Jun 21, 2020

[Seiko SUS] A Seiko's take on a 'Military' Watch for Japanese Young Adult

What does SUS stand for?

Around the early 90s, Seiko brand is feeling a bit disconnected with the young generations. The brand understood the problem and decided to make a change, from that problem came the SUS project (the two S stands for “Simple” and “Strong,” with the “U” uniting the two), This is an attempt by Seiko to create a line of analog watches that would appeal to young adults who were weaned on digital watches.

The project was assigned to two young engineers to lead the SUS project, Chitoshi Funamoto and Atsushiko Matsuno. To understand the market behavior, a number of surveys on young adults aging from 19 to 22 have been held. The survey research on the preference of a watch to the young adult and what features of the pas Seiko watches from 1910s to 90s they like. The SUS was created with the result they found from the survey.

Design principal of Seiko SUS watches

The SUS series consists of many watch variance and soon becomes a big hit to the market and now an extremely collectible item to Seiko collectors because of its military look and smile design that will fit in all occasions.

One of the best and most sought-after watches to come from the SUS collection is undoubtedly the SUS 4S15 “military.” Released sometime in early 1996, it was the purest expression of the philosophy put forth by Funamoto and Matsuno. Below are some special features of the watch.

Special hands The hands are designed exclusively for telling time.
The SUS was designed with large, clearly visible hands in mind.

Crown The winding crown of the watch is also large, making it easy to grip when hand-winding or adjusting the watch.

Special case Stainless steel with a scratch finished to give it a tough and rustic feel. As it is pre-scratched, you can wear the watch carefree.
It was made with one wash jeans in mind.

Special Band Made from water and sweat resistant durable calfskin, giving it a nice texture.

Red Mark "S" The red mark S give the watch a highlight on its identity.

Skelton(see-through back) The see-through case-back enables you to enjoy the beating of the movement.

Seiko's reissue of the SUS watch collection

In recent years, Seiko is re-issuing their SUS watch series in various dial colours to satisfy the demand from the market.
REFS. SCXP155, SCXP157, SCXP158, SCXP159, SCXP161, SCXP163, AND SCXP165.
I will talk about this next week.

Currency

Sign up and save