Seiko 7A38 - by the numbers

I forgot to adjust the DST on my 7A38-7280.

I'm wearing a Yema Flygraf - model N80Q16 today. The nearest 7A38 I own to a 'pilot's watch (apart from the quirky Kamatz 518000's).

It's in remembrance of a dear old friend who passed away recently - an ex-commercial and military pilot who went by the nickname of 'Low Flyer', shared a certain affinity for red cars, but above all was a true gentleman. Rest in Peace, Jim. Gone but never forgotten. 

I forgot to adjust the DST ....

You think you've got a problem, Arpad ? I'm still working my way through mine, resetting them back to GMT. I did another couple of boxes at the weekend, including my case of Sports / Divers. I'd forgotten how much I liked this one, so I've kept it out for a few days.

It's a very subtle 7A38-7070 Franken, fitted with the all black 709L dial from a 7A38-7080 and 7A28-7040 main handset.

"I'm still working my way through mine, resetting them back to GMT"

That's one reason why you should reduce your collection

I try to maintain the magic 30 amount .....but the temptation is getting bigger and bigger day by day to get more.

Arpad. I would glady thin out some of the 'doubles' in my 7A38 collection - if I could get the prices I paid for some of them. 

Right now I'm trying to off-load a rather-less-than-perfect 7A38-6060. Who needs 2 of them ? I did offer it to you, remember ? 

Speaking of the 7A38-6060 ....

Some of you may have read of my earlier (failed) efforts at sourcing a suitable-appearing strap for my previous example:

http://www.seiko7a38.com/apps/forums/topics/show/8066282-failed-strap-experiment-99

When I received the second one, I was faced with the same problem once again. When new, the 7A38-6060 SAA071J came fitted with a waterproof perforated leather strap (Seiko p/n ZPA22D). In the catalogue illustration below, this strap tapers perfectly to match the watch head's 23mm lug ends, but was presumably manufactured pre-notched to fit the incongruously narrow 18mm lug box width:

The second 7A38-6060 I'd bought recently came on a good quality 20mm black leather strap, which had been notched to fit the 18mm lug width. It had been done much tidier than on the previous example, but still didn't look 'right' to me. (See my wrist shot on page 11).

So my hunt began over, to find a wider strap which might partly remedy the problem  - one which blended better into the watch case.

Trust me. There is very little out there in the way of 23mm straps, and ZERO which come pre-notched to fit an 18mm lug width.

As I had little prior experience (read none) of notching leather straps, I started looking at rubber and silicone. Heaven forbid. 

My first port of call was a long-time favourite UK strap supplier of mine - Ken Danks of TSS Watchworx.

See their 'Monaco' range at the top of this page: http://www.watchworx.co.uk/pages/lwb/pu.html

I fancied the Navy Blue with White stitching, to match the watch's bezel and dial, but baulked at  paying £9.95 - a tad over-priced IMO.

It meant one slip with the scalpel could prove expensive. However, Cousins UK stock exactly the same strap for rather a better price:

So I bought a couple. At the weekend, I finally got round to notching one of them. Armed with a new blade, 5 minutes later it was fitted:

Under proper lighting conditions, the dark blues of the bezel and the strap are a long way from matching, but it'll do me for now. 

This was the first time I've worn any watch, let alone a 7A38, on a silicone rubber strap, and initially it felt rather clammy.  But once it warmed up it's actually rather comfortable. Later this morning, we had some lovely bright sunshine, so I took another couple of photos:

While strictly for this thread, I'm going to chuck this one in here as well.

There's an old P.P. Arnold song, written by Cat Stevens, from 1967 entitled: The First Cut is the Deepest.

On YouTube, in case you're not old enough to remember: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwzuOR88Jes

No, my first cut (in notching that strap) was the Luckiest !!

When I do the next strap, I'm going to make up a circular cutting blade, to see if I can achieve the same (lucky) curved side cut. 

I am still sorry I missed that one......  It is a beauty!  Nice strap.

I added a leather strap to my 7a28-7120 this week and its now comfortable to wear. The only problem with it is the hour and minute hands. If someone knows a solution to this problem could they let me know, im thinking new hands or a refurb so they look as new.

p.s. Paul it must be a real chore resetting so many watches to gmt, if it helps you could send me one of your 7a38-706a to reduce your workload.  

Welcome aboard, Jim.  That's not a half bad wrist shot for a first post.  Pleasant change from the usual NATO too. 

Those hands don't look too bad to me - I've seen a lot worse (usually on watches offered by UK eBay seller 'Boring_sandwich').

Their slightly degraded lume goes well with the used appearance of the watch - if you don't mind my saying. 

