Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

I may have made a slight faux pas in my recent purchase of a Racer J39908-70 (due to failing eyesight or brain fade), but I'm feeling pretty chuffed with myself this afternoon. I've just bought myself a non-running gold-tone Orient J39930-70 head only, with a possibly suspect looking dial, for the princely sum of 18 Euros. This time I rushed in headlong, ignoring any faint alarm bells, hitting the Buy-it-Now button literally within seconds of spotting it.

https://www.ebay.it/itm/OROLOGIO-ORIENT ... 4204244594


This wasn't just any impulse buy either. What's more, I already have an almost NOS condition example, fitted with the original Orient 'mock croc' strap, complete with hang tag. It's the lower of the two in the photo immediately below.


Quite an attractive dressy little watch, if you like that kind of thing - as I do.


There's one thing wrong with it, that has bugged me for nearly 5 years since I bought it in April 2016. It's still fitted with the wrong case-back ! Here's a quick re-cap from another thread on the old forum - or you can read the full story here.


I'm not sure what I'll end up doing with the rest of this incoming non-runner, but you only get one guess as to where its correctly stamped J39930-70 case-back will soon find a new home. Meanwhile I'm sorting through my many J39908-70's, deciding which of them deserves the almost pristine 'wrong' case-back that'll be freed up, when it arrives.

The bargain basement priced Orient J39930-70 'parts watch / case-back donor' arrived from Italy yesterday lunchtime. Here it is alongside my (albeit messed about with) virtually NOS example, (fitted with the wrong J39908-70 case-back).


It's in very much the condition I'd expected, possibly slightly better than was apparent in the eBay seller's photos. More surprising is that the chronograph functions all work perfectly, although the time is dead. (The seller had described it as 'NON FUNZIONA'). I had already suspected from his head on photo that something was awry with the crystal.


Someone has fitted a replacement domed acrylic crystal, that sits too proud. It's also been glued in rather messily.


Still, all I really wanted it for was the J39930-70 case-back, that I hoped would be pristine under the protective sticker.


Indeed it was. Despite the numerous scratches, apart from a little scuffing on one edge, which wasn't covered by it, the tough blue vinyl protection had done an admirable job for 30 years. Seemed almost a shame to scrape it off.


Here it is, quickly spun onto the watch it was destined for.


Some may judge it foolhardy of me, to have scraped off the case-back protection, particularly as I'm planning to restore the watch to 'as NOS' condition. Well, I had something else up my sleeve: the 'wrong' J39908-70 case-back still has its reusable sticker (mit ORIENT hologram) in place. I've already successfully peeled it off once before, remember.


I haven't delved into the movement as yet, but its back-plate looks reasonably clean, with no sign of battery leakage.


Not that I needed a second example (of the same dial colour / variant), but it almost seems a pity to break the watch up for parts. However, its dial is grubby and there's quite a lot of tarnishing / cloudiness on the gold plated elements.


Grubby dial apart, you may also have noticed that the plastic Tachymeter ring is cracked between 65 and 70. When you withdraw the dial / movement from this style of Orient J39 case, normally the Tachymeter ring drops down with it (but usually gets snagged by the pusher tips and / or crown tube). This one didn't budge. I suspect it's been glued to the case rim or underside of the replacement crystal. Note also the clumsy scratching on the inside of the case, which makes me wonder what kind of other horrors I might find on the crystal mounting flange, were I to attempt to remove the crystal.

My bargain-basement priced Orient J39930-70 case-back donor continues to surprise me. When I wrote earlier .... 'although the time is dead', I wasn't unduly disappointed. But then at the weekend, I thought I saw the constant second hand twitching. So I fitted a new battery, wound on the time and advanced the time and day / date, pressed the crown back in and it started ticking away. On Sunday, it ran from 9:30am to 22:30 (when it was about to engage the day / date changeover) without missing a beat. But then it stopped again. I repeated this on Monday, with the same outcome. So potentially, it could be a good working movement. Which is just as well, because I'd overlooked something else.

Seiko7A38 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 02, 2021 2:42 pmThere's one thing wrong with it, that has bugged me for nearly 5 years since I bought it in April 2016. It's still fitted with the wrong case-back ! Here's a quick re-cap from another thread on the old forum - or you can read the full story here.

If you've read that sorry saga, then you'll already know (as I really should have remembered) that I'd swapped the dial / movement, which as purchased, had been erroneously fitted in the Orient J39016-70 'head only' into my 'NOS' J39930-70 by the devious Italian eBay seller pinup50miss. What I'd completely forgotten was that it was fitted with a rather grotty Seiko 7A38 movement, instead of the correct Orient J3920 movement.


When I came to fit the shiny new case-back from my donor, I was abruptly reminded of the fact.


With the intention of restoring the watch to correct original factory specification / 'NOS' condition, my first thought had been to simply swap the Orient J3920 movement back-plate from the donor onto this Seiko 7A38 movement. Who'd be any the wiser ? Unfortunately it has an English / Spanish day wheel, which would be fine if this were a Racer J39. The Orient J39's usually have English / German or English / French day wheels (as the 'donor' is correctly fitted with). Not only that, but this botched Seiko 7A38 movement also has a problem with the time function.

So I've just sent them both off to Simon 'Sir Alan' Wilkinson to have their movements serviced, with explicit instructions of which set of parts to use to rebuild the 'NOS' J39930-70. The donor will not be resurrected as such. The surplus Seiko 7A38 movement is already earmarked for another unfinished project.

Normally when I send my watches off to Simon for movement services, he usually turns them around in a fortnight. This time it took a little longer; almost exactly 3 months in fact ! What I wasn't aware of, at the time I posted them to him, was that Simon was in the throes of moving house (to Wales). Ironically, I'd told him 'no rush'. Unfortunately mine were already 'in the stalled queue' when Simon had to start packing for his move, so with one thing and another, he didn't make a start on them until 8th June. The postman finally delivered them back to me at lunchtime today.

Neither of the two movement re-builds was exactly straight-forward - as I've already written here in this other thread:

Seiko7A38 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 19, 2021 3:26 pmNeither were quite straight-forward. The gear train of the Orient J3920 movement in the 'donor' was being jammed by tiny shards of glass from its original smashed crystal. The incorrectly fitted Seiko 7A38A movement, in my almost mint example, had been well botched by the Italian eBay seller (as I'd suspected). The spigot of the main bridge (time) rotor had been snapped off and was stuck to the magnet. Also the teeth of a couple of train wheels showed minor damage. Once he'd serviced it, following my instructions, Simon fitted the Orient J3920 movement where it rightfully belonged - in the almost mint J39930-70. When he later serviced the Seiko 7A38 movement, he dropped it back into the 'donor' case, without re-fitting the hands (for transit protection). Reason being I have other plans for it. Of more anon.

Needless to say, Simon has sorted them exactly as I'd specified in my instructions. All I had to do was re-fit the strap.


It might look hardly any different to the photo in my second post, but it's now fitted with the correct Orient J3920 movement (with English / French day wheel) and the correct J39930-70 stamped case-back, courtesy of the donor.
Closure at last.

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