NOS 7A38-6070 SAA73J watch case incoming

[Seiko7A38]

I'll be the first to admit I've been vociferously critical of numerous eBay sellers, accusing many of them of speculative over-pricing - and I believe justifiably so. One such is the Italian eBay seller 43rosso, who's been re-listing a ludicrously over-priced stainless 7A38-6090 since October 2018. I'd noticed he'd recently also started listing NOS Seiko watch cases and dials (including the NOS 7A28-6000 'Bishop' case I mentioned in another thread). His NOS watch cases certainly aren't cheap, with prices varying between 120 and 570 Euros, depending on rarity / desirability of the model.

Normally, I wouldn't consider dealing with any eBay seller on my 'to be avoided' list. Call me a hypocrite if you like, but occasionally you have to use your judgement and deviate. Late yesterday morning, 43rosso listed this NOS watch case for a 7A38-6070. It took a matter of seconds for me to cave in and hit the Buy-it-Now button.

https://www.ebay.it/itm/Seiko-7A38-6070 ... 3981742736

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Note the very low serial number 650005, yet oddly it's not stamped [SAMPLE]. Although it wasn't exactly cheap, I consider myself fortunate to have been only the 5th person to spot it - just over half an hour after it was listed.

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It's not perfect. There appears to be a small ding or chip in the rim of the bezel insert above the '3' mark, which may have been re-touched. It's also missing the 4 o'clock pusher (which is mildly annoying) and the crown, but then I've already got a NOS one of those in stock.

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[Seiko7A38]

When it arrives, I'll be using it to finally restore by far my worst example of 7A38-6070 ....

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.... a tired 'beater' that I bought back in November 2016 and imprudently paid far too much for at the time.

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All in all, it's going to end up being a rather expensive exercise.

[Seiko7A38]

I finally got around to re-building that well-worn 7A38-6070 into the NOS watch case yesterday. Bit of a rush job, so's to have it ready for 'May the 4th be with you'. I had intended to re-spray the second-hand 4 o'clock pusher, but didn't allow myself enough time. Not entirely satisfied with my hasty notching of the 22mm silicone strap either. But Hey Ho.

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The natural daylight wasn't ideal for photography this morning (my excuse). Here's another slightly different wrist shot I took, to the one I posted in the WRUW thread earlier. At least I managed to avoid the usual reflections in the crystal.

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[Seiko7A38]

Yes I had noticed the same Italian eBay seller 43rosso listed a NOS Seiko p/n 86310924 bezel for a 7A38-6070 yesterday afternoon - with a Buy-it-Now price of 75 euros.

https://www.ebay.it/itm/ORIGINAL-BEZEL- ... 4131073814

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Or if you're unfortunate to live in post-Brexit UK, with eBay automatically adding 20% VAT - make that 90 Euros !

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/ORIGINAL-BEZ ... 4131073814

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Has to be said that the packet looked somewhat dog-eared and there was a slight loss of coating on the track underside.
It sold after about 3 hours (and only 11 views) yesterday evening:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/194131073814

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[Seiko7A38]

In case you might be wondering why I passed on it. Well, I'm in the fortunate position of having 2 NOS bezels in stock. Before anybody asks, they're both allocated against pending restoration projects.

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I'd bought them a few years ago, through Rob Van Herpt (of Monster Watches fame) - when he still offered his excellent spares sales service (and before that profiteering scumbag watchpartsplaza systematically wiped out Seiko Netherland's stock of obsolete parts). Out of curiosity, I searched through my old emails from Rob, to check what price I'd paid for the last one. I remembered it was cheap, compared to today's extortionate prices - 17.50 Euros in February 2017.

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