The ONE and ONLY WRUW thread - Part Deux !

[Seiko7A38]

I'm wearing this two-tone 7A38-7280 SAA120J this morning. I have two of these in my collection, in similar decent used, but well cared for condition. I'm not even sure why I bought the second. I bought this example off eBay in the States, back in November 2009 for $125. It's slightly unusual and differs from the other (which also came from the USA), in that it has an English / Arabic day wheel (rather than the default English / Spanish).

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[Seiko7A38]

A long overdue outing for what I consider to be one of my more attractive self-built franken mods. I nailed this watch together back in September 2010, so forgive me if I can't remember all the details. It's based on a two-tone 7A38-7289 salesman's sample case. The white 718L dial is probably from a gold-tone 7A38-7260 and the hands from something else. Another subtle touch is my favourite Sternkreuz white crystal gasket tweak.

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[Seiko7A38]

Wearing my other 7A38-7289 based Franken mod this morning. Built around the same time as yesterday's watch, in late 2010, it hasn't seen the light of day in over two years. This one uses the 6060 dial / hands / movement from a two-tone 7A38-6080. IIRC, the silver Tachymeter ring came from a two-tone 7A38-7190.

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[Seiko7A38]

.... Which reminded me: it's been over a year since I last wore this attractive little two-tone 7A38-6080 SAA088J.

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[Seiko7A38]

Wearing my old favourite Yema Spationaute III Aragatz mission flags 'bitza' on this blue SATurday morning.

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[Seiko7A38]

Slightly off-topic for this thread, but as nobody else is bothering besides myself, I'm posting with impunity. Back in early 2009, before I started concentrating on collecting Seiko 7A38's and their derivatives, I briefly dabbled in other brands. I'd recently joined the RLT UK watch forum. At the time there was a lot of buzz about a comparatively cheap quartz chronograph which Rotary had released at the end of September 2008, that was a fairly obvious clone of the Breitling Navitimer. They were being sold through Argos catalogue stores. Here's a link to the RLT thread. The watch quickly gained the nickname 'Chavitimer', because chavs were queuing to buy them in droves. I bought a couple myself, one on the stainless bracelet and the other on a leather strap. Once I got into 7A38's, they were put away, never to see the light of day again. I recently dug them out and hastily fitted replacement batteries (not before time). So without further ado, here's my Rotary Chronospeed model # GB03351/05. It uses the humble Miyota OS20 movement. The watch case is just under 42mm diameter, with a slightly larger overlapping 43mm bezel, but they wear much bigger than that.

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[asjc240]

Can't let Paul have all the fun with the off-topic posts today , I'll jump in with my Seiko Alba Carib N944-7a40. Sometimes referred to as the 'Dancing hands' movement, from what I gather the N944 movement was never used in any Seiko models, just Alba and Orient (as far as I know). A 36mm case with a date pointer but no day display, my favorite feature is its inclusion of a dual time zone sub-dial. A much more useful feature than a 24 hour sub-dial, which this... inexplicably also has... Considering I have no more than 10 watches in my 'collection', this watch is conveniently on regular rotation - If I wore this any less I'd forget how to use it half the time

Not the Seiko 7aXX this thread is about, but with Alba being a subsidiary of Seiko and having 7a in the model number, I contend I'm safe by technicality!

Edit: Thanks Paul for the correction below, as well as our correspondence via PM correcting his earlier correction! I've attached it below for the sake of accuracy and further reference. Hope you don't mind Paul!
"It was not the N944, but its sister calibre, the N945 that was widely used by Yema (C.G.H.) - and also Lorus, Pulsar, Racer, Radiant, etc. (but not Seiko themselves). See these couple of off-topic posts from a thread on the old archived forum: https://seiko7a38.com/archive/apps/foru ... d-1?page=2"

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[Seiko7A38]

Sometimes referred to as the 'Dancing hands' movement, from what I gather the N944 movement was never used in any Seiko models, just Alba and Orient (as far as I know).

