Heads Up on yet another 7A38 Franken(s) - Part 3 !!

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Re: Heads Up on yet another 7A38 Franken(s) - Part 3 !!

Post by Seiko7A38 »

This unusual '7A38', which is supposed to be a 'Mint New' / 'Eastern Market Only Product', was listed yesterday evening by a dishonest Italian eBay seller, with a Buy-it-Now price of €400 Euros. In reality it's nothing of the sort. It's a complete Franken. The case (including Roman numeral dial ring) and bracelet are from a well-worn two-tone 7A48-7000, fitted with the white 718L dial, hands and movement from a gold-tone 7A38-7260. As many of these Italian scammers do, there's a generic Seiko presentation box, instruction and guarantee booklets chucked in to give the impression of 'newness'. The true condition can be seen from the wear to the crown and amount of stretch in the bracelet.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/seiko7a38-Mi ... 5197074873

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Seiko7A38
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Re: Heads Up on yet another 7A38 Franken(s) - Part 3 !!

Post by Seiko7A38 »

It's been a while since I've seen such a blatantly mis-represented franken, so I simply couldn't let this one pass without flagging it up. This supposedly 'sublime' 7A38-7010 was listed at lunchtime today by a dishonest French eBay seller, as a 7-day auction with an opening bid price of €150 Euros.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/326430421582

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I've only uploaded 4 of the seller's 15 photos, but that's sufficient to analyse it. It's built on the watch case of what once was a 7A38-7010, retaining that watch's black plastic minute ring. The silvery-white 708L dial (and presumably also the movement) is from a stainless 7A38-7060. The sub-dial hands are from something else again, possibly a 7A38-7120 or a gold-tone 7A38-727A. The bracelet is a p/n B1170S from a stainless 7A38-7000. A proper bitza - and one to be avoided.

Here's what a 7A38-7010 SAA001J should look like.

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Edit: By late afternoon, the listing had been removed. The following morning (Thusday) I sent the seller a cheeky message (in French), enquiring what had become of it. He replied: Annonce effacée par eBay pour une soit disant contrefaçon (Advert deleted by eBay for so-called counterfeit), attaching this copy of eBay's message.

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So 'Well Done' to those eBay members who reported it ! (I hadn't actually bothered).

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