Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

Very nice Paul - one of those where the more you look, the better it gets. 

Thanks, Simon. 

I've always liked the dial, but as you say, the case is something of an acquired taste. It's not very practical to use as a chronograph with those deeply recessed pushers. You have to operate them with your fingernail. Pity about the worn gold plating, but I think the ostrich strap I've fitted suits it well and helps draw attention away from it.

I much prefer the dial in mine to Franck's version (same model # N8 YM53), but I'd still like to find one of those too someday. 

That's very remarkable Paul. Looks really like an OEM strap.

Thanks, Fabio.  I'm very pleased with the end result, but ostrich leather isn't strictly correct - as per the original OEM spec. 

If you read what fellow N8 YM53 owner Franck wrote (in his email) on the previous page:

I got the watch in 1991 when my father passed away (I was 20 then).

The original band was a light brown in buffalo skin; I still have my father's one, but it is in very bad condition.

I changed it to the current blue shark one. The blue shark - because of Breitling, it was fashionable at the time.

I'd suspect that the colour and texture (if not  the style) of the original Yema strap were something akin to that fitted to this N81W63:

Seiko7A38 at September 15, 2013 at 5:19 AM

In hindsight, I probably should have given this thread a slightly different topic title:

My newest incoming Yema N8 - and another gap in the collection filled.

Time, almost  for another update, sub-titled:

My newest incoming Yema N8 - and another gap in the collection soon to be filled. 

I sometimes wonder about the WIS-dom of having shared all this information about non-Seiko branded 7Axx variants, particularly the Orient / Racer J39's and Yema N8's, on a public internet forum. I've possibly made a rod for my own back, by raising interest and alerting their existence to other Seiko 7Axx collectors - and thereby created unnecessary competition for myself. 

However, occasionally it seems it has its benefits. 

One arena where thankfully I still don't appear to have much competiton from other collectors is:

More 'dressy' N8's than anybody with even a modicum of good taste should ever admit to owning ....

Readers may recall my writing (above), back in August 2014:

I much prefer the dial in mine to Franck's version (same model # N8 YM53), but I'd still like to find one of those too someday. 

I'd kept on searching on eBay and LeBonCoin, but still hadn't seen another N8 YM53 with the red 12 dial like Franck's watch. 

Then earlier this week, completely out of the blue, I received a message via the Webs contact form:

Hello, I came across your site while looking up a watch I have. It is also a Yema exactly the same as Franck's that he got from his father.

I am looking to sell it and wondered if you might be interested or may know another collector.

Kind Regards,

Lisa.

It seems Lisa had found this thread by googling the case-back model #. She subsequently emailed me a few photos of her N8 YM53:

The overall condition seems to be pretty good, with minimal dings and plating wear. Apart from the chipped crystal, the sweep second hand mysteriously appears to be missing its tail. I've already indentified a close match in my bits box. The strap is obviously not the original Yema fitment (18mm rather than 19mm) and I suspect the screw bars which hold it on are also replacements - their heads aren't as delicate and the bars themselves are too long. Hopefully I can find something better from Cousins UK's selection.

Regardless, I made Lisa what I believe is a generous offer to part with it - certainly more than she'd be likely to achieve by selling it on eBay, even properly titled and described - given the rather limited appeal of this particular model, be it rare or not. The lady kept me waiting a few days, pending her decision (as is their prerogative), but this morning Lisa emailed me. Her email began:

After much thought and consideration I would very much like to sell you the watch. I wore it for a couple of days and the more I thought about it the more I truly believe it was meant to be yours. Especially after reading your posts from years past. 

Of more anon ....

After a slight delay, which briefly caused me some mild consternation (the USPS tracking number she gave me didn't work), Lisa's package containing the Yema N8YM53 arrived on Thursday. I've given it a quick strip-down and cursory inspection this morning.

Although there are a few small dings and plenty of light scratches, the gold plating of the watch case is generally in much better condition than my previous example (with the Italic number dial).

I noticed some electrolytic corrosion around the 10 o'clock pusher, which is nearest the battery well ....

But inside, the Shimauchi Ltd. V906 branded movement showed no immediately obvious signs of any prior battery leakage.

Indeed, that area inside the watch case was squeaky clean. 

As was the dial. However, I was correct in my earlier observation that the tail had been snapped off the sweep second hand.  Not sure how this can have happened, unless someone took the dial / movement out of the case and 'fumbled' it (then tried to straighten the tail and snapped it off), because there are no visible signs of the hands having been pulled. 

As I'd confidently written in my previous post, I thought I'd indentified a close match in my bits box. Close but no cigar, perhaps. 

