Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

Seiko7A38 at November 22, 2019 at 5:51 AM

I had to smile to myself. I clicked on that eBay summary of 7A38-7140 SAA051J listings, that I'd posted last week and noticed that Italian eBay seller Alberto Ulmi vintagedesign78 had since further reduced the Buy-it-Now price of his allegedly NOS example to 'only' $700. A far cry from the ludicrous $2000 he was asking back in August when he first listed it.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274081336711

Checking my eBay watching page, Alberto's allegedly NOS 7A38-7140 appears to have sold in the early hours of this morning, for that reduced $700 Buy-it-Now price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/274081336711

Seiko7A38 at November 25, 2019 at 7:21 AM

Seiko7A38 at January 27, 2019 at 5:44 PM

The deluded 'Spanish' eBay seller (or whatever nationality he is - I really don't care), re-listed his ludicrously over-priced NOS 7A38-7140 again, earlier today. This time, he's reduced his 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price from the previous £1850 down to 'only' £1249. That's now about DOUBLE the price any rational potential buyer might realistically consider paying for such an example. That is, if it were actually running, rather than having been sat with a run-down battery inside it for the last 30 years !!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192805643095

I could just as easily have quoted a couple of my other previous posts, from the preceding page, about this particular NOS 7A38-7140, which was first listed by a deluded 'Spanish' eBay seller, drudticstudio, real name Gabriele, in January this year, with an absolutely ludicrous 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of £2500.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192777504730

Anyway, it's back again this morning, re-listed after eventually having had a new battery fitted. The Buy-it-Now price finally reduced to three figures - £900 to be exact, with currently no option to make an offer. Keep on dreaming, Gabriele.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193226762592

With constantly having nearly the maximum allowable 300 items on my eBay watching page, I simply don't have the time to review them all regularly. Many of them have been on there a long time and still remain unsold for the simple reason that they're over-priced. I just happened to be scrolling through it yesterday, and noticed that the deluded would-be Spanish eBay seller drudticstudio (Gabriele) had made a few more revisions to his re-listing within the last week or so.

He evidently needs to draw some more attention to his still grossly over-priced NOS 7A38-7140 and has dared me (in the description) to post a link to his listening [sic]. His poor command of English doesn't get any better. So here it is. His unremarkable photos are still posted on the previous pages.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193226762592

So let me get this straight. It's MY fault, for posting about it, here on this forum, that the watch still remains unsold after nearly 15 months ? It's got nothing to do with it being over-priced ? The current re-listing which has run, in one form or another, since the last week of November has received over 500 views. On February 19th, a month ago, he re-instated the option to make an offer, but NOBODY has made one. Am I missing something ?

I note with amusement, that in the early hours of this morning, deluded would-be Spanish eBay seller drudticstudio made a few more revisions to his re-listing for his over-priced 7A38-7140.

He has removed his (Brexit Paul Version) from the title and revised his childish name-calling description once again, including removing the short sentence, admitting to using Timpsons to have the battery replaced. He's also removed his photo of their receipt, showing that he was stupid enough to pay them £16.95 for the privilege.   More significantly, he's reduced the 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price by £100, from £899 to £799 (which is now less than a third of his original ludicrous £2500 asking price). In doing so, he also removed the option to make an offer. To the other 8 (besides myself) bemused watchers, my advice is to continue sitting on your hands - and wait for the next reduction.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193226762592

Evidently the Coronavirus Lockdown is driving frustrated would-be Spanish eBay seller drudticstudio stir crazy.   Late last night, he made a few more revisions to his long-running re-listing for his 7A38-7140. And he calls me 'deluded'.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193226762592

Get a grip on reality Gabriele.

Seiko7A38 at October 9, 2019 at 3:19 PM

This well-worn 7A38-7140, fitted (and I use that word advisedly) with an almost equally well-worn non-original replacement bracelet, was listed early this evening, by a Bulgarian eBay seller, with a 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of $399, or the option to make a lower more sensible offer.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/183988657714

I had a sneaking suspicion that was too good to be true. In the early hours of this morning, the Bulgarian eBay seller re-listed his well-worn 7A38-7140, fitted with a non-original bracelet, at the same 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of $349 USD.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184259030127

Looks like 'our friend' the deluded Spanish eBay seller drudticstudio has thrown another temper tantrum. In the early hours of this morning, he ended the latest 'deluded' version of his re-listing as allegedly being no longer available. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/193226762592

As previously mentioned in a couple of other threads, I've recently started browsing Instagram, 'cherry picking' a few interesting photos. Most of them have been posted on Instagram with the last couple of months. But I made an exception with this NOS 7A38-7140, simply because it was such a nice example. The most recent photo was posted by Indonesian Instagrammer kulitjerukbali at the beginning of February this year. I had to scroll a fair way down his feed to find the other 3 photos.

