Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

Seiko7A38 at November 17, 2017 at 1:40 PM

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

I'm not sure that there's much to be gained by me continuing to add updates to this thread, now that the pricing 'bubble has burst'.  One thing is certain, for now - Italian eBay seller albysurf1995 still has more 'new' old stock of the 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005 left to sell. 

Something of a belated update, that listing sold for the $800 opening bid price. In fact the seller appears to have ended what was supposedly a 5-day auction within a matter of hours, once he had a bidder.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253273520595

The Italian eBay seller albysurf1995 listed another NOS 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005 a couple of days ago, with a Buy-it-Now price of 350 Euros. It was eagerly snapped up by a member of SCWF, who was still happy to pay the increased price. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253284310503

Given their potential resale value, I was wondering if any of these comparatively cheap NOS 7A28-7A00's might have resurfaced on Yahoo Japan with inflated asking prices. So I ran a search on complete listings (YJ calls it a 'closed search') looking for any 7A28-7A00's. It only returned one recent result:

http://page.auctions.yahoo.co.jp/jp/auction/w201217064

It sold for 50,000 Yen in a 7-day auction, which ended on 26th October. Not only was the date slightly too early for it to have been part of the Italian NOS hoarde - eBay seller albysurf1995's first two listings ended on 24th October, but this one wasn't actually NOS - just in very good used condition.

Coincidentally, there was what was quite possibly a decent used example of a 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005 listed on eBay Italy last week, as a 7-day auction, with an opening bid price of 124 Euros. The photos weren't the best, but the Italian seller described it (in English) as follows:

This watch is an original and very rare seiko cronograph 7A28-7A00 by Giugiaro, it was bought by me in Rome in a jewelry almost 25 years ago, obv is not perfect as a brand new one , it was used a dozen of times in the late 90's so it has normal marks of wear, no original box and instruction, it works perfectly and got a new one duracell battery. The watch is 100% original in all parts. If you collected immaculated watch like me in the past please don't buy it.

Out of curiosity; wondering what impact the recent surfeit of NOS examples might have on the selling price, I duly added it to my eBay watching page. The 7-day auction ended yesterday evening, with the 7A28-7A00 selling for a comparatively disappointing 196 Euros after 7 bids.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/222735296839

I suspect that Italian eBay seller albysurf1995 may be nearing the end of his seemingly never-ending stash of NOS 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005's. He listed another one last week, same set of photos, same 350 Euros Buy-it-Now price as the previous one, but this listing was subtly different. Instead of 'New with Tags', this one was 'New with Defects' - apparently it had a mark on the LH side of the watch case. Still sold fairly quickly all the same.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253299883387

I'm still in 'catch up mode', from earlier this week, when I had a few problems with my home desktop PC. Gradually working my way through my eBay watch list, updating various threads with items that had sold during this week.

Seeing as his previous one, in the first week of December, was 'new with defects', I thought we might have seen the last of the seemingly never-ending supply of NOS 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005's from Italian eBay seller albysurf1995. But on Tuesday, he listed yet another, with a Buy-it-Now price of 400 Euros. Needless to say, even at that somewhat increased price (from his earlier very reasonable 250 Euros), that one didn't hang around very long either.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253385322893

Incredibly, it seems he still hasn't exhausted his apparently never-ending stash !

A couple of days ago, Italian eBay seller albysurf1995 listed yet another NOS 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005, but this time, doubling the previous Buy-it-Now price to 800 Euros !  Somehow I don't think this one will sell quite so quickly. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253471062609

Indeed, it didn't.  Over the last 4 weeks, Italian eBay seller albysurf1995 had re-listed it 7 times (for 3 days each time), gradually reducing his risible Buy-it-Now price in stages: 800 > 610 > 550 > 530 > 450 > 400 and finally to a reasonable 350 Euros, which it eventually sold for late last night.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253537605746

It would appear that Italian eBay seller albysurf1995 still hasn't quite exhausted his seemingly never-ending supply of NOS 7A28-7A00's. Yesterday morning, he listed another SBBJ007, with a Buy-it-Now price of 550 Euros. The photos are clearly of a 7A28-7A00, but his inclusion of the word 'Spirit' in his listing title, may confuse a few people into thinking it's the 7T12 powered SCED053 re-issue. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253972506916

Meanwhile, much to my amusement, nearly a year later, would-be profiteering Italian eBay re-seller oldantiquestyle (a.k.a. Alberto Ulmi) is still re-listing the NOS 7A28-7A00 which he bought from albysurf1995. His Buy-it-Now price has gradually come down in stages from his original absolutely ludicrous $2500 to 'only' $750. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183514910189

Something of a belated update to my penultimate post (which I'd intended to write up last week, but ran out of time). That NOS 7A28-7A00 SBBJ007, listed by Italian eBay seller albysurf1995, sold last week after a single re-listing, for the reduced Buy-it-Now price of 420 Euros.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/253980214065

As confirmed by the eBay Purchase History:

Time to add something of a belated postscript to this thread. 