The hand on the right is the closest, but it's still about 1.5mm too long. Its pointer is also rather thicker than the original Yema. 

Again, as I'd suspected from Lisa's photos, the screw bars holding on that (18mm) replacement strap weren't original either ....

They were indeed 20mm long (single ended) and only 1.3mm diameter - compared to the 1.5mm originals. Judging by the patina of the strap, they were probably fitted many years ago. Because of the sloppy fit of these screw bars, the drillings in the watch case have become elongated slightly. So I'll have to replace them with the correct 1.5mm size. Unfortunately, Cousins and Iso Swiss 1.5mm bars use much larger screw heads than the original Yema bars. So I've got a couple of parts issues to resolve, before I can proceed.

Needless to say, I'm now kicking myself for not having bought that much abused 'beater' Yema N8YM53 that came up on eBay France last May. See Page 15 of the Yema N7's and N8's spotted .... thread. Weirdly enough, that one had taken a hit to the crystal in almost exactly the same place and appeared to be fitted with a very similar looking alligator grain strap. Coincidence methinks.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/151689203999

Not only would it have yielded the correct sweep second hand, but possibly the screw bars. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. 

Occasionally, I discover 'gaps' in my N8 collection that I didn't know even existed.

Take the distinctly quirky-looking dressy N8YM53 model. Definitely an acquired taste, so presumably low volume production and sales. I'd seen two different dial variations (only 4 watches in total) on the Internet in 9 years of looking - and not having any Yema catalogue or brochure showing either of them, had naturally assumed that's all there were. So you can imagine my surprise when I spotted a 3rd dial variant recently.

I'd written a preamble in the Yema N7s and N8s spotted on eBay, etc .... thread, last week, but it was right at the bottom of page 29 and I inadvertently almost immediately turned the page, so for those who might not have seen it, here's a copy and paste of my post.

Originally posted by myself on: June 29, 2018 at 11:57 AM

Sometimes, not very often, I'll deliberately refrain from posting details of a listing for a Yema N8, which I've spotted on eBay or LeBonCoin - for a very good reason too: I don't want to draw any unnecessary unwanted attention to it, because I'm interested in buying it for myself.

Such was this dressy N8YM53 (or more correctly N8 YM5 3, per the title) that was listed by a French eBay seller last week as a 7-day auction with an opening bid price of 40.50 Euros. When I spotted it, last Thursday, the listing was already 3 days old, but had no bids placed.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113079397143

Tres beau chronographe Yema Paris en tres bonne état de fonctionnement, verifier et pile changer, diametre 40 mm. attention quelques rayures en dessous voir photo 5.

It appears to be in very nice little worn, well cared for condition, with minimal plating wear and still fitted with what I'm assuming to be the original Yema leather strap. Let down only by some scratches on the case-back, at least one of which extends onto the back of the watch case.

But what made this particular N8YM53 so appealing to me is that it's fitted with a different dial to the very few I've seen before (only 4 in total over the last 9 years, incidentally), which makes it something of a rarity. So I absolutely had to have it for my collection. After placing an initial low bid, I waited, with trepidation, for 4 days to see if anyone else would bid on it - or even have the temerity to try and outsnipe me. There was only one. He lost to my double 'killer' snipe. Sold to me for 59 Euros after 4 bids.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/113079397143

Needless to say, I'm eagerly looking forward to its arrival early next week.

The postman came early this morning - presumably trying to finish his round before it got too hot. No watch still - just a bill and some unsolicited junk mail. Then about 10 o'clock, there was a knock on the door. It was a ParcelFarce driver holding a large cardboard box - much bigger than anything I was expecting. The French eBay seller had sent it by 'Colissimo' - the French express parcel service.

Sure enough the paperwork stated the contents being '1 Montre'. The outer carton measured 15" x 11" x 4" deep. Inside it, surrounded by expanded polystrene was a rather smaller silver tin box, measuring 5½" x 2½" x ¾" deep. Bedded neatly in a precision cut sponge foam insert was the N8YM53. There was no Yema (or other) branding whatsoever on the tin box, nor its plain white cardboard sleeve, but the fit is just too good for it not to be OEM retail packaging.

Here's a few photos of the watch, as received:

There's no Yema stampings on the reverse of the leather strap either. But I have seen that double wire loop buckle and single wide strap keeper used on other dressy Yema N8's before.

The strap is obviously purpose made for this particular application, ends properly finished, with no evidence of it having been notched to fit.

Here's another shot of the case-back showing the full extent of those slipped tool marks and scratches. Note that like the few N8YM53's previously seen, including my two examples, there is no production serial number above the Y logo.

Here's a slightly different wrist shot to the one I posted in the WRUW thread