One small point of note, this watch has an (English) / Arabic day wheel, the same as that belonging to the deluded would-be Spanish eBay seller drudticstudio.

Seiko7A38 at October 19, 2019 at 4:33 AM

What is it with the Italians, 7A38-7140's and risibly speculative over-pricing ? 

Yesterday evening an Italian eBay seller listed this 7A38-7140, in no better than average well worn condition, with a 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of 899 Euros. There is the option to make a much lower more realistic offer I suppose, but the seller's description sounds rather discouraging. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123944774641

Some watches take rather longer to sell than they should - for the simple reason that they're stupidly speculatively over-priced for their condition. Case in point - that well-worn 7A38-7140 first listed by the deluded Italian eBay seller cima9132 last October, with a risible 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of 899 Euros. The original listing had ended in December last year, presumably after a cycle of 3 x 30-day listings. The seller duly re-listed it. I just added the re-listing to my eBay watching page and thought no more of it. However, it transpires the seller had made a few revisions to the re-listing over the last couple of months:

Which included replacing his two original photos with this new set at the weekend:

Presumably, partly due to the new photos, it finally sold yesterday evening, not for the much reduced Buy-it-Now price of 399 Euros, but ....

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124017353325

As revealed by the alternative 'true selling price' link, for a best offer of 350 Euros:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&item=124017353325

Which is amusingly ironic, remembering what the Italian eBay seller had written in the description of his original listing, when he was initially asking a ludicrous 899 Euros as a Buy-it-Now (translated):

Therefore I send photos on request and with each of your requests I set my price but I will also listen to any proposals as long as they are relevant to the rarity of the watch.

This morning another Italian eBay seller listed another 7A38-7140 in similar worn condition to the previous example. I suspect this will probably sell a rather quicker than the last one. It's a 7-day auction with a sensible opening bid price of 249 Euros (and the option to make an offer).

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353063513749

Orologio cronografo Seiko al quarzo 7A38-7140 design Giugiaro vintage anni 80

Perfettamente funzionante vetro con leggeri graffi ed normale usura del tempo come da foto.

As predicted, it sold quickly - this afternoon, in fact just a matter of minutes ago, for an undisclosed best offer.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353063513749

Ah, La Bella Italia.  Home of Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati and land of beautiful women, olives, pasta and pizza. Also the seemingly never-ending source of NOS condition 7A38-7140 SAA051J's. Yet another was listed by an Italian eBay seller, late yesterday evening, with a typically over-optimistic 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of 1100 Euros, with the option to make a lower more realistic offer.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124184022647

Vendo dalla mia collezione privata questo bellissimo e raro orologio in ottime condizioni estetiche. 

Seiko Quartz Sports 100 Ref. 7a28-7140

Meccanismo al quarzo con batteria nuova perfettamente funzionante.

Cassa in acciaio di color nero.

Cinturino originale in acciaio inossidabile.

Dotato di scatola e libretto di garanzia.

Spedizione tracciata.

Italian eBay seller ervin.pepa continues to hurridly sell off his collection of 7Axx's, as if they've fallen out of favour (that, or he's in desperate need of some cash). With his aformentioned grossly over-priced NOS 7A38-7140 still unsold, late yesterday evening he listed two more somewhat lesser condition examples - both priced at his favourite (and often equally unrealistic) 'pie-in-the sky' Buy-it-Now of 600 Euros.

This first is in only average / well-worn condition (especially the bracelet's coating) and realistically probably only worth about half his asking price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124187363359

The second suffers from even worse levels of rubbing wear to the black chrome plating and is fitted with the wrong case-back off a stainless 7A28-7020. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124187362414

The two listing descriptions are identical (in his usual format) and include the same error in the model number - perhaps a freudian slip (reference that case-back) ?

Vendo dalla mia collezione privata questo bellissimo e raro orologio

Seiko Quartz Chronograph Sports 100. Ref. 7a28-7140

Meccanismo al quarzo con batteria nuova perfettamente funzionante.

Cassa in acciaio di color nero. Cinturino originale in acciaio inossidabile.

Spedizione tracciata.

I'm have trouble keeping up with Italian eBay seller ervin.pepa and his antics.

