Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

Anyway, to bring this thread more up to date, here's a current 7-day auction listing for a Yema N80P896 'Pseuso Plongeur', in need of a battery replacement, listed earlier this week, by another French eBay seller, with a somewhat over-optimistic opening bid price of 95 Euros. I won't be bidding on this one. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153075979971

MONTRE YEMA ANCIENNE CHRONO DATE ET JOUR ANNEE 70/80. PREVOIR LA PILE A CHANGER.

Seiko7A38 at June 23, 2018 at 11:53 AM

Seiko7A38 at June 9, 2018 at 9:24 AM

The French eBay seller's mis-spelled listing for a Yema Spationnaute III not surprisingly failed to attract any bids. He re-listed it, with the same 280 Euro opening bid price and predictably the same outcome. Earlier today, he re-listed it once again (still with the spelling error in the title), but with a rather more realistic opening bid price of 150 Euros.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142827458460

That listing received no bids and went unsold. He re-listed it with Spationaute now spelled correctly (after I took pity on him and messaged him, pointing out his error) @ the same 150 Euro opening bid price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142835166748

That listing ended at lunchtime today with no bids placed. He's just re-listed it again this afternoon, for another 7 days, with ARAGATZ added onto the title.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142842335935

Makes you wonder why he's still having so much difficulty shifting this one. 

Withdrawn at lunchtime today - presumably sold for a lower offer off eBay. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/142842335935

I know there are some who don't appreciate my habit of criticizing and openly ridiculing certain eBay sellers. But some of them really do deserve it. So I couldn't resist having another good laugh at the expense of greedy lazy incompetent US eBay seller watchaddict412 (real name Brian Curry) - purveyor of supposedly 'NOS' but frequently shop-soiled (and botched) Yema N8's.

If you remember, I'd first posted this screen grab summary of his then unsold gold dialed Yema N81W63's a couple of pages back. It dates from mid-April, though when he first listed these, back end of February, beginning of March, he was asking 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now prices as high as $499.99 for some of them.

Note the one in the middle with a Buy-it-Now price of $350. Needless to say, it went unsold at that price and has been almost continuously re-listed.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132558750184

Reduced to $275 in June - still with no takers:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132638553922

Eventually realizing nobody was prepared to pay his stupid asking prices, as he'd done previously with three of the other N81W63's, last week he caved in and listed it as 7-day auction with an opening bid price of $9.99.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132688492516

The last one (which admittedly had cosmetic damage) struggled to make $100. This one did even worse. The 7-day auction ended yesterday evening, selling for a mere $77.51 after 19 bids.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132688492516

Oh Dear - what a shame !! (not) 

Speaking of price reductions ....

I notice the French eBay seller (top of this page) re-listed his Yema N80P896 'Pseuso Plongeur' late this morning. His opening bid price is now down from the previous over-optimistic 95 Euros to a slightly more realistic 59 Euros. But it's still in need of a battery replacement. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153095108021

That N80P896 'Pseudo Plongeur' in need of a battery replacement went unsold again @ 59 Euros. The French eBay seller dutifully re-listed it again, for another 7 days, with the opening bid price further reduced to 49 Euros. That auction ended about 20 minutes ago. This time it sold for the opening bid price

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/153104704986

Regular readers of 'this column' will probably have gathered by now that I am a person of strong dislikes - and I'm not afraid of voicing my displeasure when I see them. Particulary the kind of lazy greedy US eBay seller like watchaddict412, who clearly knows bugger all about the watches he's selling, doesn't bother to research them and is evidently completely incapable of unscrewing a previously pristine NOS Yema N8 case-back without grauching it.

If there's one thing I dislike more, it's probably greedy profiteering re-sellers. 

Oh, did I forget morons who include the word 'Expert' in their eBay user ID's ?

.... especially when the evidence points to them being everything but expert. 

I hadn't bothered mentioning it before, but up until a week ago, US eBay seller watchaddict412 still had one gold dialed N81W63 unsold. It's one fitted with the lizard strap, which he'd continued to re-list @ $375. He ended the listing on 19th July because of an error. Apart from the laughable 'pie-in-the-sky' pricing, I can spot two errors in the listing title

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132512636344

I must admit I was half expecting him to re-list it as a low-start $9.99 7-day auction (like he'd done with the last four). But that never materialized. Perhaps he learned from that experience and sold it off eBay. Who knows ? Anyway - I'm thinking to myself, thank God for that. Hopefully that's the last we've seen of them.

Wrong .... 

