7T32-F039 SDW258 Two-Tone Panda incoming ....

[Seiko7A38]

My first watch purchase of 2022 is a bit of a deviation from 'the norm' (for me). I'm not about to start escalating my collecting of 7T32's (I have too many already), but I saw this and on a whim decided to have a punt. It came up in a couple of saved search notifications (on 'Seiko Chronograph'), from both LiveAuctioneers and the-saleroom.com just before Christmas. The 2-day online auction sale was being held by Hannam's Auctioneers (in UK) on 4th - 5th January. This was Lot #1288.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/11 ... -stainless

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The opening bid price was £40 with an auctioneer's estimate of £50-£75. I registered and pre-bid it to £65 and resolved not to bid more than £75 in the live auction. Naturally there was some bidding competition and somebody else bid £75. I ended up winning it for £85 (subject to 28% buyer's premium). So it's going to cost me slightly more than planned.

[Seiko7A38]

I ended up winning it for £85 (subject to 28% buyer's premium). So it's going to cost me slightly more than planned.

'Slightly more' being a minor understatement. Hannam's invoice finally landed in my email inbox about 20 minutes ago.

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With 20% VAT added to both the 28% buyer's premium and £20 post and packing charge, the final total came to £137.56. Whereas it's rather more than £85, it's still cheaper than some of the 7T32-F039's that have been sold on eBay recently:

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It certainly can't be considered any kind of bargain. (There's another currently listed on eBay Germany asking €299.)

[Seiko7A38]

I've purchased a number of items using both LiveAuctioneers and the-Saleroom.com platforms over the last few years. However, checking my records, this appears to be the first time I've ever actually dealt with Hannam's Auctioneers Ltd.. I have to say that I'm seriously unimpressed with their lack of efficiency so far.

The LiveAuctioneers winning bidder notification arrived in my email inbox a matter of minutes after the lot ended:

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Note: "you'll receive an email invoice from Hannam's Auctioneers Ltd. .... shortly after the conclusion of the auction."
Instead, the following morning, I received this email from Hannam's, advising that they'd be sending out invoices the following week - on Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th January.

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Hard to believe that two years since the Covid-19 pandemic began that companies are still using it as a lame excuse.
To add insult to injury, they sent me exactly the same frankly bloody annoying email twice more the following day !

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I suppose I should consider myself fortunate to have received my invoice this morning, but there was another gotcher.

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I'd already decided to pay by debit card, so I had to send them another email requesting the online payment link.

[Seiko7A38]

One thing I was impressed by was the level of detail included in the auctioneer's description of the lot (albeit a salient significant piece of information was omitted - of more anon). It made a refreshing change from the much hackneyed:
'A gentleman's Seiko quartz wrist watch'.

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They say it's a small world. True dat. The 7T32-F039 SDW258 was a designated US market variant, as shown by the '9' case model suffix and demonstrated by the fact that the majority of examples offered for sale turn up Stateside. The style of black plastic Seiko presentation box shown included in Hannam's Lot 1288 was also specific to the US market.

Evidently a few make it over to Europe.

Out of curiosity, I ran a search on SCWF and found this old FS advert on their Trading Post, dating from April 2020:

https://www.thewatchsite.com/threads/fs ... ld.338914/

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Ignoring the first sentence, but replacing it with the SCWF poster's thread title, Hannam's description of Lot # 1288 was copied verbatim (from the section between the red [ ] brackets). Still at least someone took the trouble to google it.

[Seiko7A38]

However, checking my records, this appears to be the first time I've ever actually dealt with Hannam's Auctioneers Ltd.. I have to say that I'm seriously unimpressed with their lack of efficiency so far.

Transpires I was just a tad premature in making this 'incoming' announcement. Seems the 7T32-F039's arrival is still far from being anywhere near as imminent as I might have expected - under normal circumstances.

I'd already decided to pay by debit card, so I had to send them another email requesting the online payment link.

I paid Hannam's invoice using their link around 3:00 pm on Monday 10th. I didn't receive any email acknowledgement, so I emailed Hannam's again, asking them to confirm that they had actually received my payment, which indeed they did. Perhaps I'm being impatient, but having heard nothing more since then, earlier this morning I sent them another email, politely enquiring whether it had been shipped and if so, could they provide tracking information. This was their reply:

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Somewhat exasperated and indignant at the prospect of having to wait another week, I blasted off an admittedly rather curt response, to which I received another reply from Hannam's office manager:

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The email Lin was referring to was the lengthy one, which I'd received on 6th January, the morning after the auction and much to my annoyance, twice more the following day, of which I'd only posted a partial screen print of the first couple of paragraphs, higher up the page.

