Lew Brown's modded 7A38-6000 sold on eBay yesterday

[Seiko7A38]

Although I'm no longer actively seriously collecting (how I used to), I still check eBay.com ended listings, almost daily, just to see if there's anything I may have missed. Yesterday, there was a watch that was significant to me, although not something I would realistically have purchased back in the day, nor even out of nostalgia. It was a modded 7A38-6000, fitted with an aftermarket pepsi bezel insert, which I instantly recognised as belonging to US Seiko expert Lew Brown.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/175967743456

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Panda-WrongBezel+Bracelet-eBay-Oct2023-Sold-$120.jpg (162.92 KiB) Viewed 3600 times

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-panda-wrongbezel-bracelet-ebay-oct2023-lewbrown-1.jpg (243.13 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-panda-wrongbezel-bracelet-ebay-oct2023-lewbrown-2.jpg (238.8 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-panda-wrongbezel-bracelet-ebay-oct2023-lewbrown-3.jpg (243.01 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-panda-wrongbezel-bracelet-ebay-oct2023-lewbrown-4.jpg (238.82 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-panda-wrongbezel-bracelet-ebay-oct2023-lewbrown-5.jpg (238.55 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-panda-wrongbezel-bracelet-ebay-oct2023-lewbrown-6.jpg (240.28 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Panda-WrongBezel+Bracelet-eBay-Oct2023-Description.png (47.88 KiB) Viewed 3599 times

In fact it appears to have sold twice, in quick succession, yesterday afternoon:

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Panda-WrongBezel+Bracelet-eBay-Oct2023-Sold-$120-Summary-X2.png (96.84 KiB) Viewed 3597 times

WatchCount.com's look-up tool shows the two listings were live for a total of less than 20 minutes:

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Panda-WrongBezel+Bracelet-eBay-Oct2023-WatchCount-1.png (79.69 KiB) Viewed 3597 times

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Panda-WrongBezel+Bracelet-eBay-Oct2023-WatchCount-2.png (79.85 KiB) Viewed 3597 times

[Seiko7A38]

Apart from the non-original Pepsi bezel insert, the reason I remember Lew Brown's 7A38-6000 so well, is that it I used it to start off the 7A38-6000 SAA039J - Stainless small size 'Diver / Panda' model thread on the old archived forum.

7A38-6000-SAA039J-OldForumThread-FirstPost.png (136.09 KiB) Viewed 3595 times

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Stainless-WhitePandaFace-(ModdedPepsiBezel)-LewBrown-SCWF-1.jpg (112.44 KiB) Viewed 3595 times

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Stainless-WhitePandaFace-(ModdedPepsiBezel)-LewBrown-SCWF-2.jpg (88.12 KiB) Viewed 3595 times

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Stainless-WhitePandaFace-(ModdedPepsiBezel)-LewBrown-SCWF-3.jpg (103.79 KiB) Viewed 3595 times

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Stainless-WhitePandaFace-(ModdedPepsiBezel)-LewBrown-SCWF-4.jpg (109.29 KiB) Viewed 3595 times

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Stainless-WhitePandaFace-(ModdedPepsiBezel)-LewBrown-SCWF-5.jpg (75.21 KiB) Viewed 3595 times

Just to confirm this most definitely is the same modded 7A38-6000, I'd saved this other photo of the watch's case-back, from the old Network54 SCWF, showing the same serial number 4N1839.

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Stainless-WhitePandaFace-(ModdedPepsiBezel)-LewBrown-SCWF-6.jpg (155.33 KiB) Viewed 3595 times

[Seiko7A38]

Although it was a modded 'beater', I can't help feeling that Lew almost 'gave it away' in the light of today's asking prices. It'll be interesting to see whether it's gone to a genuine collector or fallen into the hands of a profiteering re-seller.

[Seiko7A38]

Naturally, I took the opportunity to send Lew a message through eBay. This is the first reply I received back from him:

LewBrown-eBay-message.png (23.29 KiB) Viewed 3586 times

[Seiko7A38]

It'll be interesting to see whether it's gone to a genuine collector or fallen into the hands of a profiteering re-seller.

In fact, I knew the answer just minutes later, because in my next message I'd asked Lew who he'd sold it to. He replied:

eBay-message-LewBrown-KurtPA.png (9.27 KiB) Viewed 3579 times

Transpires that Lew not only sold his modded 7A38-6000 to Kurt Bachmann, but also a decent 7A28-7039 and a well-worn 7A28-7049, both fitted with non-original replacement bracelets, for $320 and $150, respectively.

