Heads Up on yet another 7A38 Franken(s) - Part 3 !!

[Seiko7A38]

Famous last words (from the beginning of the old forum's 7A38 Franken 'continuation' thread).

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That thread ran for 13 pages and received some 50,860 views over 9 years (700 of them since I'd last posted and the archive scrape was taken), so I guess there's still a need and ample justification for my carrying on where I left off.

[Seiko7A38]

The dubious honor of being the first in this thread unfortunately falls to a Romanian member of the old forum - gogusrl (a.k.a. Andrei). Late yesterday evening, he listed this 7Axx Franken creation on eBay, with a 'pie-in-the-sky' Buy-it-Now price of $399. For the benefit of any novices (they're the only reason I'm bothering to post this), who may be unable to recognise what this thing comprises, it's the 722L dial / movement, Tachymeter ring, bezel, case-back and crown from a stainless 7A38-7270, all fitted into the case and bracelet of a two-tone 7A34-7000.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Seiko-7A38-C ... 3294691180

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The description simply reads: Looks great, works great. All registers work properly, chronograph resets to zero.

I'm not sure why Andrei's listed it on eBay in the deliberately vague manner he's chosen to, because he's been (re)listing it on Reddit's Watch Exchange for at least a month, with a more factual (if somewhat tongue-in-cheek) description.

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Personally, I would have used 'kinda shit' to describe the overall design of the unloved original 7A34-7000. Hey Ho.

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[Seiko7A38]

This ill-conceived 7A38 Franken, based on the watch case of a titanium 7A38-7130, was listed earlier this afternoon by a German eBay seller, as a 7-day auction with a highly optimistic opening bid price of 210 Euros. In fairness to the seller one sentence of his German description translates as: This Seiko dial and hands do not belong in this model, but it fits perfectly and is incredibly easy to read. That's as may be - but note the lack of individual minute marks. In case you didn't recognise the 706L dial and faded yellow chronograph hands, they're from a dark grey PVD coated 7A38-704A (or possibly -704C). Presumably, going by the white day / date wheels, that applies to the whole movement. The original 7A38-7130's gold-plated decorative bezel ring, crown and pushers all appear to have been stripped and polished. The ensemble is topped off with one of those cheap silicone rubber 'dive' straps that you can buy from Cousins UK for less than £2.50 (their p/n S35678).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Seiko-7A38-7 ... 3177049128

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[Seiko7A38]

Here's an interesting one - and very much a case of Déjà Vu. This very subtle Franken, a combination of the titanium 7A38-7120 SAA044J and 7A38-7130 SAA SAA046J was re-listed by a German eBay seller earlier this morning, as a 7-day auction with an opening bid price of 195 Euros.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Seiko-Quartz ... 3199130185

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Zum Verkauf steht meine von mir 1985 gekaufte Seiko Chronograph Titanium Sports 100
Armbanduhr.
Ref.-Nr.: 7A38-7130
Serien-Nr.: 535 677
Die Uhr befindet sich in einem sehr guten Zustand, auf dem Glas und am Gehäuse sind
keine Kratzer erkennbar, lediglich der Gehäuseboden und die Schließe des Originalbandes
zeigen leichte Gebrauchsspuren.
Die Stoppfunktion ist etwas eingeschränkt: der kleine Zehntelsekundenzeiger und der kleine
Minutenzeiger laufen einwandfrei, aber der große Sekundenzeiger leider nicht, obwohl fast nie benutzt.
Eine frische Batterie ist eingesetzt, und die Uhr läuft seikotypisch supergenau.
Die Uhrenbox und Papiere sind leider nicht mehr vorhanden.
Die Uhr wird trotzdem sicher verpackt mit Sendungsverfolgungsnummer.

The same very subtle Franken was listed by the same German seller at the end of October last year and evidently must have gone unsold. Here's a screenshot of my previous post about it's earlier appearance, from page 13 of the old forum's Heads Up on yet another 7A38 Franken(s) - Part 2 thread

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The (6) photos are all new for this listing. The description is similar to his previous, with one subtle difference. In that, he'd included the sentence: - weißes Zifferblatt (wurde beim Kauf gegen das originale graue ausgetauscht), which translates as: - white dial (exchanged for the original gray one when purchased). It's notably absent from this re-listing.

[Seiko7A38]

This horrible 7A38 Franken was listed in the early hours of this morning by US eBay seller jewelry.depot1, with a risibly over-optimistic Buy-it-Now price of $239. Hopefully, it should be obvious to most that it's not entirely the 7A38-7000 that it's being misrepresented as. It's the gold 701L dial / movement and case-back from a gold-tone 7A38-7000, fitted in the case and bracelet of a well-worn two-tone 7A37-7270.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mens-36mm-Se ... 3983878316

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It's being rather pointlessly offered to buyers outside USA through eBay's dysfunctional GSP programme, which would potentially add another $87 bucks to the already laughable asking price.

