Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

Time to give an old thread an overdue bump. 

This NOS 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005 was listed yesterday by an Italian eBay seller with a very reasonable Buy-it-Now asking price of 250 Euros.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253233366629

-Orologio Seiko Vintage Giugiaro Designe Chronograph Surf Quartz 7A28-7A00 - SBBJ005

Anno 1986

Orologio mai indossato, tutto oroginale!

OROLOGIO PERFETTO TENUTO IN VETRINA COME COLLEZIONE.

Pagamenti accettati: PayPal

Compralo subito 250,00€

Spedizione in tutta Italia 10,00€

Given the prices these have sold for in the past (see previous page) - and the fact that it's actually cheaper than the SCED055 7T12-based re-issue, I'm rather surprised it's still available 24 hours later. 

Ahem. Well that listing was still live until around 11:00am this morning, when it ended. I'm not sure quite what happened, because the seller re-listed it a couple of hours later, for another 3 days - at the same 250 Euros Buy-it-Now price. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253235585288

The re-listing ended late last night and I'm still not sure what went down. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253233366629

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253235585288

http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBidsLogin&item=253233366629

http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBidsLogin&item=253235585288

Checking eBay history, there appear to have been two purchases made, although the buyers identities are hidden. Could it be that the Italian eBay seller actually had two of these NOS 7A28-7A00's and sold them both for only 250 Euros ? 

Amazingly, the Italian eBay seller re-listed that NOS 7A28-7A00 a second time, earlier this morning - once again at the same 250 Euros Buy-it-Now price. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253238488368

I was beginning to wonder what the heck was going on. I checked my email and saw I had 2 PM's from a forum member: someone who has helped me out on numerous previous occasions.  It was he who had hit the Buy-it-Now button on the two previous listings. But the Italian eBay seller would not ship to his country / location. So he asked me to buy it on his behalf. Needless to say I responded immediately and the watch is now winging its way to the UK by DHL Express. 

Out of curiosity I just ran a search on completed listings on 7A28-7A00 on eBay Italy. It transpires the Italian eBay seller has re-listed this watch (or one just like it) 10 times in the last week.  It appears to have sold 6 or 7 times already. 

Something definitely a bit fishy going on. Hope it works out OK this time. 

Took a bit of a punt on this Paul. I'll let you know how I get on. 

OMG !! Another one, Phil ?? 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253239117021

Pretty impressive performance by DHL's Express International service: Venice, Italy to my door in under 24 hours, though it's been out on the local delivery van since just after 9:00am this morning.

If yours turns up looking the same, I don't think you'll be disappointed, Phil. 

I managed to take just this one more Q&D flashlit photo before my camera's battery ran out.  It's clearly genuine NOS condition and a quick press of the chrono' buttons showed everything's working as it should. Though there's no case-back protection or inspection sticker fitted and the generic 'tin can' packaging obviously isn't the original Seiko.

Just going to wrap it up again, have a quick ciggy and a cup of coffee, before heading out to the DHL office - to send it back to where it came from (country of origin, that is - not Italy). 

Mine turned up just now Paul; same perfect NOS condition. Needs a couple of links taking out for my wrist. What a great find, I love it.

Don't know how to get pictures on your site now but I think you've nailed it Paul.

Well chuffed. 

Phil at November 4, 2017 at 11:01 AM

Mine turned up just now Paul; same perfect NOS condition. Needs a couple of links taking out for my wrist. What a great find, I love it.

Don't know how to get pictures on your site now but I think you've nailed it Paul.

Well chuffed. 

04 Nov, 2017

Orologio Seiko Vintage Designe Giugiaro SBBJ005 Chronograph 7A28-7A00 Surf

( 253240669415 )

albysurf199570Feedback percentage of100%

Add note

AU $378.22

See description.

Interesting first post, Glenn. 

My commiserations if it transpires that you have been unsuccessful. 

