Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

My beloved Seiko 7A38-701B    

Wow… that is really nice Don. Of course you know that Paul is going slip in his 7A38-701B posed with Dick Tracy.…

My "Bling" Honda F-1  ( Seiko 7A28-7160 )      

And now I present my Seiko 7A38-706B Roman numerals. After four years of perseverance. 

Very nice, Paul. Perhaps we should start looking out for one of these for you - a 7A38-728A SAA128J (without the gold sub-dial rings). According to this thread it's only been 4 years since I last saw one. 

PS - apologies for the crappy Q&D flash-lit indoor photo, but it's raining outside. I'll try and take another better shot later today. 

That's better.  Suprising the difference a bit of natural daylight makes - even on a grey overcast day like today. 

I do like a little natural sunlight.  This Seiko 7A38-7829 with the 'tacky gold rings' served me well until my 7A38-706B became available. A bit of a blemish on the Tachymeter ring at 43 minutes. 

How about flags instead of Roman numerals   My mint / NOS Yema N71Z36.  Thanks again Paul for the lead on this rare 7A28.  

Good call Don. 

Happy New Year to everyone…! 

As Paul in Vegas inferred in his penultimate post, I'm not a big fan of the white Roman numeral dial with the tacky gold sub-dial rings. Indeed when I've modded two-tone 7A38-7289's in the past, I've gone the other way - losing that dial in favour of something else. Here's a 7A38-7289 Franken I built a few years ago, using the white 718LXS14 dial from a 7A38-7260 or -726A and hands from something else, which I can't remember off the top of my head. I needed to replace the battery so I thought I'd give it an airing.

It really needs a bright sunny day to do the subtle bling justice.

Friday 13th. Time to out a scabby one - never seen in public before.  My far-from-perfect two-tone 7A38-706B SAA084J. 

For most of yesterday, I was wearing a Seiko 5 auto - a 7009-876A, in stainless with a silvery white dial, belonging to a work colleague. It was one of a couple of watches he'd given me to look at, last week. I'd told him that I didn't work on auto's, but he said 'see what you can do with it'. I was kinda dreading it, because two of the batons were floating loose around the dial and it didn't run (at all). It had obviously been dropped. Turned out to be an easy fix - besides the batons, the oscillating weight had also fallen off !! So after I'd got it running, I stripped and cleaned it and polished the badly scratched plastic crystal with Polywatch. Reason I wore it ? Simply to build up the energy reserve, rather than sitting there shaking it for ages. I suppose I could have taken a photo, but I didn't bother. 

It's simple design (and dial colour) reminded me of one of favourite everyday 'beaters' I hadn't worn in a long time - so I dug out one of my stainless 7A38-7280's and gave it a quick clean.

This is a test (hence the different logon ID) - to see if the Cloudflare Captcha problem still persists (particularly when uploading an embedded image in a post). Wearing a Yema N8 Flygraf for the purpose - the test pilot's watch !

This one's still set to BST from last year and I couldn't be bothered to reset the time. 

Result ?  Post successfully uploaded at the second attempt - and Yes, I'm still getting the Captcha challenge !! 

My well worn Seiko 7A38-7289 from November 1987.  This is the "grubby one"  Paul.    I'm still getting the Captcha challenge !!  

Don. I'll see your 'grubby' stainless 7A38-7289 and raise you a 'squeaky clean' one. 

I built this up as a 'head only' from a salesman's sample case, years ago - and it stayed like that for a l-o-n-g time.

But last year I was fortunate enough to pick up a NOS p/n B1627S bracelet on eBay, to finally be able to finish it off. 

Only worn it a couple of times - it still has the SAA109 $295 vinyl sticker on the case-back and protective sleeve on the clasp. 

Apologies to readers for the poor quality Q&D photos (and the lack of variety), but this was really just another test upload post.

I don't wish to speak to soon, but guess what ?  NO Captcha challenge when I hit 'submit' (and on subsequent minor edits). 

Very nice Paul.    Here is my Ferrari Formula Cal. 531 (Seiko 7A38)  with original shark band.  A clean post this time.    

A beater today. 7A38-706A case with the black dial movement from a 7A38-7270. 

No problems posting…how refreshing. 

Nowt wrong with a 'beater' self-built Franken, Paul.  I've been wearing this 'Speedtimerkollektion Franken Tribute' (based on a two-tone 7A38-7020) quite a bit lately, since I added it to my pool of 'daily wearers'. It's picked up a few swirlies and is getting to the point where the case and bracelet are due for a fettling.

Here's a topical one - a Q&D shot of one of my 'second string' stainless 7A38-7000's. IIRC, this is one I picked up on eBay France (as a fixer-upper, missing its crown) in September 2013 for the Euro equivalent of 40 Quid. I was wondering, with the current selling prices, if I was to list it on eBay with a Buy-it-Now price of 400 Quid, how much interest I'd get. 

Another model that is proving very poular lately (and was defininitely 'flavour of the month in December 2016) ....

This is my third string 'beater' 7A38-7070 - not quite 100% original: it's fitted with a Yobokies repro' bezel insert.