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The Franken's 7A38-7000 case-back serial number 3N0005 was fairly distinctive, so I decided to quickly scroll back through my photo albums to see if I could find it. I had to go back a little further than expected - to August 2018.

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Naturally, I'd posted about it on page 7 of the old forum's 7A38-7000 SAA008J model specific thread at the time.

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It may have been a poor example, with considerable wear to the gold plating, but deserved a better fate than this.

[Seiko7A38]

The quote below is from a post I wrote in another thread yesterday, describing the latest over-priced 'polished turd' offered to the gullible masses by devious Italian eBay seller and master watch-botcher, the vile violantesimone.

To the unwary punter, the watch might appear to be a stainless 7A38-7280. But it has a grey 710L dial, albeit a rather washed out and moisture damaged one, with gold SEIKO dial logo and batons. No such thing exists.

Yesterday evening, I began to get a nagging feeling that I'd overlooked to mention something else I'd seen fairly recently that was similarly horrid. It took me a little while to find it again. It was listed in an assorted job lot of 6 watches by another Italian eBay seller a fortnight ago. The frankened 7A38-7280 isn't the listing's primary image, but the second.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Lotto-orolog ... 4175584676

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The seller describes it as ref. 7A38-7280, but there's no telling whether it was once a two-tone that's been stripped of its gold plating or a stainless one that's simply been through the mill. The dial is a silvery-grey colour with gold batons. But in this case, there is no gold SEIKO logo. Instead, it's printed in black. Zooming in and squinting hard, you can just about discern the dial part number: 708L, which identifies it as possibly having come from a two-tone 7A38-7060. The black hour and minute hands could also point to dial / movement donor having been a 7A38-7069. Either way, even for 135 Euros, probably best avoided, unless you're specifically looking for a cheap-ish franken beater. Caveat Emptor.

[Seiko7A38]

FWIW (not much in terms of a meaningful individual result) that job lot of 6 assorted watches including the 7A38-7280 Franken, (but with a Poljot chrono' as the primary image) sold yesterday evening - not for the 300 Euro Buy-it-Now price, but an undisclosed best offer. I suspect the 7A38 Franken may possibly rear it's ugly head at a later date.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/294175584676

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[Seiko7A38]

This familiar looking 7A38 Franken, based on the watch case of a 7A38-7010, was listed earlier today by an Italian eBay seller, with a Buy-it-Now price of 290 Euros, which might possibly be low enough to snare an unwary punter. It's falsely misrepresented as being “Perfette condizioni” and 'Solo oggetti originali…!' which translates as Only original items…! - neither of which are true. They're certainly not original to a 7A38-7010 - nor exactly how it was when this deceptive seller purchased it a year ago !

The watch is fitted with the Taupe 703L dial from a stainless 7A38-7020, but retains the original 7A38-7010 handset, albeit with two of the sub-dial hands fitted in the wrong positions (see below - another case of Déjà Vu). The seller appears to have attempted to disguise the fact that it's also fitted with an incorrect replacement Seiko bracelet, by taking his photos at oblique angles. However the last two reveal it's a Seiko p/n Z437 and fitted with a clasp extender.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Seiko-7A38-7 ... 4051429217

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Here's where I first posted about this watch, last May, atop page 12 of the old forum's 7A38-7010 model thread.

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Needless to say, the case-back serial number 3N4733 matches, but when the previous Italian eBay seller ervin.pepa was selling it, it was still fitted with the correct original Seiko p/n Z1118S bracelet, of which it's since been dispossessed.

[Seiko7A38]

Checking my eBay watching page, I see the Italian eBay seller ended his listing for that deceptively misrepresented 7A38-7010 based Franken yesterday evening - in the time-honoured fashion as allegedly no longer available.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/234051429217

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[Seiko7A38]

To quote a recent post of mine:

Along with the Filipinos, Indian watch botchers usually manage to cobble together some of the most horrible frankened 'restored' watches from little more than scrap.

Going back 10 years of so, one of the worst of the bunch was Filipino eBay seller badingski ....

Looks like Filipino arch watch-botcher badingski (a.k.a Ramoncito Bangit) is making a return to his former fraudulent frankening form. Late last night, he listed this typically deceptively described Franken on eBay, as a 7-day auction with an opening bid price of $9.99. It's based on the watch case and bracelet of a well-worn 7A38-704A, that's been fitted with the 601L dial / hands and presumably movement from a 7A38-6010 'Diver'.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RARE-VINTAGE ... 3499505263

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Note the rotary step switch is missing.