If you read what Phil wrote, it's pretty clear that he purchased and received one (against item # 253239117021 on 2nd November). As I've stated, I bought another (against the previous re-listing, item # 253238488368, earlier the same day) on behalf of a Japanese member of this forum. He had twice tried to buy one from him: unsuccessfully on both occasions (presumably against the re-listings items #'s 253233366629 and 253235585288). But the Italian eBay seller was unwilling to ship to Japan. So I bought one and forwarded it on to him via DHL the same day.

I don't know if you remember, but in an email to me, back in May 2016, you wrote:

Hi Paul. he he I thought I would play how good of a detective are you.

Well I'm working on this one, Glenn. 

On 4th November, out of curiosity, I sent the Italian eBay seller a message, asking how many of these 7A28-7A00's he had originally and how many he had actually sold (against the 12 re-listings). He hasn't replied. 

Thinking that it was fairly likely that some may have been purchased by (other) watch forum members, I asked if anyone had bought one in a thread on SCWF and a post on UhrForum.de. So far, no-one has responded positively. I haven't yet tried asking on any of the Italian watch forums, but that could be a next step. 

If you check the Italian eBay seller's feedback, he has received 3 recently:

Presumably 'Absolutely fantastic service' is from Phil, next is mine and the most recent was very likely left by an Italian buyer. Unfortunately, because most of Alberto's recent listings have been 'private', the buyers' encrypted identities are withheld at item level. However, if you check his ended listings for the last 15 days, although he has sold a couple of other watches, I think it's fairly safe to assume we can now account for 3 NOS 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005's sold .... so far.

O.K. So I didn't actually bother asking the question on either of the major Italian watch forums, I just ran a couple of random searches. Orologi & Passione was always a nightmare to navigate and nowadays just logging into it seems to generate SPAM. So I ran a Google search on it and found nothing. Most of the earlier major contributors to O&P seem to have abandoned it in favour of Kronos. Unfortunately that has now been migrated to Tapatalk format. Which isn't easy to search. Let's just say I used my intuition, got lucky and found this thread:

http://www.tapatalk.com/groups/kronos/seiko-vintage-n-o-s-gallery-t5895-s90.html

There on 5th November, member Itau (a.k.a. Italian Seiko collector Luigino) posted these two photos of his NOS example, although he did erroniously caption his post as: Giugiaro design 7A28-700. 

Note the same generic 'tin can' packaging, so obviously from the same source. 

Italian eBay seller albysurf1995 now seems to have finished re-listing his NOS 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005's, leaving at least one potential buyer disappointed.  But this morning, while I was doing my bit of research into those past 'sales', he's listed another NOS 7A28-7A00. This time it's the alternative SBBJ007 Black and Orange version. His current Buy-it-Now asking price is 290 Euros - the same as one of his earlier 'sold' listings for the SBBJ005.

Note that although he describes this one as 'NOS', in at least two of his photos there appears to be some rubbing wear to the bottom L.H. corner of the watch case. Again there is no case-back protection or inspection sticker present and this time no paper tag attached. The other thing that's different about this listing is that he's rectified his earlier unintentional mistake of offering 'Worldwide' shipping. This time, he's restricting shipment to certain European countries, specifically only: France, Germany, Italy (naturally) Spain and UK.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253246802214

-Orologio Seiko Vintage Giugiaro Designe Chronograph Surf Quartz 7A28-7A00

Anno 1986​​​​​​​

Orologio mai indossato, tutto oroginale!

OROLOGIO PERFETTO TENUTO IN VETRINA COME COLLEZIONE.

Pagamenti accettati: PayPal

Compralo Subito 290,00€

Spedizione in tutta Italia 10,00€

Sorry I'm a little late coming back on this thread HDT445. Yes I purchased this watch and it was delivered within 2 days. I don't know what the seller is playing at with all the relistings and agree with Paul that something was definitely odd about how it was being advertised.

