Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

If you were following my musings on the old forum, you may have read the recently updated thread on Jaz Paris N8's, which culminated in January 2021 with my purchase of two NOS examples. The deluded US eBay seller was originally asking a whopping $850 for the N8YZ669.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NEW-VINTAGE- ... 4620058438


They also later listed a N8YZ63 with a Buy-it-Now price of $450. I ended up buying both of them for best offers of $250.

These much higher than usual asking prices were obviously not lost on another opportunist US eBay seller, who listed this little worn N8YZ669 overnight as a 7-day auction with an opening bid price of $350, with the option to Buy-it-Now for $500, for the benefit of any impatient potential buyer with more money than sense.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/jaz-paris-me ... 5062535960


Like the previous US eBay seller, this one who's evidently ignorant of its limitations and restrictions, is tantalisingly offering it to buyers outside USA through eBay's dysfunctional GSP programme, which were it not for their covert embargo agreement with Seiko, would potentially add another $112.72 in charges to the $350 opening bid price.


However, because this seller has included 'Seiko 7A38' in his title and description, bids from outside USA are being blocked. I checked, just to make sure. Which makes a mockery of his inappropriate user ID skilledtrader00752.


Stupid pricing apart, what angered and saddened me in equal measure, is that this seller isn't trying particularly hard to sell this Jaz N8 on its own merits. From his listing title and Item Specifics, he's also suggesting it be used as a movement donor for a Seiko 7A38 or Cartier Ferrari Formula ! Which incidentally makes his pricing even more ridiculous.


To reinforce that, he's uploaded a total of 8 photos to the listing. 3 of them are fairly lackluster, mostly badly framed shots of the watch; 5 are of the movement / underside. Here's just a couple of them:


I guess what he's written as his 'description' tells you everything you need to know about the seller. Best avoided.

I've been meaning to add an update to this thread for a few weeks now. In mid-April, deluded would-be US eBay seller skilledtrader00752 reduced the opening bid price on their already much re-listed Jaz N8YZ669 from $350 to $250 and their previous preposterous Buy-it-Now price of $500 to $350.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/jaz-paris-me ... 3462219241


However, despite another five 7-day re-listings at these 'reduced' prices, it remains steadfastly unsold.

However, as I've demonstrated myself in the past, it's possible to pick these dressy little Jaz N8's up rather cheaper, with a bit of diligent searching (and occasional haggling). At the weekend, I made my weekly foray into the Seiko Passion Facebook group and ran a search on '7A38', to see if anything of interest had been added since my last visit. I spotted this recent post by one of their admins: bearded gentleman extraordinaire and eclectic Dutch collector Lode Roelofs.


Like myself, Lode enjoys collecting non-Seiko branded 7A38's and has a small but diverse collection of them. Seems he'd had the recent good fortune to acquire a NOS JAZ N8YZ669. But where did he get it from ? I have a couple of saved eBay searches set up, which usually find anything (including a lot of other irrelevant stuff). I found it difficult to believe that I'd missed spotting one. So, out of curiosity, I messaged Lode, asking the question.

Lode courteously and promptly replied, giving full disclosure. Turns out that it had indeed been listed on eBay in the States, where these things normally turn up. Just that I'd failed abysmally to spot it for reasons, see below ....

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JAZ-vintage- ... 2649542785


The eBay ended item summary shows it sold for $200, but Lode assured me he made an offer that was accepted.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/402649542785


What's surprising is that it was actually listed on eBay in the States for 3 whole months (from 17th January) before Lode purchased it on 16th April - as shown by WatchCount.com.


So you're probably wondering how the hell I managed to completely miss spotting it for 3 months. Unless I'm actively looking for something in particular, I rely on my automated saved searches to notify me of any new eBay listings. My collection of these dressy Jaz N8's already comprises 5 of the two-tone Panda N8YZ669 and 3 of the gold-tone N8YZ63, including a NOS example of each - so I wasn't looking for another and have no need to make excuses. My two saved eBay searches are 'Jaz Paris watch' and 'Jaz chronograph'. The US eBay seller's listing title didn't include either !!

