Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

Why not indeed ? 

I'm not talking about fellow collectors, who may buy and sell the odd 7Axx (usually on watch forums) to help fund their hobby ....

I'm referring to the obvious dealers ....

Those who buy to re-sell, usually on a quick turnaround, purely for profit, often adding little or no material value to the watch itself.

I've mentioned this fairly commonplace activity (that many punters seem oblivious to) in a few threads in our eBay / Yahoo section.

Why would any of our registered members want to buy from these sellers, and pay them their sometimes extortionate mark-ups ? 

To quote James from one of those threads in the eBay section:

Make a list of Ebay sellers you are not going to buy from ever... Number 1: The Fiddler etc

There are more than one born every minute and they are in the market for tarted up used 7A38 watches.

So, let's name some names, and make a list, shall we. 

To be added to, and likely edited ad nauseam later ....

UK

Time_Classics (previously 'Fireflywatches') - Steve 'n Julie - S. Jones. Basingstoke, Hants. Uses another ID b***f (339) for buying.

Lesterplant (now private) / vh84 (private) / A.N.Other (T.B.D.) - A. Braniff. Workington, Cumbria (although location states 'South').

Kelmarjon - Kelvin Jones, Swindon, Wilts. - an amateur watch-botcher of the worst kind - totally incompetent - avoid at all costs !

USA

Jeff Resnick – eBay ID = ‘jres11’ shows as r***r (841) 

Glenn - a.k.a. Total Time22 – eBay ID = ‘total_time22’ shows as l***o (3564)

Worldwideweb66 (607) - Wai Phyo, San Francisco, CA – uses ‘Kyiaye’ shows as y***k (1682) for buying.

Martinachertok - presumably 'Martina Chertok' of Fogelsville, PA. The manic re-lister. eBay ID shows as i***o (1206).

Germany

Fiedler-uhrenhandel (7477) - a.k.a. The Fiddler - Lukas Fiedler, Garbsen, Germany.

The Fiddler uses another eBay ID - Lieblingsuhr24 (2340), shows as e***u (private) for buying.

Sonntagsuhr (332) - Maksym Petrakivskyy, Hannover, Germany - uses another eBay ID m***0 (private) for buying.

Spain / Philippines

SpeedTimerKollection !!! All you have to do is google. In their day, going back a couple of years, they had a worse reputation than ....

http://www.network54.com/Forum/78440/thread/1226269519/1226353221/Speedtimerkollection+....you%27ve+been+warned+%21

http://www.network54.com/Forum/78440/thread/1258980427/Speedtimerkollektion

Italy

There have GOT to be some culprits to be identified !

Far East

Unknown Japanese re-seller, buys on eBay as T.B.D. (I'm working on identifying him); re-sells on Yahoo Japan auctions as 'swotlab'.

Japanese re-seller, buys on eBay as 'Speedmaster2005-4' , shows as a***m (900); re-sells on Yahoo Japan as 'yamanoteeede2006'.

I'll pad this out with more verbiage (and any relevant links) later this evening. Can anybody add any names that I've forgotten ? 

Well I've got one !  

Another German eBay dealer / re-seller - 'Sonntagsuhr' (now added to the above list).

I had a feeling that he was the winning bidder, but using a different eBay ID m***0 (private) for buying, on that very recent 7A38-714A. 

Just over a week later and it's back on eBay ! 

Having watched 'Time_Classics' and 'Total_Time22' regularly carving up José 'Watchcooking' Sotto's auctions between them, on the last couple of Sunday evenings, I'd also observed this previously unknown third eBay ID - m***0 as another frequent bidder on them.

Take a close look at his other current offerings, and you'll find a quite a few ex-Watchcooking Seikos and Citizens:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sonntagsuhr/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

In fact, keep an eye open for this ex-Watchcooking 7A28-703A, which he won last Sunday for $115.39, using his m***0 eBay ID.

http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&_trksid=p4340.l2565&rt=nc&item=370618072867

As I've done for the last couple of Sunday evenings, I've watched (almost all of) José 'Watchcooking' Sotto's eBay auctions ending.

Interestingly, Time_Classic's (bidding) alter ego b***f (339) was notable by it's a absence this weekend ....