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For those readers who might be unsure of how the 706L dial in an unmolested 7A38-704A should look, here's an old (and very orange) wrist shot of my SAA021J.

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[Seiko7A38]

I suppose I should post this salutary warning, but I doubt it will make any difference, because the comparatively low opening bid price is bound to attract mug punters like 'moths to the flame'. This 7A38-7020 based Franken, fitted with a 710L dial - note the lack of SPORTS 100 under the Chronograph script (which could have been donated by a number of other models, such as the 7A38-7190 or 7A38-7280), was listed late yesterday evening by a UK eBay seller, as a 7-day auction with an opening bid price of £130. I'm not sure if the case and bracelet (which is quite badly stretched) were originally stainless, or whether all traces of gold plating have been stripped and polished off (from a two-tone variant). The case-back stampings (ST. STEEL SGP BEZEL) point to the latter. Has to be said that the seller's original uploaded photos looked like they'd been taken through a rose-tinted lens.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Seiko-7A38-C ... 4941084317

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Early this morning, the seller revised his listing, replacing all 7 photos. They're exactly the same set, but he's applied a filter to make the colours look less warm and more realistic. The most noticeable change is to the primary image.

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But just hang on a minute .... once again, I'm getting that uncanny feeling of 'Déjà Vu'.

[Seiko7A38]

Like many of these botched up Franken 7A38's which suddenly turn up on eBay, this one's been around for a little while - dating as far back as July 2017. Needless to say, I'd written it up in the old forum's 7A38 Franken thread at the time.

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The watch's misaligned bezel may have since been correctly re-oriented, but it's clearly the same Franken watch - and of course, their case-back serial numbers 794836 match. Interesting that the corrosion to the movement backplate is much more clearly visible in Apol's smaller photo. As I said 4 years ago and I'll say it again, in the words of the Bard:

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[Seiko7A38]

A sequence of 4 off-topic posts have been moved to start a new thread here in the Parts Info, Tech Tips and Tinkering forum section. However one of them served to remind me that I hadn't added an update to one of my earlier posts ....

This sort of information can sometimes come in useful, when a watch re-surfaces on eBay years later. That 7A38-704A Franken with 601L dial, listed by filipino arch watch botcher badingski, sold on 27th June for $125.50 after 25 bids.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203499505263

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[Seiko7A38]

For the record, in case it should make another appearance on eBay, that stainless (or more likely two-tone) 7A38-7020 based Franken, fitted with a 710L dial, sold late yesterday evening for £177 after 5 bids.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/114941084317

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[Seiko7A38]

I'm not quite sure where to begin in critiquing his hideous 7A38 Franken, listed earlier today by an Italian eBay seller. It should be patently obvious to the crowds flocking to view it, within minutes of it appearing, that it is indeed a Franken. The seller himself gives a clue in the title: DIAL 700L T. But there's rather more to it, than just a dial swap. Hopefully the ludicrous Buy-it-Now asking price of 489 Euros should be enough to deter the most foolhardy novice mug punter.

At first glance, you might think it's based on a stainless 7A38-7270 watch case. The giveaway is the off-white plastic Tachymeter ring, which incidentally is cracked in two places (near 70 and 180). This was once a two-tone 7A38-7270, whose gold-plated bezel has been stripped and polished. The pushers still have some gold plating left. The case-back stampings confirm this. The 700L dial came from a stainless 7A38-7000, which aren't at all 'RARE' (as claimed). But this isn't a simple dial / movement swap, because the day / date wheels are white (rather than black with white lettering).

The hour and minute hands probably came from the 7A38-7000. The sweep second hand didn't. It's likely aftermarket, because the lumed arrowhead is bigger than the genuine Seiko hand. The sub-dial hands look like they came from the two-tone 7A38-7270, but have had their tips painted white. Note that both the 1/10s and 30 minute counting hands don't quite align with their marks. The 700L dial itself appears to have been re-lumed, fairly amateurishly and the triangular wedge shaped baton @ 12 o'clock looks particularly gobby. The bracelet may be an original Seiko, but it's certainly NOT original to this watch (nor from any other Seiko 7Axx for that matter). It's an incorrect replacement.

The 'classic' gaffe is to be found in the seller's description. See my comment below.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SEIKO-CRONOG ... 4127741363

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The fact that this incompetent botcher nailed this thing together, but can't manage to sort out a stiff pusher should be enough of an indictment of his (lack of) 'skills'. Not only one best avoided (at any price), but in the words of the Bard:

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[Seiko7A38]

Checking my eBay watching page, I noticed the above listing for a horrible two-tone 7A38-7270 based Franken, listed by the devious Italian seller at the beginning of this week, had ended yesterday lunchtime.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/304127741363

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The eBay Purchase History reveals that the unfortunate mug punter buyer paid the full 489 Euros asking price.