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Hard to believe that two years since the Covid-19 pandemic began that companies are still using it as a lame excuse.
To add insult to injury, they sent me exactly the same frankly bloody annoying email twice more the following day !

So I dug out their original email and read it again, properly this time and sure enough about two thirds of the way down (it's unnecessarily over-spaced IMO), there's the SHIPPING section stating that commencement date of 17th January !!

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Needless to say, I remain seriously unimpressed !

[Seiko7A38]

The package containing my long-awaited 7T32-F039, my first (and so far only) watch purchase of 2022 finally arrived at lunchtime today. Initial impressions, at least of its cosmetic condition are favourable. Not only does the watch appear virtually new and unworn, but it came as a complete full set (manual, 2 tags). Here's a few photos I quickly rattled off.

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One thing I was impressed by was the level of detail included in the auctioneer's description of the lot (albeit a salient significant piece of information was omitted - of more anon).

The significant detail that Hannam's conveniently omitted to include in their description, was that the watch was not actually running. As can be seen from my 'as received' photos, it arrived showing the same time and date, with alarm and chronograph hands in exactly the same positions, per their second photo below - absolutely stone dead !

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[Seiko7A38]

The battery needed replacing. I'd already noted from Hannam's photo of the case-back, it appeared to be refreshingly free of any tool marks or scratches. Did that indicate it had never been unscrewed in 20 years ? Evidently so. It was rather tight. Once opened, I was gobsmacked to find it was still fitted with its original Seiko SR927W battery !!

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Not surprisingly it had leaked, though how much damage its fluids had wreaked on the movement remained to be seen.

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Thankfully, not very much, as it transpired. Even the PCB's vulnerable 'fishtail' extension, which usually takes the brunt of any leak, and the slender dual gold-plated contacts, visible in the battery recess, were squeaky clean. There were just some dried-up deposits around the edges of the inner retaining plate, which quickly cleaned up with Rodico.

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New Seizaiken SR927W (#399) battery fitted and everything seems to be working so far, including the feeble alarm.

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[Seiko7A38]

I left the watch as a 'head only' overnight, in case anything untoward happened and I might need to delve into its internals again, but everything was fine; it didn't miss a beat, so I reassembled it with the bracelet this morning.

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The bracelet is plenty big enough for my 7½" wrist, so I've adjusted it to fit, with one spare link hidden under the clasp. The pressed steel end pieces are typical Seiko, cheap and nasty, flimsy and fiddly to fit. What's more, according to their database, those that are fitted to this watch don't exist.

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Their 'ears' are stamped Z1634.I, whereas according to Seiko Oceania, they should be p/n Z1702L.

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Presumably this is the 'LOCAL' (F0) variant. I've googled images, checking case-back photos of quite a few 7T32-F039's and these undocumented end pieces are relatively common, frequently seen on salesman's sample cases and earlier production examples. So it's not a 'wrong un'.

[Seiko7A38]

By an amusing coincidence, I received another forthcoming auction alert from the_saleroom.com this morning, advising no less than 19 new search results on 'Seiko Chronograph' - including at least another dozen different 7T32 variants. The online auction is being held by none other than Hannam's Auctioneers between 22nd and 25th February.

Included among them, as Lot # 1095 is another two-tone panda 7T32-F039 !!

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Note that unlike the almost NOS condition example which I purchased a month ago, this one is merely described as:
"SEIKO SPORTS CHRONOGRAPH 150M. Dial 4.2cm incl crown, weight 113g". However, there's no mention made of it's rather more obviously worn cosmetic condition, nor again as to whether the watch is actually running (the constant seconds hand is in the same place in their first two photos, so probably safe to assume it's not). There's absolutely no reason for adding another 7T32-F039 to my collection, but bearing in mind my previous unsatisfactory experience with Hannam's Auctioneers - I'll understandably be passing on this one !

[Seiko7A38]

FWIW, that second rather well-worn example of 7T32-F039 SDW258 offered by Hannam's Auctioneers, sold earlier today for £65 (plus Buyers Premium, Postage, VAT, etc.) I didn't even bother watching it live, despite receiving 3 reminders.

https://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/12 ... ncl-crown?

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