There are many vintage Seiko dive watches popular with collectors, and the watch here – a 2019 Seiko SUS SCXP165 (7N01-0KP0) diver here, on its original Seiko-signed nylon strap and with its original Seiko inner/outer boxes, hang tags, and Seiko 7N01 instructions manual – continues Seiko's well-earned reputation for building robust, stylish, and purpose-built divers for a wide-range of professional adventurers.
 
The SUS watch here is the result of a partnership between Seiko and the NANO Universe, a Japanese clothing store, and are JDM only.  The SUS is an extremely simple watch, designed for legibility over everything and inspired by vintage military-issued watches.
 
With a total of seven unique references in the 2019 Limited Edition SUS collection, the collection featured dark blue, green, and white dialed variants – each variant had a mere 300 made (the example here is #235 for the dark blue colorway variant), and were only available at Japan-based NANO Universe stores.  There were also several other variants made in higher numbers - black dial in both steel and a hardened black coating, white dial in a hardened gold coating, and a steel cased SUS with a dial coated entirely in Lumibrite.  This watch is pure 1990s nostalgia.
 
The watch handset and numerals are inspired by classic navigator watches, with the stub hour hand and large Arabic numerals all around.  Each watch is matched with a nylon strap, a choice that bridges the gap between vintage utility and contemporary streetwear fashion.
 
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, both it and the 7N01 here do hack).
 
Seiko introduced its 7Nxx movement in circa 1993, and it came in a range of styles and dial colors, to include the unique helmet-shaped watch here - Seiko would cease production of the calibre in 2009.
 
In 1969, Seiko released a first upon the world - the first quartz wristwatch, its Seiko Quartz Astron.  The Astron went on to change the way the world told time, and severely tested the dominance of the Swiss, bringing high technology within the reach of all.  The Swiss would literally pay for neglecting the evolution of the watch, in terms of market share and profit.
 
As the world got accustomed to the novel new Astron technology dominating the market in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Seiko was hard at work on its next innovation to challenge Swiss watch industry dominance, developing the Superior, Grand Quartz, King Quartz - and eventually the 7Nxx line here.
 
This Seiko diver comes on its original nylon blue Seiko strap, and with a second nylon strap, rugged travel case, inner/outer Seiko boxes, hang tags, Seiko 7N01 instructions manual, and springbar tool.