The Seiko 4S15 Military SUS: The Little Watch That Could
Although many collectors are probably familiar with the Seiko 4S15 SUS, they probably don’t realize the historical significance this watch holds in the Seiko collecting community. The Seiko SCFF001 4S15 7020 could be the most important watch Seiko has released in the last 25 years. The “discovery” of this watch back in 1998 created a completely new awareness of Seiko, opened people’s eyes to the Japan only watches in Seiko’s lineup, and introduced many collectors to Seiya Kobayashi.
I first saw the 4S15 SUS in 1998. A Timezone poster named Bob, now the owner of the MWR forum, had recently returned from a trip to Japan and brought a SUS back. He raved about the classic military dial and simplicity of the watch and even posted a review about it on Timezone. The hacking and handwinding 4S15 movement in the SUS was also a surprise to many of us who thought that Seiko’s automatic movements began and ended with the 7S26. A buzz about the watch among military collectors quickly developed, but the common question was “how do you get one?”
Enter Seiya Kobayashi . Back then, Seiya didn’t have a website nor had he even developed any word of mouth advertising. Seiya was just a guy who liked Seikos, knew the SUS military was a great watch, and he’d sell them on the bulletin boards. None of us even knew who he was at first, and it took a big leap of faith to send money to Japan to this unknown man to buy an SUS.
Whenever Seiya posted a 4S15 for sale on Timezone and later MWR, they were quickly bought. I myself purchased my first SUS from Seiya as a result of a Timezone post and we soon became friends. No question, the 4S15 SUS was a big boost to Seiya’s career as one of our favorite sources of Japan only watches.
Wayne Lee was an early buyer of the 4S15 military and at the time, he was a regular contributor to Timezone. This was before the creation of the Seiko Citizen Watch Forum(SCWF). Through his Timezone postings about the SUS and the 4S15 movement, Wayne introduced the watch to collectors outside the mil-watch community. The 4S15 buzz continued to grow. Soon people were not only interested in the SUS, but also what other gems Seiko had kept to themselves in their home market.
So what is it about this diminutive little watch that makes it so special? Today, many collectors would probably shy away from a 4S15 SUS citing the size. At 35mm, the watch is almost tiny by today’s standards. The small dial and large bezel can even make the watch appear smaller than it is. I often wear watches 44mm and above, so I’ll admit it’s a bit of a shock when I strap an SUS on. However, after 5 minutes on my wrist, the size concerns of the watch vanish as I begin to appreciate the subtleties that make collectors appreciate the 4S15 military.
The case is a unique finish which I’ve only seen Seiko use on their SUS line and can best be described as distressed. An untouched SUS has a very “used” look to it. I say untouched because many people have “corrected” the finish on their SUS’s over the years. A proper 4S15 SUS case finish actually looks like that on what you’d see with a watch left in a drawer with keys and other objects for a long period of time. There are small scratch-like imperfections all over the steel surfaces. More than a few early collectors actually polished their SUS’s thinking that the case finish was trashed.
The case shape is blocky and chunky (for its size) with an odd little ring engraved around the edge. This ring breaks up the lines a bit and gives the watch a look of having a bezel. The crown is well proportioned and the lugs are drilled.
The movement of the SUS is perhaps its most notable feature. Back in the day, it was easy to find a 4S15 SUS for $300.00 or less, but today, the 4S15 SUS and any watch with a 4S movement is considerably more expensive. Modern watches containing variations of the 4S can cost in the thousands, so it’s easy to see what a value the 4S15 military originally was.
A 4S15 movement is completely different than the entry level Seiko 7S26. At 28,800 BPH, it’s a high beat design. It’s been speculated that the 4S15 is a refinement of the chronometer grade 5246 movement introduced in the early 1970’s. Visually, the movements are very similar and look identical.
Conjecture states that the 4S15 is comparable to ETA’s 2892 and 2824 variations. I think the only people who could properly address/confirm this would be a watchmaker familiar with these movements. That said, the 52XX movements on which the 4S15 is based, have a very high pedigree and I think it’s safe to assume that these are in fact high grade movements. Seiko’s confidence in the 4S design is evident in the use of 4S based movements in some of their expensive lines.
The dial of the SUS is a wonderful example of classic military styling. The numbers, the hands, and the size all trace to classic military releases from the 1940’s. Everything is no nonsense here with a focus on legibility. An unusual feature of the dial is the bronze like glow it emits in bright light.
The SUS is one of the most strap friendly watches I’ve owned which is great because the standard strap to the watch is one of the worst Seiko has ever produced. It’s a black, blocky, shiny faux leather plastic-like band that should quickly be discarded. Natos, colored leather, tropics, and pilots style straps all look fantastic on the SUS and part of the fun of owning one is constantly trying out different variations for different looks.
As mentioned earlier, at today’s standards, this 35mm watch may considered too small by many. For me, it’s a fantastic watch to wear. To this day, I smile and marvel at it whenever I wear it. It looks good, it feels good and it just oozes Seiko collecting history. Wayne Lee, Seiya Kobayashi, and Bob of MWR were early proponents of this watch well before these people were who they are in the collecting world today. So many collectors, who in turn have influenced others, were introduced to Seiko through this watch, and for many of these collectors, it was their first step in importing a Japan only watch to their country.
While many would consider the divers as the catalyst in raising awareness of Seiko history, it was the 4S15 SUS that created a buzz about Seikos well before people were talking about 6105’s, 6309’s or 6217’s. Who would have ever thought that such a little watch could have had such a big influence in the history of Seiko collecting?
