Seiko 6R15 Automatic Prospex 200m Nickname Controversy
Nicknames are tricky. Good ones match. Some on the Seiko Citizen Watch Forum have dubbed the soon-to-be-released Seiko 6R15 Prospex Automatic Scuba 200m diver’s watch, SBDC001, the “Sumo.” It’s caused some controversy.
Not to be throwing sand, but will the nickname gain a foothold?
Katsu Higuchi coined the nickname Samurai for Seiko SBDA001 when it was released March 2004. He’s a dealer of Japanese watch brands, including Seiko and Citizen, owner of a family-run watch store in Oita, Japan, and of the online store Higuchi-Inc.com.
It was an inspired choice.
Publicity in Japan surrounding the release of Tom Cruise’s movie The Last Samurai was everywhere in 2004. It was a big deal. Along with Cruise, the movie starred Academy Award nominee Ken Watanabe. He’d just won a serious bout with cancer, survived a difficult divorce and financial bankruptcy, and lost his family home in Tokyo.
Watanbe is one of Japan’s biggest movies stars, with a stature for Japanese perhaps on a par with American estimations of DeNiro or Pacino. There was a lot of good will in the air for Watanabe in 2004, and appreciation of the Cruise/Watanabe, America/Japan connection. Since Higuchi has many American customers, the nickname Samurai made sense.
Oita is a beautiful city. It has been the prefectural capital for 1300 years, dating back to the Bungo Kokufu. When he came up with Samurai, Higuchi took a photo of the watch with Oita Castle as a backdrop, and announced the release. That made sense too.
A unique design feature of model SBDA001 is the sharp angle of the case lugs, which resembles that on the tip of a samurai sword. The most inspired thing about coining the term Samurai is the name matches the watch.
Nicknames are not easy things to come up with. It’s famously lame to give yourself a nickname. Good ones are often given by friends spontaneously, and they make sense. Because they do, they stick like mud thrown against a wall. Another good example is Seiko model SKX779, affectionately nicknamed the Monster. Hardly designed with traditional, classical lines, the SKX779 is a monstrosity, so the name caught on.
Nicknames can be ones we like, or ones we don’t.
In John Landis’ 1978 classic Animal House, about the Delta fraternity, known as “the worst house on campus,” John “Bluto” Belushi (who often played a samurai in Saturday Night Live skits) walked down a row of pledges giving them their new pledge names. Freshman Larry Kruger, or “Pinto,” liked his. His buddy, Kent “Flounder” Dorfman, didn’t.
Some are calling the soon-to-be released Seiko 6R15 Automatic Scuba 200m diver’s watch the “Sumo.” Does the name match the watch, and if it does, how?
Isn’t it rather like calling a watch the Linebacker or First Baseman? Will the nickname “stick,” and if so, will it be a nickname like Pinto that brings a smile, or one like Flounder that makes us frown? Slippery questions to wrestle with in the worldwide Seiko watch arena . . .
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March 22nd, 2007 at 4:23 am
I enjoyed this post on nicknames. Yes, some stick and some don’t. I still think it looks like American Standard’s finest plumbing on the dial of the 6R15 diver at 12 O’Clock. That could have a bearing on a nickname..
March 22nd, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Glad you enjoyed the post, Greg. American Standard plumbing, huh? Well, at least that has something to do with water!
Seriously, I know guys are just excited about the new 6R15 diver coming out and their exuberance spilled over. Along with the points I made above, I think another reason the “Samurai” nickname worked was Higuchi-san came up with it. Lots of people have lots of respect and good feelings for him.
Too bad someone like that, for example Wayne Lee, Mr. Tokunaga, or how about Seiya, who broke the news and introduced the watch to everyone, wasn’t given the honor of being asked to give it a nickname. I think we’d of all embraced it then.
Enjoyed the interview Lee did with you!
March 26th, 2007 at 10:22 am
Hi Bryan,
Enjoyed your post, especially your small history of Oita. In my opinion the most fitting Seiko nickname is the Tuna Can. If the Sumo nickname will stand, the future will learn, but the SCWF has quite a large Seiko enthusiast community. I had a good laugh BTW about the nickname Cameltoe for the Sumo. I saw a discussion about it and thought they were just making jokes to each other…..until someone pointed at the 12 o’clock marker. And to prove it is not only a typical men’s joke, I showed it to my girlfriend, who had a good laugh too.
Cheers,
Sjors
April 5th, 2007 at 5:35 pm
Funny, Sjors. Thanks for your comments! I’d read where someone suggested calling Seiko 6R15 Prospex Automatic Scuba 200m diver’s watch, SBDC001, the “camel toe,” but didn’t know the background of how that popped up.
Regards,
Bryan