But then I noticed another eBay ID a***e (171) bidding on all the usual crap watches that are their normal stock in trade. 

A quick check on the recent bidding activity on eBay ID b***f (339) shows it was otherwise occupied during the last hour:

I may be barking up the wrong tree, could b***f possibly have been up to what they've been accused of many times before on SCWF ?

One of a few threads on the subject: http://www.thewatchsite.com/index.php?topic=26859.html

Bearing in mind that Time_Classics own eBay auctions were ending from 8:00pm onwards. 

Now you know why all their auctions are: Private listing - bidders' identities protected  

What strikes me as odd about the whole thing, is that José 'Watchcooking' Sotto obviously knows what is going on.

Whether he condones it - or even cares is another matter.

One thing is clear though. There appears to be a 'gentlemens agreement' in place not to leave feed-back for each other. I've gone through José's feedback, right back to the beginning of the year, and not found a single one for these 3 re-sellers - left either way.

Of course, unless you happen to be tracking a particular watch - say a 7Axx (and know it's serial number from José's original listing),

it makes this activity all that much harder to trace.

We've already pretty much covered the buying / re-selling activities of some of the above named eBay sellers: Fiedler-Uhrenhandel, Jeff Resnick and Time_Classics in other threads, but I'm going to give you a few more examples of this less-than-savoury; sometimes unethical behaviour by a few of the less obvious perpetrators.

I've also already proven that San-Francisco based eBay re-seller 'worldwideweb66', Wai Phyo uses another eBay ID 'Kyiaye' to buy.

On the 18th June he bought this 7A28-7049 on a horrible mis-matched nylon / plastic strap for $100:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261048538972

Seiko Chronograph vintage watch 7A28-7049

He was obviously going to have problems moving it on like that. Right ?

But on the 16th June, he'd bought this 7A28-7039 (which he hasn't listed yet) on an incorrect replacement bracelet - for $99.99:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221049484368

Seiko Quartz Chronograph 7A28-1039 Men's Wristwatch

So, he takes the skinny stainless bracelet off the 7A28-7039 and puts it on the 7A28-7049, which he listed overnight - for $385 !!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130719536999

Vintage SEIKO 7A28-7049 SPORTS 100 Chronograph Watch! VGood!

Notice also, that by his clever use of soft focus / lighting techniques, the considerable number of marks in the bezel insert are rather less apparent in his photos, than in the original eBay seller's photo. Check out the scratch radiating from the bezel insert '16' mark - clearly visible in the original seller's photo, which unlike all the other flaws, he just didn't quite manage to hide.

I'd been doing a bit more digging into Time_Classics other 'alter ego' eBay ID's they use for buying, and possibly other activities ....

I hadn't met with much success, but then in doing so I came across another accusatory 'Firefly' thread on SCWF from May last year:

http://www.thewatchsite.com/index.php?topic=19593.0

It makes interesting reading. Seems they were also buying from Filipino 'restoredwatches' as well as 'Watchcooking' at the time. 

Indeed, as hinted by one of the posters in that thread, if you go back through 'restoredwatches' feedback, prior to May 2011....

You would have found 'voodoo76', which apparently was another buying ID that 'Fireflywatches' (as was) used at the time.

I did, but instead, I found t_cwatches (feedback 318, but private) http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/t_cwatches 

BTW - Did anybody happen to notice how few 'new' watches Time_Classics listed this weekend. 

Here's another old SCWF thread from November last year, entitled: So Firefly has an alter-ego........ which has some relevance.

Particularly this post: http://www.thewatchsite.com/index.php/topic,25743.msg150191.html#msg150191

The posters weren't actually talking about different eBay ID's used by Time_Classics (for buying or other activities) but the number of times they had changed the name of their known main eBay selling ID, most recently from 'Fireflywatches' to become Time_Classics:

Here's where it gets even more interesting. It seems the OP's topic title may have been rather closer to the truth than he realized. 

Click on that link I included in my previous post: http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/t_cwatches .... Notice anything ? 

The symbol I have ringed in red indicates that this person has changed the name of their user ID within the last 30 days.

