However, all parties involved appear to have got caught up in the vicious price hiking spiral that afflicts Seiko 7A38's.
Over the last decade, the majority of NOS condition 7A38-704A SAA021J's have turned up on eBay Italy (along with dozens of 7A38-7140 SAA051J's, 7A38-6020 SAA043J's and other 7Axx models). As I've posited before, I believe this was due to Seiko having off-loaded excess unsold inventory of less popular variants on their Italian distributor Italwatch.
Historically, Italian eBay sellers have frequently tried demanding ludicrous prices, often incorrectly attributing them to 'Giugiaro'. Indeed, the watch that kicked off
the old forum's Craziest Ebay Prices thread was a NOS 7A38-704A SAA021J, listed at the end of January 2012 by an Italian eBay seller with a typically extortionate Buy-it-Now price of $2350 !!
(From memory, it eventually sold for $800).
However, just because a good many turn up on eBay Italy, that isn't necessarily where they were originally exported to. Thanks to a thread started by another poster,
samulis, in
the old forum's Other Watch Forum's Sales Corner section, I'm able to reveal some earlier sales history of this particular 7A38-704A:
NOS 7A38-704A FS on Chronocentric.com
- 7A38-704A-SAA021J-FS-Chronocentric-April2016-samulis-Post.jpg (215.06 KiB) Viewed 7004 times
The same watch (note the same style Seiko presentation box and hang tag in the two embedded photos) was advertised for sale by a Belgian seller on Chronocentric.com in April 2016 asking 450 Euros.
The link to the FS advert still works.
- 7A38-704A-NOS-FS-Chronocentric.com-April2016-Post.png (222.21 KiB) Viewed 6998 times
Member
samulis ended the thread with another post, advising that the watch was also offered for sale on WatchUseek:
- 7A38-704A-NOS-FS-WatchUseek-April2016-Post.png (12.87 KiB) Viewed 6994 times
Indeed
the link to the (sold) WatchUseek FS thread, posted 3 days later, with the price reduced to €399 still also works.
- 7A38-704A-Grey+Orange-NOS-FS-WatchUseek-April2016-septentrio-Post.png (132.93 KiB) Viewed 6993 times
Unfortunately the photos embedded in both FS adverts have long since disappeared, but luckily I habitually saved them.
- 7A38-704A-Grey+Orange-NOS-FS-Chronocentric.com-April2016-1.jpg (173.29 KiB) Viewed 6986 times
- rsz_7a38-704a-grey-orange-nos-fs-chronocentriccom-april2016-2.jpg (243.73 KiB) Viewed 6985 times
- 7A38-704A-Grey+Orange-NOS-FS-Chronocentric.com-April2016-3.jpg (95.45 KiB) Viewed 6986 times
- 7A38-704A-Grey+Orange-NOS-FS-Chronocentric.com-April2016-4.jpg (174.84 KiB) Viewed 6986 times
- 7A38-704A-Grey+Orange-NOS-FS-Chronocentric.com-April2016-5.jpg (186.27 KiB) Viewed 6986 times
- 7A38-704A-Grey+Orange-NOS-FS-Chronocentric.com-April2016-6.jpg (231.95 KiB) Viewed 6986 times
- 7A38-704A-Grey+Orange-NOS-FS-Chronocentric.com-April2016-7.jpg (122.61 KiB) Viewed 6986 times
Seiko7A38 wrote: ↑Sun Nov 07, 2021 2:32 pmNot that they really add anything, but these low quality grainy photos are of the same 7A38-704A, from when it first appeared on eBay in July 2020. The second photo shows a similar chip in the pvd coating on the bezel rim @ 4 o'clock.
What I hadn't realized before was that when the Italian eBay seller first listed it in July 2020 (as an auction, with an opening bid price of 790 Euros), he'd 'borrowed' 3 of the Belgian seller's photos ! In doing so, some resolution was lost (hence my comment about 'low quality grainy photos'). Although similar file sizes, the Belgian seller's original images were sharper and, if you zoom in on the fifth photo, it's just possible to discern the case-back serial number: 459204, proving conclusively that it's the same watch.
