There are many vintage Seiko divers popular with collectors, and the diver here – a 1995 Seiko 7N21-0010 sport dive watch here, with original Seiko 7N21 instructions manual, warranty paperwork, and inner/outer Seiko boxes – continues the Seiko reputation for building robust, stylish, and purpose-built divers for a wide-range of professional adventurers.
Seiko introduced its 7Nxx diver line in 1991, and it came in a range of dial colors, to include the black one here, and silver dial, among others. The dial is stark and utilitarian, with military-esque hour indices on a pitch black glossy dial, and features a short arrow-pointed hour hand contrasted with a longer thinner minute hand, aiding in wearer ability to distinguish the two immediately. It also benefits from the lack of a date function (hence no date window throwing off the sparse dial design), along the minutes track just below 4 o’clock, with negative impact upon the symmetry of its beautiful design.
Military forces the world over have long took note of Seiko’s dive watch lines, with their reliable movements – during its heyday and even today, Seiko divers are popular with various armed forces for this same reason, despite the widely held (false) assumption that military personnel only wear military watches issued to them.
With good reason, Seiko divers continue to have a tremendous cult following, despite Seiko's odd decision to discontinue its iconic legendary SKX divers in 2018 - Seiko dive designs are usually simple and robust, with strong evidence of Seiko divers that came before it – of which the 7N35 bears testament – to the instantly recognizable Seiko 7002 automatic, 7548 quartz, and even the famous 6309 diver.
Seiko debuted its SUS line in the early 1990s, after it perceived a disconnect between its offerings and younger consumers, in an attempt to wean the same customers off of digital quartz watches made by Seiko competitors.
Seiko set about conducting a series of surveys to gauge the interests of their target demographic, namely individuals between 19 and 22, by placing photographs of Seiko watches from 1913 through the early 1990s – and their overwhelming preference was the minimalist, utilitarian designs from Seiko’s wartime offerings.
And from, this the SUS (“Simple” and “Strong”) emerged. The design utilized historical aviation, military, and railroad timepieces that emphasized legibility above all else (important considerations when designing military watches, as well).
The SUS line went on to become a popular watch in Japan, and Seiko produced them, with their multiple variants, for eight years, to include automatic, quartz, and kinetic movements. Among these, the 4S15 “Military” variant – released in early 1996 – was by far the most popular. That said, the 4S15 was not actually designed to be a military watch (while the crown doesn’t screw down, it does hack). But the 7N21 here does hack. And it's nearly identical to the far more expensive 4S15 - see the last photo on this listing for a side-by-side comparison.
This Seiko diver comes on a leather-backed canvas strap, and with nylon strap, rugged travel case, springbar tool, Seiko 7N21 instructions manual, warranty paperwork, and inner/outer Seiko boxes.
1995 Seiko SUS 7N21-0010 "Military" Sport Diver, w/Box & Papers
DIAL: Black Seiko "S" (SUS)-signed dial, with crisp white writing, no fade.
CASE: Stainless-steel case measures 36mm (38.5mm with crown) x 41mm; recessed crown, with matching caseback. Case lines remain sharp, with no evidence of machine polish. Of note, these cases were designed to have a "distressed" finish - this is not wear. You read correctly - the factory pre-distressed the cases in an attempt to appeal to their target demographic.
CRYSTAL: Seiko Hardlex crystal, no deep scratches or blemishes.
BAND: This Seiko diver comes on a leather-backed canvas strap; it also comes with a black and red nylon strap.
MOVEMENT: Hacking Seiko 7Nxx quartz movement, manufactured in September 1995.
CROWN: Unsigned stainless-steel crown.
Of note, this Seiko 7N21 SUS diver comes with an original Seiko 7N21 instructions manual, inner/outer Seiko boxes, and Seiko warranty paperwork.