The genius of this digital watch, replace the hands of normal analog watches with a series of LEDs (Light Emetting Diodes) moving along the dial and marking Hours, Minutes and Seconds.
To read the time is used the same principle of analog watches, but the reading is more immediate. There are no doubts, only the precision of the light beaming the exact hour, minute and second.
In addition, thanks to electronics, is possible to use the same LEDs that shows the time, to know the date, the day of week, the year.
Beside the original display system, the SolSuno uses light and colours to show the time. Little dots of light move in circle and stimulate the good humour of who looks at the dial.
Let's go in SolSuno's World...
 

The watch is sold in a fine ecological leather case, with the battery already installed. Inside the box, in addition to the watch, the multilingual instructions manual and a leaflet explainig how to activate the product.
The aspect is solid, with a dial of generous dimensions and the structure made of stainless steel. The slightly convex glass and the rounded shapes, give a little vintage aspect, making a good impression on the wrist of men and women.
The back is engraved with a map of the world and the indication that the watch is water resistant up to 50 meters. The leather strap is very elegant, but many other models with metal strap (even in Titanium) are available.
 

The dial is divided in three circular LED rings, plus other LEDs for alarms and signals. The external zone (Hours Ring) contains 12 LEDs, the middle zone (Minutes Ring) contains 60 LEDs, the internal zone (Seconds Ring) is constituted by other 60 LEDs divided in the three colours: red, green and yellow. The Minutes Ring is marked with a star every 5 minutes, to ease the reading.
Under the twelve o'clock LED there is the AM/PM LED. A very useful indication that simplify the setup of time and alarms. Over the six o'clock LED there are five LEDs that manage alarms (three independent alarms are available), hour chime (a beep every hour) and key tone.
All the watch functions are operated by the two side Buttons A and B. The Button A, pressed and released, is used to show time and date. If pressed for about three seconds, serves to program alarms and acoustic signals. In the setup phase is used to move the "virtual hands" of time, date and alarms. The Button B is used to select Hours, Minutes and Seconds in setup phase and to activate/deactivate alarms and acoustic signals. Pressed together with Button A, serves to activate the Flickering Mode (as described up ahead).
The AM/PM LED, is ON only in setup phase or when an alarm is shown. The LEDs indicating alarms activation, hour chime and key tone, are ON when the day of week is shown.

To avoid energy waste, the watch has an electronic system to disconnect the battery and the internal circuits, called Stop Mode. To "wake up" the SolSuno, is necessary to press Button A and keep it pressed some seconds, until we hear a long beep and see the LEDs lighting up. From now, all the circuits are powered and starts to pulse second after second.

The microcomputer of SolSuno, visualizes numerous "Screens" of reading. With repeated push of Button A we select the various Screens. The informations remain visible for 15 seconds. To economize the energy and increase the battery duration we can use Button B, that turns OFF all the LEDs immediately.

HOUR - Push one time Button A to read the time. Time is read from outside to inside: Hours, Minutes, Seconds. The 15 seconds of visualization, are marked by coloured LEDs.

DAY OF WEEK - Push two times Button A to read the day of week. The day is read on the Hours Ring, in the right side of the dial, clockwise. Saturday corresponds to hours 12, Friday corresponds to hour 6. In this visualization if alarms or sound signals are active, the correspondent LEDs light up.

DATE - Push three times Button A to read the current date. The Hours Ring, indicates the current year, the year 2000 corresponds to hours 12, the year 2006 corresponds to hours 6. The Minutes Ring indicates the current month on the 5 minutes stars, every star is related to a month, the twelfth star (60 minutes) is December. The Seconds Ring indicates the day, in the right side of the dial, clockwise. The first second corresponds to the first day of month; the thirtieth or thirty-first second, correspond to 30 or 31 of the month.

ALARMS AND ACOUSTIC SIGNALS - The alarms and acoustic signals setup, is done with the combination of Buttons A and B, as clearly explained on the instructions manual. When an alarm is ON, pressing four or more times Button A, the activation time for that alarm is shown. With Button B is possible to switch OFF the alarm visualized.

Who wants to discover all the secrets of the numerous SolSuno's programming functions, can download the Acrobat version of the instructions manual, at the following link: http://www.solsunotime.com/downloads.htm

A unique characteristic to solve the major limit of LED watches, the high power drain. Thanks to Flickering Mode, all the LEDs blink every second and stays ON only for a moment, in a well visible way.

To activate Flickering Mode press together Button A and B and release them. To deactivate Flickering Mode, repeat the procedure.
With Flickering Mode, the watch is always illuminated, ready to show the time in every moment. This function decrease the battery duration, but represents a solution to have our hands free and an irresistible appeal for anybody looking at SolSuno watch.
 

The energy required to light up the 138 LEDs set in the dial is supplied by a Lithium battery type CR2032. This 3 Volt coin cell battery supplies a 225 mAh current, enough to operate the watch more than a year. The battery duration can be greatly increased if we turn OFF the dial just after reading the hour. The Flickering Mode, used for 12 hours a day, lead the total battery duration to 10 months.
To replace the battery is better to contact a watchmaker. The SolSuno's body must be opened with specific tools and closed with care, to preserve water resitance. The battery bay too, must be opened and closed with precision, to have a correct electrical contact. All the battery replacement operations are clearly described on the instructions manual.

The model tested in this review is the SOL/704, with leather strap and glossy stainless steel body. It is a very versatile model, because the strap can be changed by the user with another strap of different kind.



SolSuno's product line is enriched by other watches, also for woman. Among those I want to point out the SOL/700, available in Titanium and more thin than the others and the SolSuno Stealth, very strong and water resistant up to 100 meters. Other models are shown on the SolSuno's Web Site.

Since the age in which the only reference to measure the time was the sun light, we have invented numerous tools to capture the fleeting moments. The more precise, the atomic clocks, see the infinitely small universe which constitutes the matter.
The SolSuno is the wrist watch that reinstates the light at the core of our time, without missing the technological evolution. A digital sundial in which the sun and the stars are represented by LEDs, microscopical photon emitters, colouring the important moments of our life. With such a jewel on our wrist, every time we want know "what time is it?", we come charged by the positive strength of coloured light.

In the follwing, some useful links:

Official Web Site:
http://www.solsunotime.com/

The inventors of SolSuno:
http://www.solsunotime.com/meettheinventor.htm

Orders and international authorized dealers:
http://www.solsunotime.com/frameset_4.htm

Solsuno in Spain: http://www.solsunotime.com/ssite.htm

Solsuno in Italy: http://www.solsunotime.com/itasite.htm