Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

Perhaps I should seriously consider resurrecting the old forum's Craziest eBay Prices thread, because this one certainly belongs there. This stainless 7A38-7285 ZFM variant (manufactured in Seiko's offshore plant in Manaus, Brazil) was listed yesterday afternoon by a deluded 'James Bond' keyword spamming French eBay seller, who has owned it from new, with an absolutely ludicrous Buy-it-Now price of 2850 Euros (with an extortionate postage cost of 120 Euros on top) !!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-vintage ... 3617601057


The watch is in no better than average worn condition, with a long diagonal scratch on the crystal and the lume of both hands and tips of the hour batons shows signs of degradation. It may currently be the only one on the Internet, but it's certainly not 'the best' as the French seller claims in his description. Three of the seller's 9 photographs are badly out of focus, but studying them I began to get that uncanny feeling of Déjà Vu.

Indeed, checking my photo folders, I found I already had 6 of them on file, which I'd right-clicked saved in April 2020. Seems he'd previously listed it on eBay. The properties of those photos show I saved them on 4th April 2020. The 3 out of focus photos weren't among them, but this second wrist shot (not used in his current listing) was included in that set.


Call me a sceptic, but a couple of things don't quite ring true. Assuming the watch was set with the correct day / date displayed when those photos were taken, the only Wednesday 13th in 2020 was in May (not April). Also, if the seller has owned it from new in 1989, let's give him the benefit of the doubt and simplistically say for the sake of round numbers, he was 19 when he acquired it. That means he was born in 1970. The above wrist shot doesn't look to me to belong to a 50 year old - possibly someone younger by a decade.

Unfortunately it's not possible to search the old archived forum, but I've very quickly browsed a couple of threads where I might have mentioned his previous eBay listing (naturally the first place I looked was the Craziest eBay Prices thread), but I can't find any trace of it. Possibly it wasn't so outlandishly priced last time he listed it. Maybe I was just too busy.

Getting back to the watch: apart from the scratched crystal, general wear and scuffing (and the ridiculous asking price) that is a genuine correct example of the stainless ZFM 7A38-7285. This variant differs from its two siblings: the normal export market 7A38-7280 SAA119J and US market 7A38-7289 SAA109J in the following respects:

The dial does not have 'JAPAN' printed to the left of the 35 minute hour baton and carries the partial part number 710S rather than 710L (full part number, with colour designator being 710LXS27). The ZFM model variants aren't documented on Seiko's database, but presumably following the same nomenclature it's 710SXS27. Neither is there any SUWA symbol printed to the right of the 25 minute hour baton.

The stampings around the perimeter of the case-back are much as you'd find on the 7A38-7280 or 7A38-7289, except 'JAPAN' is missing (to the left of 'TL'). Oddly, the SUWA symbol is present. Their serial numbers are generally 99xxxx prefixed, indicating a manufacturing date of September 1989. Just above the serial number, in a much smaller font, stamped in three rows are: PROD.Z.F MANAUS - 542 AM and IND. BRAS.

The bracelet fitted to the ZFM 7A38-7285 variants may at first glance resemble the Seiko p/n B1627.E (S,C and G suffix) that you'd find on all other 7A38-728x variants. It uses the same folded link construction with similar proportions, but quality-wise, it's completely different - a much cheaper looking, locally produced item. The bracelet fixing tubes, which accept 1.8mm Ø spring bars (rather than 1.5mm Ø) are stamped with the part number A106 and the inside of the Z-fold clasp is stamped IND. BRAS. The 6-hole adjustment clasp carries an engraved (rather than embossed) SEIKO logo.

I only own one ZFM 7A38 variant and it happens to be a two-tone 7A38-7285. It came with a short bracelet, completely devoid of removable adjustment links, but best I can determine, it was never fitted with any and the endmost links either side of the clasp show no facility for attaching them. Perhaps my biggest disappointment was in the day wheel fitted. Coming from Brazil, I was hoping it might have an English / Portuguese wheel; the standard abbreviation for Friday (Sexta-feira) is SEX. But like all others I've seen, ZFM 7A38's appear to use English / Spanish day wheels.

One fairly obvious point I should probably mention is that although these watches may have been ostensibly 'assembled' in Brazil, their Seiko 7A38 movements were manufactured in Japan. It's reassuringly stamped in the usual place on the anti-magnetic backplate, just above the battery well.

If you were specifically looking for a ZFM 7A38 variant, the obvious place to search is at source: in Brazil, which means using their answer to eBay - Mercadolivre. There is what appears to be a stainless 7A38-7285 listed on there currently:

https://produto.mercadolivre.com.br/MLB ... o-7a38-_JM


That wrist shot primary image is the best of a bad bunch. Small as it may be, it's not difficult to see that this watch is suffering from the common malaise of a badly discoloured stained dial, which afflicts many a stainless 7A38-728x and that sellers frequently try to pass off as 'patina'. That deterrent apart, the asking price is R$1200.00 Brazilian Real, which equates to approx. $232.67 US.

Sometimes half-decent examples do turn up on Mercardolivre Brazil. Unfortunately, if they're cheap or even reasonably priced, they're usually quickly snapped up and listed on eBay by regular cross-platform re-seller denguinho (now trading as 80's_90's and previously a.k.a. watches.br) - typically marked up. Here's the photos of stainless ZFM 7A38-7285 that they listed on eBay in February 2020. I can't remember for certain, but I think the the Buy-it-Now price may have been $299. Having briefly considered it, based on its worn and polished condition, I passed.

I thought I'd give this older thread a bump to wish 'Joyeux Anniversaire' to the French eBay seller of that ZFM 7A38-7285.
It's 4 years to the day (27th, July 2021) since he (re)listed it on eBay. No great surprise, it's still there - unsold.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/313617601057


Other than eBay's newer formatting, nothing much has changed, except the listing has garnered 50+ bemused watchers.

At €2850 Euros, it's still the most ludicrously expensive 7A38 listed on eBay, by some margin. Way ahead of the next two stupidly over-priced and allegedly NOS 7A38-6000 (€2500) and 7A38-7029 (€2299), both listed by Italian eBay sellers.