, the dial printing on this Orient J39722-70 is different again - all at the top of the dial - and no QUARTZ.

So apart from being yet another different J39 case-back model number - another reason why I had to have it. 

The Orient J39722-070 arrived on Friday and was one of a few jobs I tackled at the weekend (some with more success than others).

The 4 o'clock chrono' reset pusher was absolutely solid (per the seller's description). It looked like he'd had a go at it with pliers and a variety of other blunt instruments. But nothing that a good overall clean, a touch of silicone grease and new seals all round couldn't fix.

The 'Free Gift' new generic strap - (a cheap and nasty 18mm thin suede thing with a plastic buckle) it came fitted with was completely unsuitable for the style of watch and the first thing to go. My ideal choice would have been another of those 19mm Meyhofer 'Lanark' straps, from WatchBandCenter, I fitted to my Racer J39027-70, but preferably in Black with White stitching. Unfortunately that version in 19mm is now discontinued and no longer available. So I had a look for alternatives. Searching eBay I may have found something suitable (à la Breitbling style) and reasonably priced and ordered a couple from a US seller.

Those couple of alternative 19mm straps I'd ordered from a US eBay seller are coming via the Global Shipping problem program. The last time I had something delivered by this bunch of incompetents (for UK distribution, they use one of the cheapest couriers: Yodel), it spent a full week being mis-directed between their UK hubs, before being finally delivered. So I wasn't expecting them to arrive anytime soon. In fact, this morning I received a notification informing me of the 'Good News' that my (supposedly Priority International shipping) package had only just been received at Pitney-Bowes GSP hub in Erlanger, Kentucky. 

Meanwhile impatience had got the better of me. On Monday, I availed myself of the services of the Gute Damen von Orianenburg -

i.e. WatchBandCenter.com - and ordered another of those 19mm Meyhofer 'Lanark' straps with red stitching (my second choice).

After all, that same strap had worked so well on my Racer J39027-70 'BreitBling' Panda.

This Orient J39 has (subtly different) red hands too. The package arrived yesterday and I fitted the strap this morning:

Here's a slightly different wrist shot to the one I posted in the WRUW thread.

I suppose I ought to add an update to this thread. 

No doubt, anybody who regularly searches eBay on 'Seiko 7A38' will have seen the white dialed Orient J39722-70 which was listed a week or so ago by an Italian eBay seller. You could hardly miss it, with a listing title like Orient Seiko 7A38.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/252812561826

Orient cronografo con movimento al quarzo Seiko cal. 7A38.

Perfetto stato di conservazione sia estetica che meccanica.

Vetro minerale senza graffi.

Tutti i pezzi sono originali.

Orient chronograph with quartz movement cal. Seiko 7A38.

Perfect condition, both aesthetic and mechanical.

mineral glass with out scratch.

All parts are original.

Going by the seller's photos, I wouldn't personally describe it as being in perfect condition, but I've seen (and bought) worse.

By this time last week, bidding had stalled at 63 Euros. 

I was determined to add it to my collection and although fairly confident that my planned snipe bid would have won the auction, by then I was getting nervous. So after some 'back door' negotiations with the seller, I persuaded him to end the listing early.

Apart from the white dial and Tachymeter ring, the watch appears to be exactly the same as my black dialed J39722-70 - right down to the hands used. Which although I don't doubt they're original is an odd choice, because white painted hour and minutes hands against a white dial backround aren't exactly condusive to good legibility. 

I've got nothing to compare it against other than this bloody awful out-of-focus photo of a white dialed Racer / Orient J39026-70 ....

and my own Orient BreitBling 7T32 equivalent HFA701-70, both of which use black painted hour and minute hands.

But there's more. 

Hard to believe, as I've now been actively collecting Orient J39's for over seven years, that despite the number I've accumulated, in all their various sub-variations, there were still at least two case models (that I knew existed) which I didn't own examples of. 

One of them is that 'orrible fugly blingy metal-skinned resin case shared by the Puma Y19904-50 and Orient J39012-50.

The Puma Y19904-50 has it's own dedicated thread and both are mentioned in the other Orient J39 / Puma JEPIC Y19 thread.

Up until last week (apart from a small image of the same watch, cropped from a job lot) this had been the only decent photo I'd seen of the Orient version. The Italian seller who emailed me it told me the case-back model number was J39012-50. I thanked him for the information, but needless to say I didn't follow up with an offer. I'm not that desperate and it was a pretty appalling example.

But I've kept an eye open and eventually spotted one - or something very similar in almost mint condition. 

It was listed on the Italian free classifieds site Subito.it almost a month ago.

http://www.subito.it/abbigliamento-accessori/orologio-orient-crono-vintage-caserta-196934987.htm

It's obviously the same watch case, with that prominent external molded Tachymeter ring, but in a subtly different two-tone finish. The lugs and presumably the lower part of the watch case are Palladium plated, rather than over-all gold plated, like the Puma and previously seen Orient 'basket case' version. Plus all three sub-dials are as you'd expect, with similar matching white centres. I don't know that it's the same Orient case model number. But that was the least of my problems. When I messaged the Italian seller, through Subito, asking if he'd be prepared to post it to England, he came back almost immediately with a one-word answer. No. 

So, as I was already talking to the Italian eBay seller of the Orient J39722-70, I asked him if he'd be willing to purchase it on my behalf and post it on to me with the watch I'd just bought from him. He very kindly agreed - for no additional commission ! 

Readers may have noted that I'd omitted to upload the three images from the Subito.it listing, as I normally would. Couple of reasons for that: they're pretty small and the two (skinny) wrist shots really don't show any more. Plus, not knowing the case-back model number (though I had a pretty good idea), I wasn't 100% sure if I'd captioned them correctly. 

It seems I had. It is a J39012-50 (the same model given me by the would-be Italian seller of that tatty all-over gold tone example).

This morning I received this photo from Michele (the Italian eBay seller of the J39722-70 who'd purchased it on my behalf).