There have been a number of NOS 7A28-7A00's listed on eBay and Yahoo Japan since I last updated this thread. No doubt a few of them were from the original stash sold by Italian eBay seller albysurf1995. One which had remained stoically unsold was the one which had been re-listed ad nauseam by profiteering Italian eBay seller oldantiquestyle (real name Alberto Ulmi). He'd first listed it in November 2017, with an absolutely ludicrous 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of $2500 (see previous page). As you can see from my penultimate post above, dated November 10th, 2018, he'd gradually reduced that, over the course of a year, to 'only' $750. 

At some point, I must have omitted to add his latest re-listing to my eBay watching page - probably due to space constraints. Even I can only watch so much stupidly over-priced crap, before falling foul of the 300 item maximum limit. But I suspected it still hadn't been sold. Something I've noticed about Alberto Ulmi's eBay listings, is that he usually prefers to include 'box and tags' with NOS watches. Though they can be any old box and tag, not necessarily the correct ones - as long as their inclusion might help the sale. He's not averse to swapping them for something else either, apparently - for the sake of expediency. He'd originally used the generic 'tin can' packaging that these watches came in in his earlier photos. Obviously, to those who'd bought them or anyone who'd seen the numerous listings by albysurf1995 (and the prices they'd sold for) that was a bit of a red flag. So, to make it look different, in a last ditch effort to sell it, why not just chuck it in a Seiko Kinetic box ? But still keeping the original Seiko retail paper hang tag, naturally.

Last week, oldantiquestyle Alberto Ulmi listed what is in all likelihood the same 7A28-7A00 as a 7-day auction, with an opening bid price of $50. I didn't actually spot it until yesterday, when I happened to look at his other items for sale, by which time it had already been bid to $445. The listing title is the same as he'd used for all the previous re-listings, but for reasons known only to him, it looks like he may have copied the description text from his current listing for the stainless 7A38-6020 - and in his typical slap-dash manner didn't manage to edit it properly. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183801996683

Vintage SEIKO 7A28-60207A00

perfect working

NEW OLD THE STOCK WITH TAG AND BOX SEIKO KINETIC

ORIGINAL STRAP

very very rare

shipping to world

for other pics ask me

BID ONLY SERIUS EBAYER

PAYMENT 1 DAYS MAX TO FINISH AUCTION

The 7-day auction ended a few moments ago, with the 7A28-7A00 supposedly selling for $560 after 21 bids.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183801996683

Was it shilled in the best Italian tradition ? Your guess is as good as mine.

Of course I knew that auction was shilled. 

Needless to say, it was duly re-listed a week or two later. The re-listed 7-day auction ended a few moments ago, this time selling for $485 after 23 bids. Goes without saying, it was once again shilled in the best Italian tradition. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183828487153

Anybody fancy a potentially cheap plastic watch ?  This afternoon, I spotted this 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005 in almost NOS condition, listed by an Australian eBay seller. It's a 3-day auction with an opening bid price of $299.95 Au. Note the price ending in 99.95, even though it's an opening bid price - and also the postage cost ending in 9.95.  Ring any bells ? 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/352705924039

For sale is this rare 1986 Seiko Giugiaro designed 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005 Red Bezel Ring NOS Condition Amazing Watch! As you can see from the photos this is a NOS (New old stock) watch from 33 years ago. It is a time traveller!

This Giugario designed watch, with a cockpit style for the sub-registers. The dial is rotated slightly to make it readable with the wearers hands resting on the handlebars of a bike, with distinctive white watch hands, and the strap is unmarked. A small step runs from the watch case across the first 3 links of the strap. The watch comes on its full 20 link bracelet.

Like other Giugiaro-designed watches, the Seiko 7A28-7A00 sports a unique look. It comes with an offset dial with red or yellow ring surrounding the crystal and plastic buttons or chrono pushers and a plastic / titanium case resin bracelet.On the gray dial rests three sub dials located at the 3, 6, and 9 o’clock marks. Hours and minutes are indicated by red markers and white hands. “SEIKO”and “CHRONOGRAPH” can be seen at the 12 o’clock position. 

Once again this watch is basically brand new. Good luck!

There are a couple of things I'd be wary of, personally. The seller states his location as being: Boronia, VIC, Australia. Boronia is a suburb of Melbourne, home of that deranged Australian ex-eBayer aussiewatches. This eBay account was created on 21st March 2019, but the user f1modelcars has already changed his ID twice !! 

Then there's another remarkable coincidence. In writing about aussiewatches in the brown-coated 7A38-6020 thread, back on March 4, 2019, I'd observed:

In fact, if you take 10 minutes to scroll through his feedback, very few of them were for transactions selling watches. In the last 6 months, the majority of his feedback received was for selling Minichamps 1:43 model racing cars.

Coincidentally, a good many of which were F1 McLarens ....

