The ONE and ONLY WRUW thread - Part Deux !

[Seiko7A38]

I thought I'd do a Flygraf Friday. Although I should have stopped buying (and hoarding) these attractive Yema pilot's watches a long time ago, I eventually ended up with 9 of them. Hence the date. N°8 would have been better.

Friday afternoon swap for another Yema N8 Flygraf from my little collection. This example has the alternative creamy coloured lume (per the third one I ever bought, but not that particular NOS example). In hindsight, I don't think I ever actually owned up to buying this one in the I really didn't need another .... thread, but it's now my third N8 Flygraf with cream lume. It's also the very last one I bought in August 2019, so maybe I'm finally cured !

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Weirdly, I just checked the case-back serial number and it's 1119. Must be some significance to that.

[jamesam]

I like the look of the “creamy” colored lume. I’d be interested in seeing how different that looks in the dark.

[Seiko7A38]

I don't normally do 'requests', but as it pertains (to serve as an example) to a reply I'm writing in another thread, this blue SATurday morning, I'm wearing one of my 'beater' Yema Spationaute III Aragatz's with a scratched original crystal. Note the multiple long vertical scratches on the lower right hand part of the crystal and the shorter diagonal and horizontal scratches around 12 and 1 o'clock. Please ignore the tiny raindrops. Typical English Summer morning !

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Incidentally, the shark strap is an allegedly handmade (in Germany) 22mm Graf 'Ozean' Echt Haifisch that has previously seen duty on a couple of my other Yema Spationaute III's and is coming to the end of it's hard 10-year lifespan.

[Seiko7A38]

This morning's Yema Spationaute III is what I refer to as the 'minimal printing dial' variant, obviously due to the omission of the text 'PARIS' from below 'YEMA' and 'QUARTZ' next to '100M' above the constant seconds sub-dial. They're relatively common and easy to find. Erm, let's just say I have acquired 'a few' of them during my 10 year collecting spree, varying from NOS condition to beaters like the example above. At the other end of the desirability scale (IMHO) is the limited numbered edition 'cadran drapeaux' variant, with the full complement of dial printing and small depictions of the French and Soviet flags in place of the tricoleur 'Y' logo. (This example is fitted with a Fleurus navy shark strap.)

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I'm fortunate to have managed to acquire 5 of these so far. This is one of my lesser condition restored examples. I chose to get this one out this afternoon, to illustrate a reply in that same thread I was working on this morning, because it's fitted with one of those Cousin's cheap generic mineral glass crystals. Can you tell the difference from this shot ?

[Seiko7A38]

I've been checking through my collection of Yema Spationaute III's this morning, to select which of them have the worst badly scratched crystals, with a view to sending them off to Ben Levy in Oz, to have them polished. This 'beater' 38mm reduced model # N80A696 looks like a suitably deserving candidate.

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Incidentally, regarding recent discussions about crystals in this thread, those used in the 38mm 'reduced' Spationaute III, are a proportionately reduced diameter crystal, similar in most respects to that of their full-sized 43mm counterparts, but of a slightly unusual diameter, being only 27.9mm. For that reason, I've never been able to find a substitute.

[Seiko7A38]

Afternoon swap for another Yema Spationaute III 38mm 'reduced' model # N80A696. This is my most recently acquired example, purchased in November last year. It's in decent condition, still fitted with the original 'marron' Yema shark strap. There's a couple of tiny scratches on the crystal, but nothing really worth worrying about, so passes muster.

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I was about to add that it would be ideal wear for watching the live streaming of the Virgin Galactic launch (which was due to start @ 07:00 local New Mexico MT time / 14:00 BST UK), but it's just been 'postponed due to prior weather'.

[Seiko7A38]

Just to show that a few of my watches (that I could care less about) occasionally get wet. I'm blinging in the rain !! I'm wearing this cheap 'beater' gold-tone 7A38-7190 this morning, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was in the queue for battery replacement, which I've just done. Secondly, it's topical, per the thread in the eBay section that I wrote earlier.

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In fact, I'm quite confident of the water resistance of this watch, because I re-built myself it a few years ago. I bought it off eBay UK back in September 2014, for less than £30 Quid. See this thread in the old forum's Workshop section.

[Seiko7A38]

Better late than never, here's a wrist shot of my newest incoming gold-tone NOS 7A38-7000 SAA008J. Bling, Bling.

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[jamesam]

My untrained eyes have difficulty identifying the difference between the gold tone 7A38-7000 and 7A38-7190 from the photos above. I can tell that the numbers printed on the tachymeter ring differ and there is a slight difference in the case shape near the pushers, but that's about it.

