Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

He didn't have another immediately lined up in waiting, but it wasn't very long in coming. It appeared overnight, listed as the usual 7-day auction with an opening bid price of $250, but this time without the risible $325 Buy-it-Now option. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/357605060580 7A38-7069-Stainles...

It's been a couple of years since I last commented on the activities of profiteering German eBay re-seller quartzwerk a.k.a. Björn Kalscheuer. I thought he might have given up or gone away. But no, he's back again, up to his old tricks, with a new eBay ID quarztwerk (feedback 2). Note the two letter...

Better late than never, here's a few Q&D flash-lit photos of Spationaute III 'Prototype No. 02'. They don't really show it in its best light, but I may have a long wait for some decent natural light, now Winter is setting in. This morning I re-fitted its errant 1/10s second hand. It's been a lon...

Also the crystal in the 'cadran drapeaux' is rather cloudy, and would benefit from a quick wipe. In fact, if you look back at the two photos that Gérald Roden emailed me in July 2013, it looked foggy back then. So both Spationaute III's will need their movements popping out before I take any photog...

A bit of good news. :) I can't be bothered to go back and edit the previous posts, but luckily I've managed to get that previously 'dead' Spationaute II (the one fitted with a leather strap) running again. I decided to remove the thin metal plate and insulator that covers it, to get a better look at...

One last thought on the dead Spationaute II, fitted with a leather strap, before I consign it to the 'awaiting repair' pile. Remember my earlier musing ? The other Spationaute II is fitted with a ribbed tan leather strap, similar to those found on the Yema N81X26, but never seen before on one of the...

This morning I've spent half an hour correctly setting up the digital functions on my newly acquired Spationaute 1 and II. There are 4 modes: Digital time (12 or 24 Hour); Day / Date and Month; Alarm Setting and 1/100s Chronograph (defaults to 00:00: 00 ). These are accessed by pressing button C (bo...

Profiteering US eBay re-seller flobaca continues to add to his stock in trade. Yesterday afternoon he bought yet another 7A38-7069, in typically well worn non-working condition for $77. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/336283116323 7A38-7069-Stainless+Gold-eBay-Nov2025-Ended-Sold-$77.png Per his usual mod...

It was with some trepidation that I tackled the ana-digi Spationaute 1 and II's. I'd been reading up about them (mostly on ForumaMontres) and the problems caused by battery leakage and of sourcing (very scarce) replacement movements. Their case-back notches were a slightly different p.c.d. to the Se...

Some better news is that late on Monday 17th afternoon, I received an email, not from Artcurial's Shipping department, but from Fedex, advising that they had just collected my shipment from Artcurial. It is being sent Fedex International Economy and is due for delivery this Wednesday morning (19th),...

Time for another belated update. Belated being the operative word. :roll: By comparison to the 10 days cited, my Artcurial shipping quotation 'only' took 8 days ! It arrived in my email inbox early on the morning of Friday 7th November. Although not entirely a surprise, the amount was a bit of a sho...

In case you need any more parts, like a new crown or crystal, here's the full parts list from Seiko Oceania's database:

Overnight, profiteering US eBay re-seller flobaca listed another 7A38 - this time a two-tone 7A38-7020, which I hadn't predicted. It's a 7-day auction with a typically greedy unrealistic opening bid price of $550. As he regularly does, he's stripped the remaining gold plating from the bezel and pol...

I am not familiar with the Seiko 7T04A movement per se. That said, many older Seiko 7Txx movements, like the 7T27 and 7T32 have multiple equivalents from the likes of S.Epson (Seiko Epson), Shiojiri, Orient Watch Co. etc. Check out https://calibercorner.com/s-epson-caliber-ym04a/ and you'll find it ...

In the early hours of this morning, the forum was hacked by another spammer, who registered as lalo233 using the email address pumalalo206@gmail.com and IP address 23.106.169.120. Seiko7A38.com-Forum-SPAM-12-11-2025-lalo233.png In the two minutes he was signed in to the forum, he only made two posts...

That latest addition of the two-tone 7A38-7020 brings flobaca 's current tally of unsold 7A38's listed on eBay to EIGHT - certainly more than I can remember seeing in a while. Here's a quick run-down in descending date order. eBay-Flobaca-7A38-Summary-x8-Nov2025-1.png eBay-Flobaca-7A38-Summary-x8-No...

Overnight, profiteering US eBay re-seller flobaca listed another 7A38 - this time a two-tone 7A38-7020, which I hadn't predicted. It's a 7-day auction with a typically greedy unrealistic opening bid price of $550. As he regularly does, he's stripped the remaining gold plating from the bezel and poli...

I probably should have read Artcurial's Trust Pilot reviews before bidding. The first two are pretty damning.


Note the partial sentence: requests for quotes take 10 days to process;

In case readers are wondering why there have been no updates, here's the current status quo .... I did indeed pay Artcurial's invoice by bank transfer, using Wise, early on the morning of Thursday 30th October. The transaction took a matter of seconds and by 10:30 am, I had received a polite acknowl...

While I was typing these posts, Artcurial's invoice arrived in my inbox attached to a lengthy email in French ! :x First thing I noticed was that their total with sales commission and taxes paid (but not including shipping) was €1986 Euros, as opposed to the €1968 shown on that screen print of recen...