I seem to have a bit of a fetish both for diving watches and for Seiko. Combined they are deadly, but heh! I’m enjoying myself.
My basic criteria is a tough water proof watch which is also good looking, comfortable to wear, and has something different about it. Of course, with Seiko so many of its watches are iconic and instantly recognisable.
For those that want the conclusion first, the Sumo is a very cool and wearable compromise between luxury and functionality. It has significant blue water between it and cheaper offerings both within Seiko and the micro-brand world, but simultaneously has clear finishing and material differences with the more luxury diver. As an owner of various luxury divers and sports watches, including the new Tag Heuer Aquaracer with its awesome bracelet, Tudor Black Bay and too many flips to mention, including Rolexes, Rado, Muhle Glashutte, Omega, etc., it is straight forward to see what is not included, but IMHO the Sumo design doesn’t actually feel like it needs anything more in daily use.
The Sumo sits as a gateway drug at £750 between a massive choice of Seiko’s cheaper sports watches, many which are iconic forever sellers, and the new plethora of over £1,000, e.g. the 1965, 1968, Willard and other series, of course moving up eventually to the £5k LX series before expiring in the face of Grand Seiko.
IMHO the two elephants in the room with the Sumo are: 1. The quality of the case finishing and design at the price point; 2. The comfort and wearability, showing Seiko's expertise in fitting large dial watches to smaller wrists.
Straight off the bat I would say I like diving and pilots watches to be large, bucking the current trend. They need to be clear and decisive. I have a small 6.7 inch wrist, and it is always a challenge to find manufacturers up to this particular task. Tag Heuer, Oris, Seiko and a small number of others being somewhat experts here.
Interestingly the Sumo is one of Seiko’s more recent designs (2007), drawing on Seiko’s favourite design points, a slight cushion shape wrapped on a round face, and a strong curve through the entire body. Despite a 44.8mm width, the Sumo accomplishes the curve at between 12 and 13mm thin, making it somewhat svelte for the size. Lug to lug is a reasonable “just over” 50mm, but interestingly, not only does the bracelet drop vertically at the lugs, it does so slightly before the end of the lugs, making the bracelet wrap as if the body length is more like 48-49mm.
There seems to be a dispute whether the nick name “Sumo” comes from the girth, or the massive 12 o’clock pip, which appears to represent a Sumo’s pants, but as a representation of the body, this is somewhat a miss.
I bought the PADI version as it looks a bit different, and I like the colour contrast. The dial is matt black, and the anodised aluminium bezel is in the PADI organisation’s official colours, dark red to the 20m dive limit, and then a deep navy blue. The watch looks much nicer in person then on web pictures, in particular the bezel looks darker and more serious in real life. It takes the advantage of aluminium bezels to be matt and darkish, or more tool-like, depending on preference. The bezel fonts are silver square, and like everything else with this watch, very clear. Another attention to detail are the replica set of minute pips on the edge of the bezel. Lastly, if you look closely you can see the bezel is protected by high sides, but is open on the bottom and the top. This is an interesting design feature, quite careful engineering. It also means the bezel can only be comfortably turned by holding the top and bottom, a useful safety feature.
The face is classic Seiko, large lume pips wrapped with applied steel surrounds, a shallow rehaut marked with white minute pips, and clear bold hands with an oversized hour hand. The second hand is slim and dark red like the bezel. You only see it when you want to. The base of all three hands are blacked out, making them appear to float. Everything is protected by a large slab of flat sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating.
The lume is of course industry leading in both brightness and stamina. I like the fact that the pips are blue lume, and the minute hand and 12 o’clock bezel pip are green. This is a nice touch on readability.
Although the face is outstanding, the case itself is the piece I like the most. The curve is both comfortable and beautiful, but it is the multiple levels of high quality curved chamfering, with alternate matt and polished surfaces, that I imagine has used up most of the cost budget for this watch.
The case underside is polished and the back-plate has a brushed finish, containing a polished centre with a really quite complex logo. It looks to me like two divers in waves, kind of a cross between the PADI and Seiko logo, but open to any interpretations
The movement is the one over base 6R35, with the addition of an anti-magnetic spring system providing 70 hours of power reserve. My one is showing a positional accuracy of + 0-4, and an average of +2. This is, by coincidence, my best 6R mechanism. Although I have a number at around 4-5, most are between 9 and 16, which is within spec. For those interested the 6R35 is guaranteed at -15 to +25 per day, the spring drive at below 15 per month and the Astron GPS at 1 second per 100,000 years, LOL
The crown is unsigned and at the classic Seiko 4 O’clock position. The practical effect of this is to prevent the crown digging into the hand. The crown is large and there are no crown guards, so it is easy to grip and turn.
The lug width is 20mm which sounds good as its standard, but you will struggle to get straps that look good. This is because 20mm with this large case has a certain look, and with most straps I have tried it just doesn’t look right, particularly with a larger then average gap between an unfitted strap end and the case. The good news is that most buyers with be satisfied with the bracelet, as it looks good and is comfortable, albeit with the familiar Seiko limitations at this price level. Namely: 1. the fiddly pin and collar system, where the collars are at the end of the pins. Due to my extensive set of adjustment tools I can cope with this, but most will probably be better off getting a jeweller to sweat over it. The slight good news is that you don’t need a hammer, as the pins are relatively easy to remove; 2. The middle link is not actually separately articulating; and 3. The clasp is pressed and has the old Seiko rattle.
The good news on the bracelet is that it is comfortable, has four micro adjust positions, a gentle taper, a safety catch, is smooth to take off and on, and has a diver’s extension. No superb Rolex easylink or Tag Heuer easy-adjust at this level :eek:
Last thing to mention, it has a special PADI box, only slightly less rubbish then the normal Seiko box. To be fair, Rolex also has a joke box, and no one can compete with Omega anyway, but since you don’t wear the box, who cares
So there it is. A very competent diver, dispensing with the rarely used (e.g. decompression value, crown guards, etc), or a handsome and well finished daily or travel wearer. The choice is in the eye of the beholder....
