7A38-7020 SAA009J bezel manufacturing variations
Posted: Fri Jan 21, 2022 2:31 pm
Clearly the most familiar feature of the stainless 7A38-7020 SAA009J (and the US equivalent 7A38-7029 SAA013J) is its 12-sided bezel with dummy rivets, which somehow managed to earn it that irksome 'Royal Oak' misnomer 'nickname.
The bezel's part number is 8233809.
According to Seiko's database the same part number is used on all three variations (J1, J8 and J9) of 7A38-7020 / -7029. However, over the years, I've noticed, particularly with a few 7A38-7020 SAA009's that the 'dummy rivets' of their bezels were considerably larger than the accepted 'norm'. One such 'big rivet' example popped up on Instagram yesterday.
The bezel on that watch may have been refinished (lightly polished), but I don't think it's an optical illusion. I haven't deliberately avoided buying any 7A38-702x's with 'big rivets', but checking my own watches (there are another 3 lesser examples besides, plus a couple of similarly cased frankens), and all are fitted with what I'd consider to be 'the norm'.
The bezel's part number is 8233809.
According to Seiko's database the same part number is used on all three variations (J1, J8 and J9) of 7A38-7020 / -7029. However, over the years, I've noticed, particularly with a few 7A38-7020 SAA009's that the 'dummy rivets' of their bezels were considerably larger than the accepted 'norm'. One such 'big rivet' example popped up on Instagram yesterday.
The bezel on that watch may have been refinished (lightly polished), but I don't think it's an optical illusion. I haven't deliberately avoided buying any 7A38-702x's with 'big rivets', but checking my own watches (there are another 3 lesser examples besides, plus a couple of similarly cased frankens), and all are fitted with what I'd consider to be 'the norm'.