[Seiko7A38]

Obviously Bachmann is a dealer, who has no interest in doing anything with them, other than making a quick profit. All three appeared on eBay overnight, listed as 10-day auctions. Lew's modded 7A38-6000 has an opening bid price of $150.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seik ... 5837835843

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Panda-WrongBezel+Bracelet-eBay-Oct2023-(Re-seller)-Listing.jpg (209.47 KiB) Viewed 3575 times

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-panda-wrongbezel-bracelet-ebay-oct2023-re-seller-2.jpg (244.34 KiB) Viewed 3571 times

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-panda-wrongbezel-bracelet-ebay-oct2023-re-seller-4.jpg (242.87 KiB) Viewed 3571 times

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-panda-wrongbezel-bracelet-ebay-oct2023-re-seller-5.jpg (245.11 KiB) Viewed 3571 times

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-panda-wrongbezel-bracelet-ebay-oct2023-re-seller-6.jpg (245.04 KiB) Viewed 3571 times

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Panda-WrongBezel+Bracelet-eBay-Oct2023-(Re-seller)-Description.png (12.35 KiB) Viewed 3571 times

[Seiko7A38]

By the end of the 10-day period, the listing had managed to attract a hundred bemused watchers. However, that wasn't really reflected in the bidding, which struggled all week just to make $200. The auction ended late yesterday evening, with Lew Brown's modded 7A38-6000 eventually re-selling for $310 after 19 bids.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seik ... 5837835843

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Panda-WrongBezel+Bracelet-eBay-Oct2023-(Re-seller)-Ended-Sold-$310.jpg (203.87 KiB) Viewed 3551 times

Checking the eBay Bidding History, 12 of those 19 bids, including 3 stacked 'safety' bids were placed by the determined winning bidder, whom I suspect may be European. It'll be interesting to see if it re-appears on eBay again in due course.

[Seiko7A38]

Lew Brown's modded 7A38-6000 rocked up on Instagram yesterday, posted in a hand held video by a Spanish poster (from Barcelona) - thetimeisgoldwatches. They may possibly be a dealer, but there's no indication it's for sale (yet).

[Seiko7A38]

A slightly belated update. The Spanish poster thetimeisgoldwatches has made two more Instagram posts this year, featuring the ex-Lew Brown 7A38-6000.

Firstly in March: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4yqVOwrsdU/



.... and this wrist shot in August: https://www.instagram.com/p/C-KuhTrIJIS/

[Seiko7A38]

Lew Brown's modded 7A38-6000 rocked up on Instagram yesterday, posted by a Spanish poster (from Barcelona) - thetimeisgoldwatches. They may possibly be a dealer, but there's no indication it's for sale (yet).

Earlier today, they finally showed their true colours, as yet another greedy would-be profiteering re-seller, by listing it on Chrono24, with a typically ridiculous asking price of €875 Euros !

https://www.chrono24.co.uk/seiko/quartz ... 134107.htm

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-pandaface-wrongbracelet-chrono24-sept2024-listing.jpg (242.33 KiB) Viewed 1701 times

Bearing in mind that Lew Brown sold this watch less than a year ago for $120.

[Seiko7A38]

It's no great surprise that the ex-Lew Brown modded 7A38-6000 remains unsold. I checked the above Chrono24 listing this morning and saw the Spanish seller had reduced his asking price to a marginally less ridiculous €750 Euros.

Yesterday evening he listed it on eBay with a Buy-it-Now price of €650 Euros, with the option to make an offer:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286419432413

7A38-6000-(Divers)-PandaFace-WrongBracelet-(ex-LewBrown)-eBay-March2025-Listing.jpg (165.4 KiB) Viewed 668 times

The 8 listing photos are the same as he'd previously used on Chrono24 (less 2 extra), just uploaded in a different order.

If you're reading this and considering making an offer, remember the Spanish seller paid $310 for it in October 2023.*
Personally I think even that was far too much, given the generally tired non-original condition.

Checking the eBay Bidding History, 12 of those 19 bids, including 3 stacked 'safety' bids were placed by the determined winning bidder, whom I suspect may be European. It'll be interesting to see if it re-appears on eBay again in due course.

*I'm confident that the seller micotam is the same person, because the Bidding History for the eBay auction back in October 2023 shows an encrypted winning bidder with a feedback of 116, which matches his current feedback.

7A38-6000-(Divers)-PandaFace-WrongBracelet-(ex-LewBrown)-eBay-Oct2023-BiddingHistory.png (57.45 KiB) Viewed 651 times

[Seiko7A38]

Remiss of me to have forgotten to check. Transpires that micotam (a.k.a. Alberto) is actually a member of this forum. He joined in February 2023. This is his intro' post:

IntroPost-micotam.png (49.62 KiB) Viewed 592 times

Other than that his only other post was a WTB (looking for a bracelet for his 7A38-705A).

This afternoon, I had a quick browse of the Spanish watch forums and saw he's fairly active on two of them. I found this wrist shot of the ex-Lew Brown modded 7A38-6000, that he posted in a WRUW thread on Relojes Especiales last October.

