How much for a non-working stainless 7A38-7020 ?

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Seiko7A38
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How much for a non-working stainless 7A38-7020 ?

Post by Seiko7A38 »

I've watched in dumbfounded amazement how the prices of the ever-popular stainless 7A38-7020 SAA009J (and its US market counterpart, the 7A38-7029 SAA013J) have climbed over the past few years, escalated by the 'Royal Oak' hype. Thankfully I have a few decent examples in my collection, most of which I bought around 6 or 7 years ago, for which I paid £100, £160 and €226 Euros, for the best of them. So it's not as if I needed another, but when the opportunity arises, and the price isn't totally ridiculous (like most on eBay usually are) I'm not averse to considering acquiring yet another.

Towards the end of last month, I received an email notification from the-saleroom.com of a stainless 7A38-7020 coming up for auction in the UK in June. It was being auctioned by Lockdales of Ipswich. It was described as not working and the auctioneers' estimate was a very conservative £30 - £50, which is a joke. I knew that figure was totally unrealistic.
There was only one photo in the lot listing:

rsz_7a38-7020-stainless-grey-the-saleroomcom-june2024-lockdales-lot526.jpg
rsz_7a38-7020-stainless-grey-the-saleroomcom-june2024-lockdales-lot526.jpg (244.52 KiB) Viewed 695 times

As you can see from that photo, it was rather grubby (understatement) and the crystal was scratched. Apart from a couple of minor dings and scratches on the bezel, the case looked in reasonably decent condition and the bracelet didn't appear to be stretched or suffering from twisted links. The dial and hands lume looked nice and clean. There appeared to be some minor paint flaking on the 'O' of the SEIKO logo (not unusual). However, one point of concern was that the day wheel (showing MIE) appeared to be halfway though the changeover @ 11:26 - a possible indicator of a damaged day / date driving wheel.

The auctioneers' description was as follows:
Seiko Sports 100 chronograph stainless steel cased gents quartz wristwatch, ref. 7A38-7020. The grey dial with baton markers, triple black subsidiary dials, day-date aperture at 3 o'clock and luminous insert hands. Seiko signed movement, Seiko bracelet . Case size approx 38mm. Not working
Note they included the words 'Seiko signed movement', so presumably someone had unscrewed the case-back. If so, it made me wonder why they hadn't posted a photo of the movement - or for that matter any other photos of the watch.

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Re: How much for a non-working stainless 7A38-7020 ?

Post by Seiko7A38 »

The 7A38-7020 was Lot # 526, on the second day of Lockdales' sale which started at 10:00am this morning. I'd already placed a couple of bids on it, prior to the auction going live, and it was already @ £120 before the auction started. :roll:

https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/auct ... 7c00b03782

7A38-7020-Stainless+Grey-the-saleroom.com-June2024-Lockdales-Lot526-Sold.jpg
7A38-7020-Stainless+Grey-the-saleroom.com-June2024-Lockdales-Lot526-Sold.jpg (187.83 KiB) Viewed 688 times

I didn't really expect to win the auction, so I wasn't unduly disappointed when it was hammered out for £380 ! :shock:

7A38-7020-Stainless+Grey-the-saleroom.com-June2024-Lockdales-Lot526-Sold-£380+29.34%BP.jpg
7A38-7020-Stainless+Grey-the-saleroom.com-June2024-Lockdales-Lot526-Sold-£380+29.34%BP.jpg (59.05 KiB) Viewed 687 times

That winning bid is subject to Lockdales' Buyers Premium / VAT of 29.34% which takes the selling price to £491.49 !! :o
For a grubby, non-working 7A38-7020, which I suspect may need more than just a new battery and replacement crystal.

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