Indeed they have - on the 14th June:

Note that this eBay ID also started life as 'fireflywatches'; compare it with the dates they used 'Firefly' in their other primary ID:

So to me, this recent name change indicates a probable renewal of activity with this other eBay ID in the near future. 

BTW - Did anybody happen to notice how few 'new' watches Time_Classics listed this weekend. 

In fact, there were only 5 on Sunday - but they've just listed another two dozen or so watches this evening (as 5-day listings).

Still no sign of that ex-José Sotto 'well-and-truly-cooked' 7A28-703A they bought, yet though.   Maybe next weekend. 

Going back to the source of the 'wrong' bracelet, fitted to that 7A28-7049 by Wai 'worldwideweb66' .....

But on the 16th June, he'd bought this 7A28-7039 (which he hasn't listed yet) on an incorrect replacement bracelet - for $99.99.

Here it is:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/140786576351

Vintage SEIKO 7A28-7039 Chronograph Watch! as is!

'As is' includes now being fitted with a Saisaisuperstar $10 20mm Feiko bracelet, in place of the other one he used on the 7A28-7049:

But he does state in his description: Band is not original SEIKO band.

Make a list of Ebay sellers you are not going to buy from ever... Number 1: The Fiddler etc

Just been doing a bit of digging into 'The Fiddler's (Fiedler-Uhrenhandel) activities, and found the alternate ID they use for buying:

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/lieblingsuhr24

So although I've only picked up on their buying / re-selling activity from a few 7A38's this year, it looks as if they've been at it a while.

Big Time ! 

PS - I'll go back and re-edit the original post with this, and any other such additional info. 

Seiko7A38 at June 23, 2012 at 7:37 AM

Well I've got one !  

Another German eBay dealer / re-seller - 'Sonntagsuhr' (now added to the above list).

I had a feeling that he was the winning bidder, but using a different eBay ID m***0 (private) for buying, on that very recent 7A38-714A. 

Just over a week later and it's back on eBay ! 

Having watched 'Time_Classics' and 'Total_Time22' regularly carving up José 'Watchcooking' Sotto's auctions between them, on the last couple of Sunday evenings, I'd also observed this previously unknown third eBay ID - m***0 as another frequent bidder on them.

Take a close look at his other current offerings, and you'll find a quite a few ex-Watchcooking Seikos and Citizens:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/sonntagsuhr/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686

In fact, keep an eye open for this ex-Watchcooking 7A28-703A, which he won last Sunday for $115.39, using his m***0 eBay ID.

http://offer.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewBids&_trksid=p4340.l2565&rt=nc&item=370618072867

That wasn't too hard to spot. It appeared yesterday, slightly quicker than Time_Classics nominally similar 'technicolour' offering. 

As sold by José 'Watchcooking' Sotto on 17th June for $115.39 (approx. £74.22):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/370618072867

VINTAGE SEIKO PEPSI QUARTZ CHRONO 7A28-703A JAN '84

As now offered (as a Buy-it-Now) by Sonntagsuhr for 179.00 Euros (approx. £140.97):

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320945258709

Vintage SEIKO Chronograph 1/10sec 7A28-703A Quartz 15 jewels

But there's a little more to Sonntagsuhr's eBay activities, besides re-selling of marked-up Filipino sourced watches. Of more anon ....

I think I may need to qualify slightly, what I wrote earlier:

Sonntagsuhr (332) - Maksym Petrakivskyy, Hannover, Germany - uses another eBay ID m***0 (private) for buying.

Perhaps that should read 'for buying from Filipino eBay sellers, such as 'Watchcooking' and 'Apol_of_your_eyes' ....

Because he clearly has more than one modus operandi / arena of activity / additional eBay user ID that he uses for buying.

It took me a while to cotton on to this, and I'm still not 100% sure that I've correctly pinpointed his other eBay ID ....

But I believe that he is also the same person as 'musicpower5', and that he uses that eBay ID for buying on eBay in Germany.