Earlier today another rather familiar looking gold-dialed Yema N81W63 came up in my eBay saved search notifications. The result was returned, surprisingly not my 'wildcard' search on Yema N8, but by one on Seiko 7A38 (included in description).

It's been listed by another US eBay seller expertswatches based in California, with a ludicrous 'pie-in-the-sky', Buy-it-Now price of $499.99 (plus $175 in eBay GSP charges). Funnily enough, the exact same asking price as first tried by watchaddict412, back at the end of February, early March. 

This would-be profiteering re-seller at least appears to have done a little google research - including borrowing a few (completely irrelevant) random images from this forum. However his laziness is also quite evident. Rather than creating his own, he's re-used the listing title and photos from the previous seller's listing, simply adding his watermark to the photos. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223074922933

I love the part where this clown claims the watch has just been inspected, but then admits he hasn't even opened up the case to check / identify the movement. 

If you hadn't already figured out which 'NOS' Yema N81W63 this is, it's the same one, case-back serial # 0339 sold by watchaddict412 on 10th July for $77.51.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132688492516

In reading through this would-be profiteering re-seller's description of his N81W63, I did spot something else which caught my eye and intrigued me:

This is very similar to Yema Spationaute III which has been to space (I have that watch for sale as well), we now know that the watches supplied to the French 'Spationautes' and Soviet Russian Cosmonautes.

Yet strangely, I cant find any current eBay listing for a Yema Spationaute III: not by this seller, nor anyone else - not even watchaddict412 who ended his most recent re-listing for his 'last one' a couple of days ago - as item no longer available. Presumably sold off eBay. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132674005706

Could it be that this one is currently in transit between Monroeville, PA and Placentia, CA ? Surely not ? 

Seiko7A38 at May 21, 2018 at 7:17 AM

Sometimes, when running my worldwide searches on eBay, I'll turn up the odd poorly titled listing for a Yema N7 or N8. A favourite is 'Montre ancienne Yema' (old Yema watch) - or just Montre Yema. This recent listing for a N81W63 by a French eBay seller falls short of even that. Given the over-optimistic opening bid price of 175 Euros and vague listing title, I suspect it'll hang around unsold for a while.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/273218189214

After re-listing it twice more, with that same title of just SUPERBE YEMA PARIS, seems it eventually dawned on the French seller that it might help if he actually added the word MONTRE to his title.  The N81W63 sold this morning for the 175 Euros Buy-it-Now price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/273375951229

As confirmed by the eBay Purchase History:

Checking through my eBay watching page, I noticed that the would-be German eBay seller of a similar N81W63 lesaylot62, ended his most recent re-listing a week ago, because the item was allegedly no longer available.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152688008653

He's been re-listing that one for at least two years (I spotted it in July 2016, when he was originally asking a ludicrous 479 Euros as a Buy-it-Now). Presumably sold off eBay - at last. But as he has pulled a similar stunt - ending it as item no longer available, at least twice before, I'll keep an open mind.

The laughably over-priced eBay listing for a Yema Spationaute III, by would-be profiteering US re-seller expertswatches, which I'd been eagerly anticipating (if only to take the mickey) materialized overnight - a little later than expected. Given his ludicrous mark-up on the ex-watchaddict412 Yema N81W63, it wasn't quite a stupidly high as I'd expected - 'only' $500 (plus an additional $175 in GSP charges for anybody foolish enough). The reason soon becomes apparent. This isn't, as I'd wrongly assumed another shopsoiled 'NOS' Yema from watchaddict412. But it is another Spationaute III which has previously featured in this thread.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/223080728317

The tatty worn strap and the case-back serial number 4-269 being the giveaways.

If you want to learn the full prior eBay history of this Spationaute III, you'll need to read the bottom part of Page 28. But to summarise briefly, it was listed twice by the same US eBay seller, in April this year, using two different eBay ID's: darry1957 and lnaha0 and sold the second time around for $242.50.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152981905854

So now, according to this self-appointed 'expert' , it's worth double that.

So much for US eBay seller watchaddict412's 'last' Yema Spationaute III allegedly being no longer available. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132674005706

Having failed to sell it as a Buy-it-Now for $435, over the last 2 months, he re-listed it again earlier in the week, as a 10-day auction with an opening bid price of $9.99. Bidding is currently stalled @ $75, with 6 days or so of the auction remaining.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132725407019

Vintage Yema Spationaute III Split Second Chronograph Day Date Watch. The Watch has been in storage since the 90's. Minor scratches to the Case back. Original Box And tags. The watch needs a new battery. Take a close look at the pictures and ask any questions before purchasing. Thanks for looking.