Finding the correct replacement original hands, NOS, for these watches nowadays is going to be nigh on impossible, with the number of RAF Gen 1's in collectors hands. If you've checked Seiko's database, then you'll aready know their part numbers are 12BH4ZSH / M - and they were only used on the 7A28-7120. Or at least these particular Seiko part numbers were. The ℗ symbol on the dial stands for Promethium, the MOD spec'd lume compound used on these watches. The hands themselves are nothing special, and their pattern looks quite similar to a few other 7Axx hand designs - very much like those used on the 7A28-7040 / 9 and stainless 7A38-7020 / 9 (except those are painted white; lumed with the normal Tritium lume compound). So it's just a matter of identifying exactly which pattern they are, getting hold of a used set of those, stripping them of their paint and existing lume, then getting them professionally re-lumed.

The resetting of my 7A38 collection from GMT to BST and back to GMT twice a year is something of a necessary chore. It gives me the chance to check for low battery indicators and to see if any have lost or gained excessively. Worst I've found so far was one that was 10 seconds out (in 6 months), so that's not too bad. I use this to synchronise them: http://www.atomic-clock.org.uk/atomic-clock.php

Today my second Yema Spationaute, a watch that I learned to appreciate thanks to this forum, that is to say Paul. This one has white hour markers, sharkskin strap and also the hands have a chrome outline. It arrived this morning together with another one that I will show at a later date. Again, pictures don't do it justice, not even the great pictures of fellow members.

Nice one, Harry - glad to see you're liking them too !  Mine (which when I bought it, last year, was my third) says 'Hello'. 

This Spationaute III (same Yema model # N80P76) has the narrower polished stainless hands, but also the later version of dial without 'PARIS' or 'QUARTZ'. Now I've finally just about managed, after a few sporadic attempts, to break in the Fleurus shark strap (they're nowhere near as supple as the original Yema straps), it's become a regular daily wearer. In fact, I've been wearing it all this week.  

As for your 'pictures don't do it justice, not even the great pictures of fellow members' - don't worry, for one thing it's great to have someone else regularly posting WRUW shots. Secondly, you can console yourself with the fact that these watches, lovely as they are, are a royal pain in the A$$ when it comes to taking photos of them. That shallow domed crystal is very prone to picking up reflections - usually of the camera or photographer (or as often in my own case, next door neighbour's windows). So today, with the weather being very dull and overcast I thought I might have more luck. Wrong !  The reason my watch's crystal looks cloudy (it's perfectly clean, inside and out) is that's a reflection of the sky !  So, not always 'great' pictures. 

Another very dull and dark wintry autumn day - hardly conducive to taking decent photos - even outside.

As a stark contrast to the colourful Spationaute III, here's something rather more subdued - and 7A38's don't come much plainer.

This is the 'Argos' 7A38-7190 SAA053J I bought on eBay last week. Listed allegedly as 'NOS and unworn', but in truth, far from either. 

Now cleaned up and re-assembled (as received, complete with flawed dial). Note the marks (zit) I mentioned in the 9 o'clock sub-dial.

Dark, cold, autumn day here as well. Time to lighten up things with a perfect 7A28-7029. All I need now is a camping tuxedo to go with it. Bad light for pictures, but who cares. My pictures are always cr*p.

Well, on this unusually sunny Sunday afternoon, my less-than-perfect gold-tone 7A38-7060 SAA018J says 'Hello' back. 

Well, isn't that a coincedence: bright and sunny here as well. A watch that goes well with this day: 7A28-7030 and I am happy to say it's almost perfect. I have another one, at the moment in heavy repairs at fellow member jhuurne. When he's done it will be almost perfect. The hands of that one look a bit moldy and I can't find replacements. A difference is that where the subdial hands and big chronograph hand on this one are orange, on that one they are yellow. Not a question of fading by sunlight. I believe I read somewhere both yellow and orange are correct. If I am wrong I'd like to hear it!

Here it is, my rather expensive 7A38-7029 ! Shipped on Monday and arrived today. If the Ebay seller would have described it as NOS I would have had very little to argue aginst that. In other words: It is almost perfect. There is a minor little scratch hardly worth mentioning on the crystal. 

Some time ago I received this 7A38-7060. Although visually very nice there were some technical problems. The chronograph was working but the hands would not jump back to zero. When I tried to do that manually by pulling the crown to the first position, you could see the chronograph hands starting to quiver as if they tried to jump back to zero! Completely out of order. The pushbuttons did not work at all  with the crown at the first position. Fellow member Jurgen (jhuurne) fixed all that for me! Everything works as it should and the pushbuttons make that reassuring clicking sound. Jurgen also gave this watch a thorough cleaning that it really needed. Thanks Jurgen!

whitemonster at November 22, 2012 at 10:17 AM

Some time ago I received this 7A38-7060. Although visually very nice there were some technical problems. The chronograph was working but the hands would not jump back to zero. When I tried to do that manually by pulling the crown to the first position, you could see the chronograph hands starting to quiver as if they tried to jump back to zero! Completely out of order. The pushbuttons did not work at all  with the crown at the first position. Fellow member Jurgen (jhuurne) fixed all that for me! Everything works as it should and the pushbuttons make that reassuring clicking sound. Jurgen also gave this watch a thorough cleaning that it really needed. Thanks Jurgen!

I've never seen such a dirty watch before, it was horrible! I've enjoyed fixing this one, it's a real nice watch!