This is where I first stumbled across him, back in May:

http://www.ebay.de/itm/200749580087 SEIKO CHRONOGRAPH purchased by musicpower5 on 6th May for a mere 23.50 Euros

which if I'm correct in my assumptions, subsequently became:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320902282077

Vintage NOS SEIKO Chronograph 1/10sec 7A28-7020 Quartz New Old Stock (it clearly wasn't N.O.S. from the photos)

and sold for 225.00 Euros on 20th May !! 

Here's a more recent example:

http://www.ebay.de/itm/190688163525 SEIKO HAU Quarz Chronograph Edelstahl /Bicolor Funktionstüchtig

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320941246091 Vintage SEIKO Chronograph 7A38-7060 1/10sec 15 jewels Quartz (7A28)

This two-tone 7A38-7060 was purchased on 16th June for 43.59 Euros, and is still currently listed as a Buy-it-Now for 179.00 Euros.

I don't have a serial number from the previous eBay listing to prove this conclusively, but compare the photos below from the 2 listings:

 (the first photo has been rotated through 90°)

Note the perfectly identical positioning of the Varta V394 battery. Too much of a coincidence ? 

Well, if you're in any doubt, then I suggest you also check the alignment of the 7 back-plate screw heads. 

Ho-hum. This is getting boring.  Here's Sonntagsuhr's next ex-Watchcooking offering - a 7A28-7110 he's just sniped to win for $130:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/360461792860

VINTAGE RARE SEIKO SPEEDMASTER QUARTZ CHRONO 7A28-7110 NOV '83

Just as predicted (I told you this was getting boring) ....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/320969259459

Vintage SEIKO Speedmaster Chronograph 7A28-7110 1/10sec Quartz 15 jewels

Yours - now, assuming you didn't want it before, at the previous selling price of $130 - for a mere 169 Euros. 

Getting back to our favourite UK eBay re-seller (not), who has thankfully been rather quiet on the Seiko 7Axx re-selling front of late ....

Time_Classics (previously 'Fireflywatches') - Steve 'n Julie - S. Jones. Basingstoke, Hants. Uses another ID b***f (339) for buying.

Despite having resurrected another of their dormant spare eBay ID's, Time_Classics other ID used for buying has remained active.

This previously unidentified eBay ID which shows as b***f (339) has now actually attained a feedback of 382 (as of today 31/08/12).

I cannot reveal my source  but eventually, with a little insider assistance, I've finally managed to identify it .... fubu2u2 (382)

http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/fubu2u2

Notice that this eBay ID was created fairly recently  - in June last year, when Time_Classics were taking a lot of criticism on the SCWF.

It's worth having a browse through their feedback:

http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=fubu2u2&ftab=AllFeedback

Needless to say, however, you won't find any feedback left by José 'Watchcooking' Sotto, despite their large number of transactions.

But if you scroll (or fast forward) to the earliest page (currently 21), in June 2011, you'll find these records:

When they first started out, they bought a load of watches (for later re-sale) from restoredwatches  another Filipino eBay seller.

Indeed, if you scroll right through their feedback, there's plenty more transactions with 'restoredwatches' and 'mountapo_merchant'.

Indeed, as hinted by one of the posters in that thread, if you go back through 'restoredwatches' feedback, prior to May 2011....

So now it becomes obvious why they created this other eBay ID, because they realized they had been sussed around that time. 

If you need a recent example to verifiy this, check out this Tag Heuer F1 Diver's watch, purchased by 'fubu2u2' on 18th August:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/110937163000

Currently offered by Time_Classics (with obligatory stunning serviced adjectives added): http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/290766566763

Trust me, this is Time_Classic's erstwhile mystery buying ID. 

That's a stunning bezel!

Looks like a dog has been chewing on that Tag! 

Yeh, I reckon 'robbiedoodledog' sold Steve 'n Julie a pup, with that one.

It'll be interesting to see if he manages to recoup his £95 outlay. 

Nah - of course he will, won't he ?  I'll bet you a shilling. 

I'd been doing a bit more digging into Time_Classics other 'alter ego' eBay ID's they use for buying, and possibly other activities ....

As you may have read in the other thread in the public eBay section, Time_Classics have changed their name to Timely_Classic.

I just checked their two other known 'alternative' eBay ID's and both are the same as they were (for the time being, that is ....).