[Seiko7A38]

Bling was King in the 1980's - at least if Seiko's many gold-tone offerings are anything to go by. The 7A38-7289 SAA112J was a US Export market model (shown by '9' the case number suffix). From the numbers that still turn up on eBay to this day, I suspect it was one of their biggest sellers in the 7A38 range, Stateside. It might seem unkind to use the word 'commonest', but I have done so in the past. Remember this old thread ? The commonest 7A38-xxxx variant of all ....

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[Seiko7A38]

My untrained eyes have difficulty identifying the difference between the gold tone 7A38-7000 and 7A38-7190 ....

Well, I'm sorry to say, Jim, you probably need to work on your powers of observation, because apart from both being gold-tone 7A38's with gold dials, they share very little in common. Speaking of which, here's a rather scarcer variation on the gold-tone 7A38 theme - the 7A38-728A SA130J, which I believe to have been a German market model. (Because they only ever pop up infrequently on eBay Germany).

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At first glance, it might appear to look like the gold 710L dial from the 7A38-7190, dropped into a gold-tone 7A38-7289 case. Indeed, when I first clapped eyes on one, on eBay Germany, that's what I thought. So as I had a gash (battery acid damaged movement) 7A38-7289 and gold-tone 7A38-7190 with worn plating lying around, I decided to fabricate one. Here's that same watch, on the right of this three-way group shot I took back in August 2010.

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Ignoring the wrong case-back fitted, can anybody spot the minor detail that I got wrong ?

Please ignore that question (and do not reply). I've since realized that I'd already posted the answer in another thread.

By that time, I'd already realized my little oversight in creating a 'make-do' cobbled together franken. Notice that the sub-dial hands are black with gold bosses. They're Seiko p/n 04E14AL. The gold 710L dial in a 7A38-7190 SAA056J uses all-black sub-dial hands - Seiko p/n 04E14AB. Hence the reason I say lord_of.the_watches 7A38-728? is a wrong un.

[Seiko7A38]

Today is Le Quatorze Juillet (Bastille Day), France's national holiday, so being a bit of a Francophile, I thought I'd take a break from posting more Seiko gold-tone bling and post some French bling instead for a change. Zut Alors, Messieurs, je vous présente une belle exemple* of the delightfully quirky Yema N8 YM53. Vive La France. Vive La Différence.

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*There were actually three different dial variations of the N8 YM53. I've posted about the other two versions in a thread on the old forum. One of them, with a more attractive italic arabic numbered dial is in the later part of this thread.

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The third, less attractive, dial variant of Yema N8 YM53 (with a red 12) follows on the second page of the same thread.

[Seiko7A38]

Staying in French faux bling mode, ce l'après-midi, Yema N8's don't come any more ostentatious than the gold-dialed version of the N81W63. It's the proverbial Roi Soleil. Compare this blingy baubel with the subdued, rather more tasteful blue and silver dialed version, in the Louis Quinze style, that I posted on page 4 of this thread, last month.

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Incidentally, although fitted with the default English / French day wheel, I believe this blingier gold-dialed version was targeted at the US and Italian markets. I think I can honestly say I've never seen one advertised for sale in France. This example is fitted with a Cousins 'Bellini' ostrich strap, but I have other examples in my collection, which are fitted with the correct original Yema black ribbed leather and lizard straps. Indeed, I possess far too many of them to admit to.

[jamesam]

I saw this one is listed on eBay currently.
Maybe it's the lighting but the dial looks like it's a lighter color in the center than the one you posted above.

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[Seiko7A38]

It's just the way the light has caught the dial, Jim. The faux guilloché plays tricks and with the domed crystal also giving off reflections, it's a job to capture the dial texture and the true colour at the same time. As I aptly demonstrated. That Yema N81W63, listed by an Italian eBay seller (item # 233512619306) has remained unsold since 2nd March 2020 ! In fact, I posted about it, albeit a week or so later, on page 38 of the old forum's Yema N7's and N8's spotted thread.

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It's a little too ambitiously priced. Not that I needed another, I bought the next one in my subsequent post - for £57.

[jamesam]

I appreciate hearing your opinion on the pricing. I didn’t know what type of price the Yema N8s commanded. So it's good to know if something between $75 and $150 could be realistic compared to the asking prices of $175 and higher.

So at today’s exchange rate, you paid about $80, pretty close to what I recently paid for my 7A38-7250. I like the N8 so if I had seen the Yema going for that in 2020, I probably would have done the same thing as I did with the 7A38-7250 - bid on it and then be very surprised when nobody outbid me.

[Seiko7A38]

Staying in French faux bling mode .... Indeed, I possess far too many of them to admit to.

