Feature: 10 dive watches from affordable to luxury
Whether you want to be extra cautious when you do the washing up or you plan to make Jacques Cousteau look like a he’s been swimming in the shallow end, you’ll need a dive watch. That’s a watch that’s got water resistance—obviously—but also packs the other necessaries to make sure your dive doesn’t go south, or rather, down: a clear dial; bright, luminous markers and a timing bezel. If you’re looking for the best, somewhere between affordable and luxury, then you’re in the right place.
Seiko 5 Sports SRPD71k1 - $250
There aren’t many conversations about affordable watches that don’t start and end somewhere with Seiko. The 42mm Seiko 5 Sports SRPD71K1 may have the least water resistance here at just 100m, but for $250 if you shop around, I’d say that’s a pretty incredible deal. There’s also no screw-down crown here, but then again, unless you plan on taking this watch two-and-a-half times deeper than the recreational dive limit, you’ll probably be fine. Out of the water it’s pretty fetching too, available in more colour combinations than you could possibly care to imagine.
Halios Seaforth - $735
If the Seiko 5 just isn’t going to cut it with its barely ankle deep 100m, then for just under $800, it’s to the Halios Seaforth you go. It’s not the most ornate watch, but, like a Sherman tank, it’s absolutely built to do some damage. You can even choose from steel or titanium for the 41mm case depending on how lightweight you want the watch to be when you start taking chunks out of the scenery with it. There’s 200m of water-resistance, a luminous, 120-click sapphire bezel and a Swiss calibre SW200 inside too to round off the spec sheet. Dial colours vary, but as of right now, you can choose between a rather fetching selection of Bahama yellow or pastel blue.
Longines Legend Diver Bronze L3.774.1.50.2 - $2300 - 3400
If you want your dive watch to be as good looking out of the water as it is functional within, then it’s the Longines Legend Diver that’ll tickle your sea pickle. Ranging from a few thousand dollars to almost $4,000, depending on the case material, it borrows from the compressor case era of dive watch development for 300m of water resistance. This gives it a rather fetching duo of crowns, with the unexpected addition operating the internal bezel. Put it all together with the smoky dialled variants and you’ve the dive watch James Bond wishes he was wearing. Be warned though: the lug length makes the 42mm version a bigger wear than you’d expect. Luckily there’s a smaller 36mm version as well.
Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight 925 M79010SG-0002 - $3600 - 4600
If you’re the only person left on the planet to have not heard about the Tudor Black Fifty-Eight, then boy do I have some good news for you. When Rolex upped the price of its famous Submariner, leaving cash-strapped fanboys crying into their $3-4,000, it at least did the decent thing and gave them the Tudor Black Bay Fifty-Eight. It’s a retro throwback with its vintage details and smaller 39mm size, but nevertheless packs a 200m punch which should be good enough for all but the most extreme environments. If you’re feeling extra flashy, you can even choose this bright silver version for another $1,000.
Tudor Pelagos FXD M25707B/22-0001 - $4200
But Tudor’s more than a one trick pony, because never mind just making old Rolex watches for a bit of extra cash from the back catalogue—it actually makes real watches used by real military divers today. It may be the French military, but they still have real guns and everything. This is the Pelagos FXD, a 42mm, titanium dive-watch so called because of the fixed strap bars. The water resistance is lower than the standard Pelagos at 200m, but that’s because this thing isn’t designed for outright depth, but rugged usability. So, it gets a thinner case to protect it, plus a canvas strap that can’t break off thanks to those fixed bars. For $4,200, you also get to pretend that you’re in the marine special forces.
Omega Seamaster Diver 300m Professional 210.32.42.20.10.001 - $6600
Talking of James Bond, remember how he used to wear a Rolex Submariner? Well, not anymore, because Omega slipped in there with a cheque big enough to take over the world. Not that that should deter you from the $6,600 Seamaster Professional with its helium escape valve and 300m of water-resistance, because it’s not only a strikingly handsome watch, it’s also incredibly capable. Just like Mr. Bond. Unlike 007, however, this is actually real, and you can get one for yourself. It even benefits from the Co-Axial escapement, which I won’t explain to you now because I don’t have time, not because I don’t know how…
Grand Seiko SLGA001 - $12000
When Grand Seiko makes a new watch, it’s very important for it to achieve two things: one it has to be technically superior to its equivalent Rolex, and two, it has to look absolutely nothing like one, too. That’s why the limited edition SLGA001 takes its styling cues from the $4.5billion Zumwalt-class stealth battleship, probably. At 47mm across and 16mm thick, calling it stealthy would be worse than lying to a nun, but nevertheless the suitably healthy 600m of water resistance answers the question: why? For $12,000, you can look forward to scratching that beautifully polished high intensity titanium on your first dive.
Rolex Submariner 126610 LN - $10500
It wouldn’t be a list of dive watches without a Rolex, so here it is, the one that started it all off: the Submariner. Brainwave of founder Hans Wilsdorf, coincidentally a little while after Blancpain made almost exactly the same watch, the Submariner was best known for something that, today, is rather unexpected: affordability. These days it’s followed the opposite trend, costing a mere $10,500. That’s not the only trend it’s bucked: as watches become smaller to match evolving tastes, Rolex has naturally sized up from 40mm to 41. Oh, Rolex!
Rolex Sea-Dweller 126600 - $13500
It wouldn’t be a list of dive watches without two Rolex’s, so here’s the one that did more of the same and then some. Story goes that, locked in competition with Rolex to build a truly deep-diving watch, Omega spent years creating a futuristic prototype that blew the minds of everyone who saw it. Rolex, meanwhile, fitted a thicker crystal and case back on the Submariner and called it a day. The modern $13,500 Sea-Dweller follows much the same principle, almost indistinguishable from its little brother save for a larger 43mm case, red branding on the dial, and of course, a whopping 1,220m of water-resistance.
Rolex Sea-Dweller Deepsea 116660 - $14500
It wouldn’t be a list of dive watches without three Rolex’s, so here’s an even beefier version of the Sea-Dweller for $14,500, the Deepsea. The 44mm case is as thick as a submarine’s hull and can take almost as much depth: a whopping 3,900m. That’s deep enough to really, really kill you if you tried to wear it. Nevertheless, the Deepsea goes another step further in cementing Rolex as the master of the deep, and is the true pinnacle of dive watches today. That is, unless you fancy wearing the 50mm wide, two-and-a-half centimetre thick Deepsea Challenge.
What’s your go-to dive watch and where do you think it fits in this list?