If you have been banned in the past “P,S” from buying off me do not use another account to try to bid on this watch. Thank you.

PS - Could he possibly be referring to me ? 

It’s not as if I really needed another Yema Spationaute III. Although US eBay seller watchaddict412 had barred me from bidding on that auction for his ‘last one’, I was still watching it with interest. Bidding had apparently stalled again a couple of days ago, just 50 cents shy of $200. So it remained up until the final 5 seconds when 2 snipe bids came in. The auction ended a few moments ago, with the Spationaute III selling for $371.66 after 20 bids.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132725407019

Looking at US eBay seller watchaddict412's listing for his 'last' Spationaute III one last time, reminded me of something I'd previously omitted to mention in this thread. Being 'NOS', unsold ex-retail stock (if sometimes a little shop-soiled), they all came in their original Yema presentation boxes, with outer cardboard sleeves, like this (the primary image from the above listing):

Though I can't remember him actually posting any photos of the Yema presentation box itself. If he had, they would have looked like this:

This is the standard European Yema export packaging used in the late 80's and early 90's - as opposed to the laquered wooden presentation boxes used for US export (see the various eBay listings for NOS Yema Spationaute III's, by US eBay seller izeldor, much earlier in this thread).

I've got 'a few' of this style box, which have come with a variety of Yema N8's (some NOS) that I've bought over the years. There were at least three other styles used but this is by far the mostly commonly seen retail packaging. I've never stripped one down, but I strongly suspect this box is plastic. It's covered in a heavy grained dark brown paper material which kind of looks like burr walnut or antique leather, depending on the light. There's a separate red band of the same material with Yema embossed in gold across the lid. Interior material is the usual nylon 'satin' and brushed velour you'd find in a Seiko box of the period.

Anyway, enough of the preamble. Let's get to the punchline. Last month, I spotted such a Yema presentation box listed by a US seller www*theglobalknomad*com

Yours for an eye-watering $140.  But only if you're desperate or stupid enough.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/202308013291

Rare vintage team inner and outer Watch box set.

Measures 4 1/4 x 3 1/4 x 2 1/4 inches.

Perfect to complete your vintage Diver or Chronograph set.

Please email questions. Thanks.

Anorak fact: The silver label on the bottom right of the outer cardboard sleeve shows a retail price of $1250, so although it’s the correct style, this box didn’t originally contain a Yema N7 or N8. The Spationaute III retailed @ $795. It’s very likely the packaging from one of the ‘adventurer’ series. Indeed, just like this Yema Bipole 'North Pole', which just happens to show the same price of $1250. 

I suppose I should confess to having bought a couple of Kamatz's recently. Both came up on eBay in the States within a day of so of each other as Buy-it-Now's and I thought were too good a deal to pass up. One's a non-runner (after a new battery had been fitted) and the other seller hadn't even bothered trying to fit one. So I'm keeping an open mind. I'll more than likely end up swapping parts between them (and the previous 518000 Oscar Bravo I bought last August).

I grabbed this panda dialed 517000 off Don's doorstep, which the seller originally had up for $80, for $65:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/232902626503

This 'head only' reverse panda 518000 'Oscar Bravo' came up 2 days later, with the seller asking a mere $20 - which was a 'no brainer' in my book:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/283123685564

Thanks A LOT !  What are you going to do in your old age ? Constantly replace batteries ?  

I very nearly bought another Kamatz yesterday, Don - NOS too. 

But then again, in hindsight, I may have just had a lucky escape. 

Three days ago, Paul (PHK) in Vegas kindly emailed me a link to this NOS Kamatz 517000 he'd found listed (then about 15 hours earlier) on OfferUp.com:

http://offerup.com/item/535009265/

We both agreed that $200 was too expensive for one of these (even NOS). Besides, I already have a NOS example of this same dark blue dialed version, on the same cardboard consistency Poljot 'leather' strap, complete with the original $695 paper hang tag. Can anybody in their right mind have ever paid R.R.P. for these, back in the day ? So anyway I wasn't that bothered. 

Yesterday morning (a little later than planned), I was just about to write this up as a continuation of my previous Kamatz post (hence the reason I'd left the gap). I went to click on the OfferUp link and found that the seller had reduced the price from $200 to a more reasonable $125. 

I'd had problems trying to sign up to OfferUp.com before, but this time I used a gmail email address (instead of my usual AOL one) and it worked O.K.. I quickly made contact with the seller through their online messaging system and agreed (in principle) to buy it for his $125 reduced price. Without any further exchange of details, he immediately marked it up as SOLD.