Indeed, I could probably carry on posting different examples for the rest of the week. But I won't. Just a couple more.
This morning I dug out my 'bargain bling buy' Yema N81W63 (£57 Quid off eBay UK), referred to in the preceding posts.

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The faux guilloché plays tricks and with the domed crystal also giving off reflections, it's a job to capture the dial texture and the true colour at the same time. As I aptly demonstrated.

Compared to yesterday, which was bright and sunny all day, this morning the skies are overcast - which makes it easier.

As purchased, it came fitted with what looked like a new deep burgundy coloured 'mock croc' or alligator grain strap:

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Whereas I really liked the colour, the strap was unpadded, far too thin with too much taper for my liking. So I swapped it for a Cousins Lizard strap (their p/n S50397) in a similar colour, tapering from 19mm to 18mm. With hindsight, that strap, which is supposed to be 3.8mm thick, could probably have done with being more slightly more padded.

Here's a NOS example of N81W63, fitted with the original Yema (optional for the US market) 'GENUINE REPTILE' strap.

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The colour is sort of a grey-ish brown colour, best described as 'Meh' and the small scale 'lizard' pattern rather more so. Still in the true Pokemon 'gotta catch 'em all' spirit, I bought one.

[Seiko7A38]

A couple of quick afternoon swaps for yet more N81W63 bling. The first is another NOS example, fitted with the default black leather ribbed strap. This 19mm strap is effectively a scaled down version (from 22mm lug width) of that used on the N8 Flygraf, but with a gold buckle.

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The other one I dug out, which hadn't seen the light of day in a very long time, is what I'd now class as a bit of a beater, with its scuffs and scratches. But I was quite happy with it at the time I acquired it, off eBay Italy in September 2013, for the bargain price of 22.50 Euros.

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It may be missing its keepers and have become unglued at one end, but I believe that mucky tan coloured, prominently ribbed, buffalo grained, Yema branded strap is the correct fitment for the Italian market. I've also seen the same strap fitted to the odd Yema 7Axx clone, which if memory serves was also listed on eBay Italy.

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[Seiko7A38]

That's enough of the blingy gold-dialed Yema N81W63 methinks - although I have another two more besides those.

This bright sunny Friday morning I'm wearing another decidedly dressy Yema N8, which I consider more attractive - the N81W53. I've had this example in my collection for over 11 years - in fact since May 2010. Like many such dressy Yema N8's, it came from eBay in the States. According to my spreadsheet records, I paid $62.50 for it at the time. It's not mint by any means: there's a tiny ding in the watch case near the crown (which is slightly tarnished); a small scratch on the crystal, just above the 'E' of YEMA and as regularly happens, the once white plastic Tachymeter ring has discoloured with age and exposure to sunlight. That all said, this example thankfully doesn't suffer (at all) from the most common malaise to afflict this model - wear to to gold plating of the hinged strap brackets.

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In case you don't recognise the unusual grain pattern, from the admittedly little of it visible in my wrist shot, it's fitted with a now discontinued Barington 19mm Ostrich Leg strap, which I decided was more appropriate for the dressy watch head. In fact, the watch did come fitted with the correct original Yema ribbed tan pigskin strap. Here's one of the eBay seller's photos, showing it. Yes, I concede that my replacing it may have detracted from the watch's originality, but ....

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I subsequently fitted that strap to my Yema N8YX53, which not only suits better, but is also closer to the correct strap.

[Seiko7A38]

Afternoon swap for the alternative Roman numeral dial version of the Yema N81W53. I had to get this one out, because when I put the other one back in its collection box slot, I noticed it was doing the 'two-second two-step' (low battery).

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Apart from some slight deterioration of the blueing on the 1/10s and constant seconds sub-dial hands, this example is in almost NOS condition. Or at least it was when I bought it, over 10 years ago from Indonesian blogspot seller Kucimo, way back in September 2010. It also came fitted with the correct original Yema 19mm ribbed black leather strap ....

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.... which sacrilegious as it may sound, like my other N81W53, I replaced with a black Barington Ostrich Leg strap. Funnily enough, the original Yema black ribbed leather strap ended up on another of my gold-dialed N81W63's.

Incidentally, after I'd replaced the battery, tightly screwed down the case-back and removed it from my nylon pegged watch case vice, I noticed what at first appeared to be a mark on the side of the case, above the 10 o'clock pusher.

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But it couldn't be - I'm always so careful when doing this routine task. Zooming in on it (apologies for poor flash-lit shot)

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It appears to be some kind of hallmark, which reads 9♡9. With my limited knowledge of hallmarks, and given the watch case construction (plated base metal), it doesn't make any sense to me. After spotting this, I got my other N81W53 back out again to check it. It has the same stamping, but the on other side of the 10 o'clock pusher.