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-pandaface-wrongbracelet-ex-lewbrown-relojesespeciales-micotam-wristshot-ii29.jpg (243.59 KiB) Viewed 592 times

His signature on Relojes Especiales includes: IG: @thetimeisgoldwatches, so it all ties in.

[Seiko7A38]

Yesterday I sent the Spanish eBay seller micotam a couple of tongue-in-cheek messages, questioning the wisdom of his €650 Euro asking price. He responded by saying that he'd turned down offers of €450, so he didn't think it would be that big a deal (translated from Spanish). I retorted that if he received another offer of €450, he'd do well to accept it.

By lunchtime yesterday, the listing had attracted plenty of views, but only garnered 10 watchers, including myself. Our exchange must have got the seller thinking, because yesterday afternoon, he sent out one of those unsolicited discount offers to all watchers. 20% off - €520 Euros. Not surprisingly there haven't been any takers so far.

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Stainless-PandaFace-WongBracelet-(ex-LewBrown)-eBay-March2025-Listing-Offer-€520.png (108.26 KiB) Viewed 569 times

Belated Edit: Nor were there any takers by the time the 48 hour offer expired on Saturday afternoon.

[Seiko7A38]

The most recognisable feature of the ex-Lew Brown 7A38-6000 is its non-standard aftermarket Pepsi bezel insert. I've been looking at that wrist shot micotam posted on Relojes Especiales and thinking how awful it looked, but couldn't initially put my finger on the reason. If you look back at earlier photos of the watch (prior to 2024) the bezel insert may have been a bit faded and battered, but it wasn't always that bad. The description in micotam's eBay listing includes the phrase 'Cristal nuevo'. To replace the crystal in most 7A38 divers, including the 7A38-6000, you need to pull the bezel. I don't know what they used for a replacement crystal. I doubt that it was a genuine Seiko p/n 285W26GN00, because of their scarcity and often inflated price. (Bryan Hibbins now produces a reasonably priced repro' crystal.)

However it appears they evidently encountered problems re-fitting the bezel over the new crystal, likely because it lacked the correct polished bevelled edge of the OEM crystal. Presumably that's the reason someone felt the need to ream out the inside circumference of the already reamed Pepsi bezel insert, even further, by almost a millimetre, impinging on the lume pip triangle, the dots and bottoms of the numbers.

Compare these two photos and you'll see what I mean:

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-panda-wrongbezel-bracelet-ebay-oct2023-re-seller-2.jpg (244.34 KiB) Viewed 462 times

rsz_7a38-6000-divers-pandaface-wrongbracelet-ex-lewbrown-relojesespeciales-micotam-wristshot-ii29.jpg (243.59 KiB) Viewed 462 times

i suggest someone might consider investing in a new aftermarket Pepsi bezel insert and try re-doing the job a bit neater.

[Seiko7A38]

Yesterday afternoon Spanish eBay re-seller micotam revised his listing for the ex-Lew Brown modded 7A38-6000, reducing the Buy-it-Now price to a marginally less ambitious €550 Euros, still with the option to make an offer.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286419432413

7A38-6000-(Divers)-PandaFace-WrongBracelet-(ex-LewBrown)-eBay-March2025-Listing-Revised.jpg (163.54 KiB) Viewed 366 times

[Seiko7A38]

Late last night, Spanish eBay re-seller micotam ended the listing as item no longer available, presumably sold off eBay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286419432413

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Stainless-PandaFace-WrongBracelet-(exLewBrown)-eBay-March2025-Ended-NLA.jpg (145.58 KiB) Viewed 344 times

The earlier Chrono24 listing has been updated as 'Sold': https://www.chrono24.co.uk/seiko/quartz ... 134107.htm

7A38-6000-(Divers)-Stainless-PandaFace-WrongBracelet-Chrono24-Sept2024-Sold.jpg (205.6 KiB) Viewed 346 times

Belated Edit: When I enquired, the Spanish seller freely divulged that he sold it via Chrono24 for €585 Euros.

[Morpheus odinsas]

Just to introduce myself and to say that I purchased this very watch. I am a collector from Scotland and have a love of obscure back stories and watches with history. Rest assured it will no longer be pimped around the internet. I had initially approached the spanish seller last year but he was stubbornly immovable with his ludicrous price ... perhaps the messages some of you sent him and 6 months of no interest made him cave in. Is it worth what I paid ? Intrinsically No LOL, but sometimes the cost is irrelevant. I liked its back story, I coveted it and now it will join my other examples. Thanks for a very interesting thread.

[Seiko7A38]

Welcome aboard Alan and thank you for owning up to the purchase. Will you try to rectify the re-reamed bezel insert ?