Seiko7A38 wrote: ↑Tue May 18, 2021 12:53 pm I've been meaning to add an update to this thread for a few weeks now. In mid-April, deluded would-be US eBay seller skilledtrader00752 reduced the opening bid price on their already much re-listed Jaz N8YZ669 from $350 to $250 and their previous preposterous Buy-it-Now price of $500 to $350.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/jaz-paris-me ... 3462219241

However, despite another five 7-day re-listings at these 'reduced' prices, it remains steadfastly unsold.

I've long since lost count of the number of subsequent 7-day re-listings, over the last 3 months, but checking my eBay watching page, I see that Jaz N8YZ669 finally sold in the early hours of this morning for the opening bid price of $250.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/353626197019

I hadn't particularly planned on adding any further updates to this thread, but yesterday evening another Jaz N8YZ669 came up in my saved search notifications, listed by another comically named US eBay seller bigwheelerdealer, using almost exactly the same title: Jaz Paris mens watch chrono seiko 7A38 or use the parts cartier ferrari formula.
They're asking $250 as a Buy-it-Now, presumably based on what the aforementioned tidy example eventually sold for.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaz-Paris-me ... 4668837752


Apart from being in fairly well used condition, with plenty of small dings visible on the watch case, fitted with a replacement strap, this unloved example has suffered the ignominy of having it's sweep second hand painted red. Completely ignoring that fact, looks like he's also copied (and edited) that previous seller's Item specifics / Notes:

Seiko7A38 wrote: ↑Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:45 amFrom his listing title and Item Specifics, he's also suggesting it be used as a movement donor for a Seiko 7A38 or Cartier Ferrari Formula ! Which incidentally makes his pricing even more ridiculous.

Jaz-N8YZ669-Stainless+Gold-PandaFace-eBay-Feb2021-ItemSpecifics.png (14.4 KiB) Viewed 7630 times

Apart from being a chancer and plagiarist, literacy doesn't seem to be one of this seller's strong points. Ware.

Yesterday evening, US eBay seller bigwheelerdealer ended his short-lived listing for that Jaz N8YZ669 because there was an error in the listing. I'd opine it was a comedy of errors.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224668837752


He subsequently re-listed it 5 hours later, but all I can see that he's 'corrected' is changing the title.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaz-Paris-me ... 4670286377

Yesterday evening, US eBay seller bigwheelerdealer ended the above previous re-listing for that stupidly over-priced JAZ N8YZ669 as allegedly no longer available.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224670286377


Less than two minutes later, it was back on eBay, re-listed again as a 7-day auction, with a more realistic opening bid price of $99.95, this time offered to potential buyers outside CONUS, through eBay's dysfunctional GSP programme.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Jaz-Paris-me ... 3737766852

The above 7-day auction ended yesterday evening with the Jaz N8YZ669 finally selling for $107.50 after 3 bids.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393737766852

Transpires the buyer of that Jaz N8YZ669 with the re-painted red sweep second hand was none other than power90801 (a.k.a eclectic US collector Bob. L). I hadn't previously bothered checking the bidding history. Yesterday he eventually fessed up by posting this wrist shot in a WRUW thread on SCWF. He's also posted a few more shots of it on Instagram.

This grubby looking JAZ N8YZ669 was listed in the early hours of this morning by a US eBay seller as a 7-day auction, with an opening bid price of $17.99. The seller's notes state: "For Parts or Repairs Only", but there's nothing in the description to actually say what's wrong with it. There appears to be some flaking of the lacquer on the sub-dials, but zooming in on the second photo, it extends further, so may just be accumulated crud on the crystal. It's hard to tell.
Either way, definitely in need of some TLC.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/JAZ-Paris-Ch ... 5472416946

The above US 7-day eBay auction for an unloved Jaz N8YZ669, in dire need of some TLC, ended in the early hours of this morning, selling for $51 after 7 bids.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/165472416946

Another unloved Jaz N8 came up in my eBay saved search notifications yesterday evening. This time it was the scarcer gold-tone variant, model # N8YZ63. The US eBay seller's Buy-it-Now price was only $49, so despite the less than ideal condition, I didn't expect it to hang around for very long. It sold in the early hours of this morning.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/325207251482


Here's a few of the seller's photos (many were duplicated):