Sorry to correct you, Alan, but if you've seen the N944 movement referred to as the 'Dancing Hands', it's incorrect. That moniker belongs to the Seiko 6M25, 8M25 family. See this thread on WatchUseek. FYI - the N944 caliber was also used by Yema (C.G.H.) and another obscure Orient subsidiary named 'YOU TRY'. Yes seriously. I sometimes stumble across them on Yahoo Japan. Here's an example that's currently listed: https://buyee.jp/item/yahoo/auction/l1109341871

[Seiko7A38]

As I do with my Spationaute III's (indeed all my watches), I try to cycle through my small collection of nine Yema N8 Flygrafs, so they get taken out and worn at least once a year. I last wore this example, fitted with a ZRC 'Veau Nautic' double jonc leather strap, in May 2022 and previously in October 2021.

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[Seiko7A38]

This morning I'm wearing this NOS condition two-tone 7A38-728C SAA138J, another German market variant ....

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Effectively the same watch as a 7A38-728A SAA128J, but with the UEFA Euro 88 commemorative case-back:

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[Seiko7A38]

This morning I needed a photo of a two-tone 7A38-6090 SAA116J, to illustrate another topical thread. Hard to believe, but it appears I hadn't posted a wrist shot of this particular model in this new forum's WRUW thread before. I prefer to take my wrist shots outdoors whenever possible (I find that natural daylight is better), but unfortunately it was raining steadily all morning, hence the delay in taking and posting today's wrist shot.

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I'd like to say 'better late than never', but it's not the best. I searched through the old archived forum's WRUW thread and found this better photo of the same watch I'd taken back in April 2012.

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[Seiko7A38]

Prompted by the appearance of a well-worn example on eBay Germany overnight, this morning I thought I'd wear one of my Junghans 24/4610 High Tech Chronos. This is the last example I bought in April 2021 - the grubby one.

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[Seiko7A38]

It needed something to brighten up a dull and dreary overcast November morning. So I dug out my second-string gold tone 7A38-7000 SAA008J. Ker-bling !

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[Seiko7A38]

Wearing this almost mint stainless 7A38-7000 SAA007J this morning. It's the first example I bought off eBay in the States in March 2009. Not the best of photos - doesn't really do it justice.

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[Seiko7A38]

Wearing this Yema Spationaute III Aragatz, pet name 'Grande Bleu' on this blue SATurday morning. I was planning to wear a Spationaute III this morning, but not this particular one. I noticed it was doing the 'two-second two-step'. Checking my records, I last replaced its battery on 7th October, 2017. So that's another Seizaiken #394 that's lasted over six years. So my next job is ....

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[asjc240]

A new to me 7a28-7040 that arrived in the mail yesterday! Watch is in excellent condition but the chrono second hand did not move at all when it arrived, as described by the seller. Opened it yesterday and gave the second hand a slight nudge, which mostly fixes the second hand. It's still reluctant to move in colder situations, which indicates a proper service in order. I will write up a separate thread when I have the time.

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[Seiko7A38]

Wearing this NOS condition Yema N8 Flygraf this morning. Apologies if I've posted a wrist shot of this one already this year, but it was on top of the pile, so most easily accessible. This photo was something of a fluke, with none of the usual annoying reflections off the domed crystal.

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[Seiko7A38]

Lazy Monday repeat. Wearing my 'grab and go' 7A38-7070 SAA031J beater this morning. (Yobokies repro' bezel insert).

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[Seiko7A38]

Wearing this bog-standard stainless 7A38-7280 SAA119J this morning. I have 'a few' of these in my collection. I've owned this particular example since April 2009, so it was among the first dozen 7A38's I bought on eBay. In fact, it's probably the second one of these. I may have posted it once before this year. What the heck.

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[Seiko7A38]

A little splash of orange, to brighten up a dull mid-week morning - wearing my almost mint 7A38-705A SAA027J today.

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