Of course I could be completely wrong.

I humbly apologise for taking another 7Axx model specific thread off topic, but these things do need flagging up unfortunately. This morning I looked at the above listing for a 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005 again and noticed that the new Australian eBay seller f1modelcars had picked up another two 'positive' feedbacks since yesterday. Except that they're not exactly 'positive', in the true sense of the word. (eBay sellers can no longer leave negative feedback for buyers - they can only 'pick their words').

The uppermost reads: The most vile eBayer. DON'T make transaction !!!

Both feedbacks were left by a UK eBay seller watchstrap-3h.

He normally deals in handmade watch straps, but recently sold a vintage Rolex under difficult circumstances to f1modelcars. As I'd recently discovered, deranged ex-eBayer aussiewatches also collects, buys and sells vintage Rolex. Amusingly, he'd listed a couple more just hours before he was banned.

New Australian eBay seller f1modelcars appears to have very similar nasty traits to ex-eBayer aussiewatches. It's worth checking his feedback left for others.

Note that he's recently sold another 7A28-7A00, but this time a SBBJ007.

Apologies for the small size of the type in my screen prints. Like I said it's worth reading some of the comments (from both parties) which include:

FAKE SELLER BEWARE ALL BUYERS DOES NOT OWN WATCHES USES OTHERS PHOTOS

BANNED BECAUSE I CAUGHT YOU SELLING FAKE VINTAGE ROLEX ITEMS & DOCUMENTS

and the classic reveal:

Dempsey W***** Was Banned From My Auctions A Different ID Does Not Change That.

True dat. As the old saying goes: A leopard cannot change its spots.

I hadn't bothered adding that 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005 to my eBay watching page (mostly because it's always periously close to the 300 items limit). Instead, I'd added it to a 'Custom' list I'd created a couple of months back. I did notice it had a bid on it this morning. Checking that list it appears that the seller ended the listing late this morning - as allegedly being no longer available (along with his other two listings for another random Seiko and an Elgin Diver watch). Sounds familiar ? 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/352705924039

In an interesting (but hardly surprising) turn of events, like bitter deranged fellow Melbournite ex-eBayer aussiewatches overnight, 'the most vile' Australian eBay seller f1modelcars appears to have been banned for his troubles.

Checking his feedback left for others, all 4 negatives that he'd left for other eBay sellers (see my screen print from yesterday) have been removed in the process:

No great surprise (to me at least), what is obviously the same 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005 was listed earlier today by 'another' Australian eBay seller, using a different set of photos, with a 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of $499.95 Au. and currently no option to make an offer. Note once again, the price and postage ending in 9.95.  Sounds familiar ?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113810027398

For sale is this beautiful Seiko 7A28-7A00 SBBJ005 Red Bezel Ring Full 20 Link Bracelet NOS Condition No Box or Papers.

This long-established Australian eBay seller f1models is clearly associated with the recently banned eBay account f1modelcars. Apart from listing what is obviously the same 7A28-7A00, if you check their other items for sale, you'll also see a number of 1:43 Minichamps F1 model cars (currently 11 listed). Sounds familiar ?

This is how their eBay profile looked on Friday 5th, before it was edited once again:

(Belated Edit: and revised once again on 15th July):

Needless to say, as with the other associated eBay accounts, this one has gone through a significant number of ID changes over the years. It's probably overdue another anyday soon. 

It doesn't take much to deduce that this is also the same person as bitter deranged eBayer aussiewatches, who recently received a well deserved ban for his recent abuse. His real name is Dempsey W*****. I have it on good authority from eBay Trust & Safety, that this account f1models is currently under very close scrutiny, for even the slightest hint of abuse or any other infringement - pending another ban.

I seem to remember him writing on his profile for aussiewatches / seiko7a38 forum:

.... and we distribute photos of men to one another so come and join the fun!

As regular readers / members will be aware, that is / was of course a complete and utterly slanderous fabrication. However, I'm going to make exceptions in this case. This photo of Dempsey W***** was kindly forwarded to me by a well-meaning eBayer. Apparently he allegedly found it on an Australian cottaging website.

Evidently Dempsey is lacking in stature and prefers the company of taller men. 

SO predictable.   I'm surprised it actually lasted that long ! 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113810027398

So now we're back to where we were beginning last week (with his other banned alter ego) - another 3-day auction listing with an opening bid price of $299.95 Au. But seriously, would you dare risk buying anything from this clearly deranged and perverted seller sewer rat - at any price ? 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113810518645

And so it goes on. Business as usual - Dempsey W***** style.

This latest 3-day auction also had a bid on it, before he cancelled it, ending the listing, once again, as item allegedly no longer available, about 25 minutes ago.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113810518645

Indeed, checking his other items for sale, he appears to have ended all 18 of his current (re)listings, which were for various Rolex, other Seiko's and the obligatory (11) 1:43 Minichamps F1 model cars - at 2:30am local time in Melbourne.