Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

Eccentric Austrian Ferrari Formula collector and eBay seller ferrari_formula_montre has been quiet of late. Although I hadn't bothered adding any more updates to the Ferrari Formula Madness thread, he'd carried on re-listing a dozen or so Cal. 531 watches, plus his collections of lighters and pens well into the new year - and typically regularly ending them as allegedly no longer available and re-listing. They've all long since dropped off my eBay watching page.

This morning, he listed something a little different to the run-of-the-mill Ferrari Formula Cal.531, with a typically ludicrous Buy-it-Now price of €3500 Euros.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm//Ferrari-For ... 4079274290


The deliberately deceptive description merely states:

Do you ever get that feeling of Déjà Vu ? I do - all the time.

As soon as I saw the watch, I instantly recognised it, having written a short thread about it, using the same title, on the old forum, back in December 2018. (srilanka20082012 was one of ferrari_formula_montre's previous eBay IDs).


The presentation box and irrelevant hang tag may be different, but it's most definitely the same ultra-blingy watch.

Seiko7A38 wrote: ↑Wed Jul 20, 2022 12:46 pmThis morning, he listed something a little different to the run-of-the-mill Ferrari Formula Cal.531, with a typically ludicrous Buy-it-Now price of €3500 Euros.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm//Ferrari-For ... 4079274290

CartierFF-7A38-18K-Gold-Plated-WhiteRomanFace-eBay(Germany)-July2022-Listing.jpg (161.43 KiB) Viewed 24605 times

Over the 10 years I've been following his antics, I've had reason to question the sanity of this Austrian eBay seller on a number of occasions. He never ceases to present opportunities. Yesterday afternoon, without ending his previous listing, he listed that gold-plated Cal. 531 again, in parallel, but with the Buy-it-Now price increased to €5000 Euros !!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferrari-Form ... 4080742992

Checking my eBay watching page, I notice he's corrected his error yesterday, by ending the second duplicate listing.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314080742992

His latest tactic is to list the watch again in parallel, this time as a 10-day auction with an opening bid price of 1 Euro and no reserve. I suspect this one might easily fail to last the duration, when it appears his unrealistic expectations (€3500 Euros) aren't going to be met.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferrari-Form ... 4095007144

Well, given some of his previous shenanigans, I'll admit that Austrian eBay seller ferrari_formula_montre surprised me on this occasion. He actually allowed the 10-day auction to run its course and there didn't appear to be any evidence of shill bidding. It sold for a mere 1566 Euros (less than half his fanciful Buy-It-Now price) after 12 bids on 13th August.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314095007144


He duly ended his other original parallel listing because of an error:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/314079274290