Another NOS 7A38-7080 SAA033J resurfaces on eBay Italy

[Seiko7A38]

I was in two minds whether to even bother creating a thread for this one, but decided to anyway for a couple of reasons - one being there wasn't any existing topic about the 7A38-7080 in this new forum's 7A38-xxxx model specific section.

I've often wondered and posited, without any concrete evidence, whether Seiko off-loaded the bulk of their remaining unsold inventory of 7Axx's on their Italian distributor Italwatch, presumably sometime in the early 90's. If true, it would go a long way towards explaining the disproportionate numbers of NOS examples of certain models that still continue to turn up on eBay Italy to this day.

This NOS 7A38-7080, which comes in an Italwatch / Seiko presentation box was listed by Italian eBay seller areasettanta on Monday afternoon, with a typical highly over-optimistic Buy-It-Now price of 1400 Euros.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Orig ... 4715872126

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The other reason, was later on Monday evening, a forum member had asked my opinion of it (pricing and authenticity) via a DM on Instagram. After giving me a link to the eBay listing, his questioning began 'Handset incorrect, Paul?' I can understand his confusion. This example is fitted with the later production white painted hour and minute hands (same as used on the stainless 7A38-7270), rather than earlier production 'polished edge' handset which are more common. I'm not exactly sure when Seiko switched to the alternate handset, but it's probably safe to assume the timing coincided with its stainless sibling 7A38-7070, in early to mid 1985. Problem is, you can't actually verify this is a later production example, because the Italian seller has 'tippexed' out the serial number. Rather pointless, if you ask me.

[Seiko7A38]

Overnight, my sense of Déjà Vu returned. I was certain I'd seen this watch before, and with a blocked out serial number.
I didn't ever create a 7A38-xxxx model specific thread for the 7A38-7080 on the old forum, but the model certainly got its share of mentions in other forum sections, for example in: THE CRAZIEST eBay / Yahoo Japan 7Axx prices to date ? At the very bottom of the last page 13, in November 2020, I'd written these two posts:

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Evidently it still is available !

[Seiko7A38]

Problem is, you can't actually verify this is a later production example, because the Italian seller has 'tippexed' out the serial number. Rather pointless, if you ask me.

After half a dozen emails back and forth, the stubborn Italian eBay seller still flatly refused to provide an unedited photo of the case-back or disclose the full serial number for 'privacy' reasons. Eventually they offered to divulge either the first or last two digits. So they evidently weren't aware of the former's significance. It's a 63xxxx, hence manufactured in March 1986, which as far as 7A38-7080's are concerned, puts it firmly in the later production category.

[Seiko7A38]

This NOS 7A38-7080, which comes in an Italwatch / Seiko presentation box was listed by Italian eBay seller areasettanta on Monday afternoon, with a typical highly over-optimistic Buy-It-Now price of 1400 Euros.

That NOS 7A38-7080 sold yesterday evening, not for the significantly reduced Buy-it-Now price of 1150 Euros, but for an undisclosed best offer.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/284715872126

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