"THE SUS STORY; The Watch Created for the Digital Generation"
I am constantly amazed at the deep thought, planning, and engineering prowess that goes into the design and manufacture of SEIKO watches.
The SUS line is no exception. It was an analog watch created in 1995, specifically for young people who were born after 1973 when SEIKO released their first digital watch.
Poster from a promotional party sponsored by
SEIKO SUS at a hip club in Tokyo
Dec. 14, 1995
featuring three bands.
Yet the excellence of the SUS line was not lost to an older generation, and the watches soon became highly sought after by SEIKO lovers of all ages.
SUS "Snake S" Symbol.
THE CONCEPT
Although digital watches are excellent for telling the exact time at a glance, they don't give one the sense of time which went before or of minutes and hours advancing. They pinpoint one minute at a time.
SEIKO digital watch from 1974, about the year of the birth of young people targeted by SEIKO SUS.
Analog watches, on the other hand, give one a spacial sense of time. Of the hour just past, and the hour coming next as the hands move away from or towards those numbers.
Easy to read SUS hands & dial.
This is why instrument panels in airplanes use analog displays. They are easy to read at a glance, and give one a sense not only of where one is RIGHT NOW (as a digital display does), but also of where one has been and where one is going.
These instrument panels are designed in a way so the line of sight is drawn to the center first, then to a vertical and horizontal line which intersects at the center.
SEIKO engineers, inspired by these features, designed the SUS line to follow these principles.
SUS Chronograph dial.
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Top management at SEIKO felt there had been a disconnection between the company's upper management, development teams, and young customers who bought watches.
So two young SEIKO engineers, Chitoshi Funamoto and Atsushiko Matsuno, were put in charge of the SUS project.
SEIKO SUS project engineers Funamoto and Matsuno.
Their job was to create a new line of analog watches which would appeal to technical school and college students.
The first thing they did was conduct surveys of young adults from 19 to 22 years in age. They showed them pictures of SEIKO watches made from 1913 thru the early '90's, and asked them which ones they liked best.
They showed most interest in SEIKO military watches made during World War II. During the war, Japan had a lack of raw materials, so watches were made with a minimum of decoration.
SEIKO wrist watches from World War II era.
Young people, surrounded by so many material things and so much im formation, liked these utilitarian designs and thought they had a "fresh" feeling.
PROJECT TEAMS
Teams of designers, working under Funamoto and Matsuno, came up with individual examples of watches for the SUS line. But, only ones which met the SUS philosophy were accepted and finally produced.
Development of SUS logo.
First and foremost, they had to be analog watches which one could read at a glance. The eye had to move in the following way when looking at them:
1.) Eye first goes to the upper part of the dial, meaning the hands.
2.) Eye goes to the hour markers and indices.
3.) Eye goes to the surface color of the dial.
To accomplish this, the eye had to go to the center of the dial first, then follow the direction of hands, then to the reference points of 12 & 6, 3 & 9, next to the indices, and finally to the calendar and any other additional functions.
Many of the design drawing created by teams were rejected because they failed to stay within the criteria listed above.
Ones with numbering on bezels, for instance, were rejected. In addition, ones which had second hands in a sub dial at the 6 0'clock position were not accepted.
Note watch on bottom left with numbered bezel.
Interestingly, however, along with WWII wrist watches, SEIKO Railway Pocket Watches were a big inspiration in the creation of the SUS.
Note how numbering on the SEIKO Railway watch in the top left corner, left, was adapted to numbering used in the SUS line, right.
These watches, like an airplane pilot's instrument panel, must be read at a glance by professionals. Mistakes in clearly reading these devices can be deadly for the pilot or engineer.
SUS MOVEMENTS
Along with being loved for their overall design, watches in the SUS line are also sought after because many featured 4S caliber automatic movements from 1995 - 1997.
Caliber 4S15 movement in a 1996 SUS.
I think this was an accident of history, really, and as soon as SEIKO realized how excellent and sought after this automatic caliber movement was they "kicked it upstairs" (as I never get tired of saying) into the Credor line.
Dial of SUS GMT, which featured a 4S12 caliber movment.
In addition, they were powered by Kinetic movements. Currently all watches in the SUS line are Quartz.
SUS with quartz movement.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Many who try different brands of watches over the years but finally find their true love with SEIKO feel intuitively that there is something special about these watches.
It is always encouraging to realize we can trust our intuition.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to my wife for helping me translate this. Thank you Wayne Lee always for providing this forum. Thank you Don Carlson, who provided the inspiration and encouragement for me to do this post.
Information and many of the scans came from:
"WATCH DESIGN, No. 2" (World Photo Press, Tokyo, February 20, 1999), pages 87 - 101.
Ryan