I waited to hear back from Paul (PHK) before proceeding, because I'd initially asked him to buy it on my behalf (having had trouble getting signed up before). In the meantime, I'd managed to persuade the seller to ship it direct to me, using USPS First Class International (Small Package) postage, which costs $14. After Paul had replied to my email, I started trading messages with the seller again, via OfferUp. He'd already given me his email address. I asked him to confirm that was the same as his PayPal account, which he did.

This is where it all started to go wrong. I tried to send him $139 via PayPal (as a 'Gift'). Paypal wouldn't play ball. It kept giving me the same error message:

We're sorry, we weren't able to complete your payment right now. Please try again later. If you continue to encounter problems, please contact Customer Service.

I tried 4 or 5 times.

Meantime, I'd already given the seller my shipping address. He replied:

Is says requested I’m boxing ithe watch up now and will mail it today

In between he sent me a link I didn't recognise nor click on: PayPal.me/rob********

He then sent me two SMS messages to my phone, asking first for $100 then $275.

He replied: I don’t know why it said 100 I sent the right one this time 275

I reminded him we'd agreed $125 + $14 shipping which made $139 in my book !

He then came up with some cock and bull story saying he thought I wanted two:

Oh I thought you wanted 2 watches. Omg I’m so sorry. Lol wow so confused

I asked him if he had two Kamatz's exactly the same. He replied: 

No I don’t think so. The other one is on eBay.

I checked eBay yesterday afternoon and again this morning. I couldn't find any Kamatz 517000's listed on eBay in the States. He later appeared to have come back to his senses, because at 18:30 (UK time) yesterday evening, he finally sent me a PayPal money request for the correct amount - $139. I tried to pay it (twice), only to be met with the same error message:

We're sorry, we weren't able to complete your payment right now. Please try again later. If you continue to encounter problems, please contact Customer Service.

Last I heard from him, via OfferUp's messaging system was 18 hours ago:

Yea I’m on the fone with PayPal 1 sec

He hasn't responded since on OfferUp, nor replied to the email I sent him.

So was he a potential scammer - or just a rather confused young man who appears to have problems with his PayPal account ? You be the judge.

Im surprised you tried to pay as a gift, leaving yourself open to no protection should it have turned out to be a scam.

Well, as the little green guy says ....

Sometimes, you just gotta roll the dice (Paul). Guess I got off lucky.

I'm not too bothered - in fact I'm quite pleased today. My other two recent Kamatz purchases from eBay in the States arrived this morning. Fitted new batteries at lunchtime and both are now ticking away happily.

If you're as fed up of reading about this sorry saga, as I am of documenting it, please look away now. I'd assumed we'd seen the last of greedy US eBay seller watchaddict412 and his over-priced shopsoiled supposedly 'NOS' Yema N8's. Seems not.  I hadn't bothered writing anything up previously, but nearly 2 weeks ago, he re-listed 2 gold-dialed Yema N81W63's fitted with lizard straps - both as 10-day auctions with opening bid prices of $99. I haven't bothered comparing photos, nor checking case-back serial numbers (and scratches), but I'm pretty sure these are two we've seen before. First is the example with the graunched top R.H. lug, which supposedly sold for $100 back on 19th June (see previous page).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132753132470

The other is presumably one he'd ended early as allegedly no longer available.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132753952669

That second 10-day action ended yesterday afternoon, with the better condition of these two N81W63's selling for $127.50 after 5 bids:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132753952669

The earlier auction for the one with the graunched lug ended Friday evening - unsold. He re-listed it yesterday afternoon with a Buy-it-now price of $199. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/132765562317

This Yema N81W53 was listed earlier today, by a US eBay seller, as a 7-day auction, with an opening bid price of $125. Apart from some slight deterioration of the lume on the hour and minute hands, light tarnishing of the gold plating and typically graunched case-back, it generally appears to be in decent condition. It's also fitted with the original Yema black leather strap, which is always nice to have.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113250530404

(Please Check out my other Vintage Antique Watch /Pocket Watch listings)

Description:

The Watch runs and keeps time.

Item is being sold as pre-owned and used.

Selling As is. No Return.

Watch has shown some signs from wear and age.

Please view and inspect all pictures since they are part of the description.

All the items should be considered as being sold As IS, Please View all pictures before bidding .Don't forget to click to enlarge the images for the detail conditions, just in case I have missed anything in the written description. Remember, Pictures are part of Items full Description and Condition.

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Item in the pictures is always the item you will receive My listings are previously owned and are not in brand new mint condition unless specified.

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