June 25th, 2007 at 10:12 pm
Bryan,
THANKS!!
Chee
June 26th, 2007 at 5:44 am
Pete,
Great read and also a nice walk thru the earlier history of Seiko watch collecting! Thanks again for a well researched and interesting article.
June 26th, 2007 at 7:37 am
Thanks Rick, glad you enjoyed it and as always I thank you for your continued support of GMT+9. I’d wanted to do a writeup on the SUS for quite a few months, but I never could figure out the angle. There’s already an excellent review about the watch out on the net by Alan;
http://alanwatch.homestead.com/seiko.html
so I didn’t want to do a straight up review, but I still felt there was a lot to say about it. I toyed with the idea of talking about the complete SUS line, but that would have been too overwhelming. Then one day when I was wearing mine and remembering how I got it, I started thinking about “the old days” and how people were talking about and buying these SUS’s way before the SCWF or the interest in the old divers. And that inspired the story the way it was written.
June 28th, 2007 at 3:49 am
Thanks Pete. Another great article. If it wasn’t for being so small and that darn stubby hand ! Not only this watch but, many deserve this kind recognition that they never get do to the divers being so popular.
June 28th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
Pete, thank you for this excellent article. Seiya found me a silver dial two months ago and i enjoy every single piece of this watch. The movement is amazing. My next target is a black dial (and of course my boss at home has approved:)). Wish me luck in finding a black dial….
June 29th, 2007 at 5:24 am
Hi Chee,
Good luck with your search on the black dialed SUS. I don’t know if you realize it or not, but there are also quartz versions of this same watch with black and silver dials. Here are some pictures of other SUS watches.
June 29th, 2007 at 4:02 pm
Hi Pete, Thank you for your information. I actually do realize the existence of the SUS series. it is the military watch feature coupled with the 4S15 movement in the SCFF001/003 that attract my interest. I think i’m going to have a tougher time getting the black dial thanks to your article (just kidding!) now that more seiko fan out there will join the pack hunting for this historical piece. Cheers
July 5th, 2007 at 1:59 am
I am fortunate to get hold of the black dialed SUS with the help of Seiya-san. I wrote to thank him upon receiving the watch and in the email conversation, he told me this is the watch that started his business.
July 5th, 2007 at 10:26 pm
Yeoman, Lucky you. I consider myself lucky too (as a late comer) to get hold of the silver dial and of course through Seiya’s help. Why don’t you just send me your black dial to make my collection complete? Just kidding! Cheers!
July 10th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
Thanks for a well written review of the Seiko SUS. The 4S15 series of watches did not immediately become favorites for collectors, but the interest sort of evolved. Of the many watch enthusiast websites I think the SCWF started by Wayne Lee probably did more to highlight just how interesting those watches really are. I enjoy two 4S15 powered watches myself, a dress watch with date at 6:00 and Yema Seaspider.
July 12th, 2007 at 1:00 am
Hi Chee,
e-mail Seiya-san if you want the black dialed SUS. He probably has a list of people queuing up for theirs. Don’t worry, just mention my name and he will put you on first priority.
July 14th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
nice write-up pete. Especially interesting to learn more of Seiya’s early days. I demand that you remove that yellow strap now
July 15th, 2007 at 8:19 am
Great article Pete, the Military SUS is one of the few watches that got me into the watch craze during my early WIS days in 2001. At the time, I was wary of purchasing watches over the internet so I didn’t do so when they were still available. I haven’t seen this type of finishing on a watch before and I think the stressed steel look is a very original idea and certainly adds a lot of flavour to the watch. Kudos to Seiko for making such a cool watch!
July 16th, 2007 at 5:32 am
Hi Steelkit,
Thanks for the comment…is the yellow strap really that bad?
Now that I think about it…a friend at work made a remark about that strap one day too!
Thanks for reading.
July 16th, 2007 at 5:33 am
Hi Evan,
I remember you being a 4S movement fan from way back and I still remember that review you did on the Sus 4S12. That was a wonderful job. As always, thanks for your support.
July 18th, 2007 at 9:08 am
Hi Pete, You’ve missed spot .
The SUS worldtimer…
I have 4 (another automatic,silver dialed version of yours, quartz chrono and quartz 3 hand model) and perhaps
post all of them together here or TZ…
Best regards,
Kohei
July 19th, 2007 at 4:43 am
Hi Kohei, yes, the 4S12 Worldtimers were very cool SUS models. There were actually so many others in the SUS range. A number of kinetics, many versions of chronographs, and a few different quartz models with various dials and cases. The SUS was a great series and it would be fun to see them bring that design philosophy back one day.
Thanks for reading!
July 21st, 2007 at 2:29 am
Yes! Look forward to seeing new military sus using the 4s or the 6R movement!! this may just be my wishful thinking….
September 18th, 2007 at 4:08 am
Hi Pete,
Just a hello and thank you for your support in helping me collect a few SUSs. With your SUS brochure photos, Searches on the Yahoo Japan Auctions bore fruit with my current four models - a fifth, the all black quartz, soon to arrive!
Giving up finding the 4S15, I touched the watch gods and won the 4S12 GMT World Timer black dial version. Amazing watch and my grail for now haha! The others I have are the orange chrono/telemeter, the full lume dial date/day model quartz, and the grey dial quartz with arrow pointed hour hand model.
As I write now, the Mil dial 4s15 has appeared on the Auctions!!!! Too low funds to enter a bid right now..a shame! haha!