Earlier this afternoon, he appears to have ended his remaining unsold Buy-it-Now listings for 7Axx's (there were about 20 in total, IIRC) as being allegedly no longer available and subsequently re-listed them all as 7-day auctions, halving their prices in the process. So the majority - those which were priced @ his favourite (often unrealistic) price point of 600 Euros now have opening bid prices of 300 Euros.

His NOS condition 7A38-7140, which previously had a 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of 1100 Euros, now has a much more tempting opening bid price of 'only' 500 Euros. Assuming the auction lasts the 7-day duration - and it doesn't get shilled in the usual Italian tradition, it'll be interesting to see what it makes in real world terms.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124190021440

Funny how I'd written this before:

(This first) is in only average / well-worn condition (especially the bracelet's coating) and realistically probably only worth about half his asking price.

I predict, given recent selling prices for similar worn condition examples, that one will attract at least an opening bid @ 300 Euros, if not a couple more higher bids.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124190034758

The other, much more worn example, fitted with the wrong case-back, may struggle.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124190033225

Italian eBay seller ervin.pepa's re-listed 7-day auction for his NOS condition 7A38-7140 ended a few moments ago, selling for a respectable 700 Euros after after 12 bids (the last 2 were 'safety' bids, placed by the winning bidder) - a rather more realistic figure than his original 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of 1100 Euros.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124190021440

His other two 7-day auction re-listings for the well-worn examples ended 15 minutes later, within seconds of each other. Both failed to attract any bids and went unsold.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124190034758

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124190033225

That Italian eBay seller ervin.pepa must have a screw loose.  Yesterday afternoon, both his well-worn 7A38-7140's failed to attract a bid @ 300 Euros.

So this morning he re-lists them again as Buy-it-Now's, with the 'pie-in-the-sky' asking price hiked back up to 600 Euros. The mind well and truly boggles.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124199424365

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124199424807

I wish I could honestly say that I never tire of watching the antics of incompetent Italian eBay sellers. 

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124199424807

Seiko7A38 at November 22, 2019 at 5:47 AM

Brad hasn't deigned to reply, but judging by the way he's waxing lyrical about it over on SCWF (as their resident 'Poet Laureate'), he must be pleased with it. Here's two wrist shots he's posted in their WRUW threads over the last couple of days.

It appears as though Brad's brief infatuation with his 7A38-7140 is over. 

Now it's just another of his vintage Seikos literally on the chopping block.

He posted this FS advert on SCWF Trading Post yesterday:

http://www.thewatchsite.com/threads/fs-9-vintage-seikos-6139-h558-arnie-skx009k-7a38-0634-others.339383

FS: 9 Vintage Seikos - 6139, H558 Arnie, SKX009K, 7A38, 0634, others

Whereas Brad never did reply to my question (about whether he agreed that the watch had been re-sprayed), his comment against the 7A38-7140 is 'Re-coated'.

The saga of this much re-sold 7A38-7140, case-back s/n 560452 begins on page 4 of this thread and is summarised (including Brad's purchase) on the previous page.

Very early this morning, Brad listed his 're-coated' 7A38-7140 on eBay with a highly optimistic 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of $550 and currently without the option to make an offer. There is some 'poetic license' in his glowing description. Note that in some of his photos you can see the evidence of stretch and lateral slop between bracelet links, indicating it was probably quite well worn before getting its respray makeover back in 2017. The wear to the crown and pushers, which oddly weren't re-finished, is also visible in his side on views.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/383566617842

Seiko 7A38-7140 vintage quartz chronograph, from 1985. This is the first ever quartz chronograph with a date indicator. This version was only sold in Italy. It's running great, with all functions working. It features the famed foudroyante 1/10s second hand which counts off 1/10s. It's great fun to watch. After 10 minutes, the 1/10s hand switches to power saving mode, and only shows its count when stopped. The day wheel is Italian / English.

This one was serviced and re-coated by a previous owner. The new black PVD coating on the bracelet and case is a modern very durable coating and it was very well done. If you actually want to wear your watch, consider this a plus. The original coatings are notoriously fragile. Watches with the original coating intact are very expensive, and wearing them you risk damaging them because they're so fragile. This one has the original look with a durable finish, so you can wear it. If you're all about originality, it's not for you though. 

It's in great shape and runs perfectly. The bracelet contains all 5 extension links (which is rare). 

 I'll miss this one, but I have to sell to save for an Omega

Contact me with questions. Water resistance not tested.

See my other auctions for more cool watches. I combine shipping!

Checking my eBay watching page, I see that deluded Italian eBay seller ervin.pepa ended his remaining re-listing for a well-worn 7A38-7140 this morning, because of an error. Presumably in the pricing.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/124199424365