Perhaps I was lucky as I have not purchased from this seller before. I hope you get things sorted. 

Regards Phil.

Just over 24 hours after listing it, the Italian seller had reduced the Buy-it-Now price of that 'NOS' 7A28-7A00 SBBJ007 from 290 to 280 Euros. Last time I looked at it, yesterday evening, the listing had 20 watchers. I suspect some people may have been sat on their hands, waiting for a further reduction. If so, they may now be disappointed. Earlier this morning, the seller ended the listing early, because it was allegedly 'lost or broken'. In such cases, it's usually fairly safe to assume that the seller succumbed to a lower 'back door' offer and sold it off eBay. Apparently this was the only example of this version he had.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253246802214

Looks like the Italian eBay seller albysurf1995 still hasn't finished selling off his stash of NOS 7A28-7A00's. This morning he (re)listed yet another SBBJ005 !! 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253260302271

Like most of the previous NOS 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005's listed by Italian eBay seller albysurf1995, that I've watched, that one also sold in a matter of a few hours. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253260302271

If that wasn't the last one he had for sale, I have a sneaking suspicion that'll be the last we seen of him selling them at these fairly reasonable prices. 

Bearing in mind some of the crazy prices that have been asked by other Italian eBay sellers for these in the past (and one in particular), I was wondering when the profiteering re-sellers were going jump on the bandwagon. Seems like one of them - probably the worst of the bunch, has picked one of these up. It guess it was just a matter of time. 

Also listed later yesterday - by another Italian eBay seller, oldantiquestyle a.k.a. Alberto Ulmi (who has gone by a variety of eBay usernames in the past, including goffre78 and valentinasex) ....

A NOS 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005 - Yours for a mere $2500 if you're daft enough ! 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/182903117882

Oddly enough, it comes in the same generic (non-Seiko) 'tin can' packaging. 

The description follows his typically semi-literate format with very large fonts:

ORIGINAL SEIKO 7A28-7A00

NEW TAG BOX NO ORIGINAL

PERFECT WORKING

.... and ends in his customary: GOOD LUKE!

Unfortunately, despite his poor command of English (and greed), Alberto Ulmi has 'history' flogging these things for stupid prices. To save you reading back through the previous page, here's a quote of my post from the bottom of it ....

Seiko7A38 at August 3, 2013 at 6:39 AM

Was just checking through Italian eBay seller Goffre78's feedback, looking for something else, and noticed that the NOS 7A28-7A00 Giugiaro (an SBBJ007, rather than the more commonly seen SBBJ005 version) which he'd had listed at an eye-watering asking price of $2000, since the end of May (already mentioned on page 11 of the 'Craziest Prices' thread) had finally sold a couple of weeks ago:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/190866004682

If you click on the link I posted, it should hopefully show that it actually sold for a best offer of $950 - which is still not an inconsiderable sum for what is a predominantly plastic watch - Giugiaro design or not.

Per my previous post - eBay user ID's: goffre78 = valentinasex = oldantiquestyle.

All the same person, Alberto Ulmi - arch profiteer and 'King of the Crazy Prices'. 

Seiko7A38 at November 16, 2017 at 12:05 PM

If that wasn't the last one he had for sale, I have a sneaking suspicion that'll be the last we seen of him selling them at these fairly reasonable prices. 

Prophetic words, eh ? 

It seems Italian eBay seller albysurf1995 still has some stock left.  Half an hour ago, he listed yet another NOS 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005, this time as a 5-day auction with an opening bid price of $1500 !!  

Note he's listed this one on eBay.com (same as Alberto Ulmi does) rather than eBay.it (as he'd done before) and this listing is currently set up to ship only to United States (rather than 'Worldwide').

Well that didn't last long.  This morning, Italian eBay seller albysurf1995 ended that 5-day auction listing because of an alleged error. Unless of course, he was referring to the obvious error in the pricing. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/253262596552