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The foolhardy buyer's abbreviated encrypted eBay ID seems appropriate. What a c**k.

[Seiko7A38]

This deceptively described 7A38 Franken, which appears to be attracting a lot of attention, was listed late yesterday evening by a US eBay seller, as a 7-day auction with an opening bid price of $199 and the option (for anybody with far more money than sense), to Buy-it-Now for an absolutely ludicrous $600 !

It's based on a well-worn stainless 7A38-7020 (or more likely the 7A38-7029 US market version), with a badly stretched bracelet, fitted with the 722L dial / movement and case-back from a black chrome coated 7A38-7290. (See below).

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-Seik ... 4192311707

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The late Swiss watch designer Gérald Genta gets a lot of bad posthumous credits. His good name is regularly taken in vain, in context of the Seiko 'Royal Oak' nickname / misnomer, as discussed at length in this thread. This devious seller's abuse of it is another deliberate inference. As far as the alleged 'rarity' of this design, I remember citing at least 3 other previous examples of similar 722L dialed Franken combination in the old forum's Heads Up on a 7A38 Franken thread. One such, which from memory originated in Australia, was re-listed by multiple re-sellers. Funnily enough, in re-reading my posts from page 9 of that thread, transpires this 722L dialed Franken also turned out to be another case of Déjà Vu.

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Evidently it didn't sell, after having briefly previously listed back in June 2019, by the same eBay seller kevicervante_6. So on the basis that he'd failed before, he's dramatically increased the price and is hopefully headed for another fall.

[Seiko7A38]

I think this calls for the resurrection of one of my old forum custom smileys - specifically this one:

That 7-day auction for a well-worn 7A38-7029 / 7A38-7290 722L dialed Franken, with a badly stretched bracelet, ended late yesterday evening, selling for $305 after 3 bids. The mind really does boggle sometimes.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/144192311707

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Evidently highly pleased with himself at finally having managed to off-load it, the US eBay seller kevicervante_6 has changed his user ID to sell-a-saurus_rex. What a Kevin.

[Seiko7A38]

This horrible 7A38 Franken was listed in the early hours of this morning by US eBay seller jewelry.depot1, with a risibly over-optimistic Buy-it-Now price of $239. Hopefully, it should be obvious to most that it's not entirely the 7A38-7000 that it's being misrepresented as. It's the gold 701L dial / movement and case-back from a gold-tone 7A38-7000, fitted in the case and bracelet of a well-worn two-tone 7A37-7270.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mens-36mm-Se ... 3983878316

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Caution and common sense may have prevailed for over 6 months, but as I've written so many times before, all it ever takes is one gullible mug punter. That horrible and fairly obvious 7A38 Franken, created and listed by profiteering US eBay re-seller jewelry.depot1 appears to have sold in the early hours of this morning for the $239 Buy-it-Now price.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/143983878316

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[Seiko7A38]

The horrible franken watch I'm about to flag up isn't a Seiko 7A38, per se, but a Yema N8. On the old archived forum, I decided, rightly or wrongly, to create a separate thread in the Non-Seiko 7Axx Discussion Area (Re-branded mvmt's) section and gave it the appropriate title: The non-Seiko branded 7Axx Franken / Wrong Un's thread. However, with hindsight, it possibly wasn't such a good idea, from a visibility standpoint. Hence the reason I'm adding this one here.

This franken, purporting to be a Yema Spationaute III Aragatz, was listed this morning by a French eBay seller, with a typical ludicrous Buy-it-Now price of 480 Euros, which should hopefully be enough to deter the most foolhardy novice. It's the watch case of a 38mm reduced two-tone version (model # N80A696) that's been fitted with a dial / movement from the dressy gold-plated model N8YM53 and a cheap NATO strap. The gold-plated sub-dial hands, which as you may have noticed, slightly overlap their sub-dial rims, are from something else again.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Montre-Yema- ... 5142693091

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A Yema Spationaute III # N80A696 should have a white dial, but it looks rather different. Here's an unmolested example:

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Here's the red 12 version of Yema N8YM53 dial in its usual habitat. Note the unusual (correct original) sub-dial hands.

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Amusingly, when I first clapped eyes on this listing, I thought I was having another attack of Déjà Vu. If you scroll to the bottom of page 2 of that archived forum thread, you'll find my post dated 25th January 2021 - and the reason why:

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Although it's the same Yema N8 Franken combination, it's not the same watch. But it may have provided the inspiration.