The Ferrari Formula madness continues ad insaniam ....

[Seiko7A38]

Here we go again.
Ulrich's latest collection mega-job lot listing appeared on eBay yesterday evening, priced (not) to sell @ 13,000 Euros. The number of Cal. 531's (and the odd Cal. 532) included in the lot is gradually diminishing. This time there are only 11. So presumably he is managing to sell the odd one or two, when he lists them individually. The rest ? Who knows.

At the risk of repeating myself ....

Eccentric Austrian Ferrari Formula collector and eBay seller ferrari_formula_montre doesn't appear to have had much success in his recent continued efforts to sell off the remainder of his once impressive collection. His latest eBay job lot listing, which appeared yesterday evening, comprises 12 chronographs: two stainless Valjoux 7750 powered and ten Cal. 531 '7A38's of which seven are the more desirable red dialed variants. The Buy-it-Now price of 14,000 Euros is certainly no bargain, equating to an average of over 1150 Euros per watch.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferrari-form ... 3752937453

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[Seiko7A38]

Looking at his latest particular job lot selection raised a knowing smile from yours truly. This long-running saga has now dragged on for over 10 years ! I searched back through my archive photo folders and found this old eBay image. Although the manner in which the watches are displayed has changed over the years, the wood-grained cabinet with adjustable glass shelves looks awfully familiar. Note the date stamp of 11/11/2011.

CartierFF-Collection-ferrari-bburagonr1-eBay(Germany)-Nov2011.jpg (102.54 KiB) Viewed 4617 times

Before I started regularly posting on the old forum in late January 2012, I briefly began by creating a short-lived series of blog articles. The first, which can be found in the archived 'News' section was: Auction Watch # 1 - January 2012. Scroll down the page a short way and you'll find:

CartierFF-7A38-JobLot14-News-Jan2012-Post-1.png (20.06 KiB) Viewed 4607 times

CartierFF-Collection-ferrari-bburagonr1-eBay(Germany)-Jan2012-1.jpg (85.24 KiB) Viewed 4606 times

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CartierFF-7A38-JobLot14-News-Jan2012-Post-2.png (48.8 KiB) Viewed 4607 times

It's probably no coincidence that selection contained what appears to be the same two stainless Valjoux 7750 powered chrono's and the majority of the red-dialed Cal. 531 '7A38' variants included in his latest job lot listing. Seems they never actually sold. That was just the first of many eBay listings which were ended in mysterious circumstances.

I've already proven the connection between ferrari_formula_montre and his other eBay user ID srilanka20082012 (which currently remains dormant), per this quote (and others) from the old forum's Ferrari Formula 'Red Mist' thread.

Ferrari-Formula-Red-Mist-OldForum-TopPage11-Quote.png (37.02 KiB) Viewed 4576 times

What I'd earlier failed to do was prove any connection between them and the original eBay seller ID ferrari-bburagonr1 (who was actually Austrian, rather than 'German' as I erroneously wrote at the time). That ID is no longer a registered user and since eBay removed the User ID History link, there's no means of proving there was a connection. However, you only need check srilanka20082012's feedback and search ferrari_formula_montre's current listings to deduce they're obviously the same person. Both have previously sold dozens of Bburago, Hot Wheels and other 1:18 Ferrari die-casts.

[Seiko7A38]

Checking my eBay watching page, I see that eBay seller ferrari_formula_montre ended that latest job lot listing earlier this week, because of an error in the listing. His major mistake was listing it in this curious manner in the first place.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313752937453

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However, at the same time, he did correct one other error, by ending his previous duplicated listing for that F6434801:

It's not as if any more evidence was needed, but just to show how confused the evidently eccentric Austrian eBay seller ferrari_formula_montre truly is, yesterday evening he listed the exact same Cartier Ferrari Formula Cal. 531, model F6434801 in a parallel listing, with a Buy-it-Now price of 1399 Euros !! His previous re-listing (@ 1899 Euros) from a fortnight ago, is still live. Not only has he re-used the same primary image, but he's uploaded it twice this time !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313723077181

CartierFF-7A38-Black+Gold-RedFace-eBay(Germany)-Oct2021-(re-listed)-Ended-Error.png (48.24 KiB) Viewed 4502 times

[Seiko7A38]

Speaking of errors, Austrian eBay seller ferrari_formula_montre isn't averse to a bit of mis-matching. I'm pretty certain that I'd mentioned in the old forum's 'Red Mist' thread, that some of the watches he's listed over the years appeared to differ from accepted known standard factory configurations. He'd obviously swapped dial / movements between cases and bracelets, for reasons best known to himself, but likely some were intended to achieve a better selling price.

One such example of a 'wrong un' was a stainless two-tone red dialed Cal. 531 that he'd re-listed in September.

Yesterday afternoon, to no great surprise (it was simply a matter of time), eccentric Austrian Ferrari Formula collector, eBay seller ferrari_formula_montre listed the remaining half a dozen Cal. 531's and the Cal. 532, which had previously supposedly been sold in his job lot auction listing at the beginning of August.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferrari-form ... 3669721634
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferrari-formula-By-Cartier-Uhr-Funktioniert-Top-Chronograph-/313669732047
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferrari-form ... 3669742737
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferrari-form ... 3669753437
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferrari-form ... 3669762506
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferrari-form ... 3669772863
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferrari-form ... 3669788172

To the unwary punter, or at least at first glance, it might resemble a model # F6104801 - a fairly desirable early variant. But not only does it have a white Tachymeter ring (instead of black), but it's also been fitted with the later style gold accented red dial (and gold plated handset) that you'd normally expect to find in the later model # F6434801, etc.

CartierFF-7A38-Stainless+Gold-RedFace-eBay(Germany)-Sept2021-AndAnother-1.jpg (202.29 KiB) Viewed 4496 times

He'd ended that listing over a week ago, because of yet another error:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313669732047

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I was beginning to wonder if he might have sold it (for an offer, off eBay), but it's back again, re-listed this morning:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Ferrari-form ... 3761271861

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