The definitive guide: Buying the right dive watch

Considering how few people actually dive, the sheer immensity of options in terms of dive watches is staggering. Every watchmaker worth their salt has something in their collection that approximates a dive watch. And it makes sense. Dive watches are often incredibly versatile. They work well as divers, of course, but also at the pool, at the pub, but honestly, these days, they also work under a cuff in a boardroom. Today, I'm going to share my thoughts on the four kinds of dive watches you'll typically encounter, their strengths, their weaknesses, and for each of the four categories, watches at different price points that are excellent examples of what you can and should reasonably expect to get. There are four kinds of dive watches, and they operate on two axes. On the one axis, you have the continuum from luxury dive watch to tool dive watch. On the other, you have the conventional and the unconventional dive watch. This gives us four quadrants, luxury and conventional. That's your desk diver. A premium dive watch, which has details finishing and design cues that lends itself to a more formal and less functional environment. These are watches that will often have ceramic or polished bezels. The dials could have sun rays or other layouts that aren't purely functional. Cases are going to have polish to them, and in a lot of cases, there will be aesthetic choices that have nothing to do with functionality. Luxury and unconventional. These are what I call the aesthetic divers. These watches have all the luxury signifiers of desk divers, but the designs are far more out there. Things like skeletonization or unconventional case shapes creep in to deliver a watch that is meant to stand out. These watches are meant to be noticed and potentially thought of as conversation starters. Quadrant three is the conventional tool watch. It looks like a simple, unassuming diver, and this is what most people would call a dive watch. The case is usually going to be brushed. There's not going to be a lot of showing of the materials or detailing. The case, the bracelet, and design conventions are middle of the road and broadly appealing. This is your every man's dive watch. Quadrant four, your unconventional tool watch. This is still very much a functional watch focused on actual dive capability, but with aesthetic twists that go outside of the norm. It's different case shapes, it's different approaches to dials, it's helium escape valves, it's internal bezels, and they are all in service of function. This is the space where you see brands coming up with designs in search of something that makes for, and in their eyes, even better actual dive watch. This is the most conventional luxury desk diver there is. It's the Blancpain 50 Fathoms. It's one of the ur dive watches with a history dating back to around the middle of the last century. It has all the looks of a premium desk diver. There are no helium escape valves, there are no quirky crown guards. It's a simple black dialed watch, or in some cases with a sunray. It's got a premium glossy bezel, it's got high legibility, it's got simple styling, and it's got a premium high quality bracelet. It's $22,000 in the 42 millimeter steel model, which is a lot. The case detailing for a watch like this is top notch, but I think the thing that people don't fully appreciate is the movement inside. It's got 120 hours of power reserve, which is the same as the $5,000 IWC Mark 20 movement, but those two movements are not the same. The Blancpain movement has a triple barrel layout, which does three big things that a movement like the one in the IWC just doesn't. First, you get a much more consistent torque curve for the entire power range. That means the accuracy is going to be consistent regardless of whether the watch is fully wound or almost running on empty. Second, accuracy is going to be much higher. This watch regularly performs to close to plus to minus one second per day accuracy. It's not that important in the day to day, but it's a massive technical achievement. Lastly, the movement has a relatively higher shock resistance compared to cheaper movements. It's just incredibly robust. Also a much nicer finished movement. 22K is expensive and it's probably higher than it needs to be, but this is a darned good watch. At even less than half the price, the Rolex Submariner is also not cheap, but for those that care about such things, it's likely going to hold its value a lot better than the Blancpain. The Submariner is a true icon and probably the most recognizable luxury dive watch in the world. It's also probably among the most cloned, copied, replicated, and homaged watches out there. That's the power of the Rolex and the Submariner. It's not an exciting watch because it's not designed to be. In steel, you get a black no date option, a black date option, and then there's the rare green bezel option. The dial's black, the plots are white, the lume is blue, the bracelet is excellent, and the movement is accurate. It has more than enough power reserve for most people. It's a watch that at its core has evolved into what I sometimes describe as boring, but I would also call it a blank canvas. The reason being, this is a watch that is designed to be appealing to anybody that just wants a good watch. It's the Mercedes E-Class. It's the BMW 5 Series of dive watches. It does not have a lot of its own personality. It does not make any profound statements. It doesn't try to be quirky, but what it does, it does better than most other dive watches, and that's why so many people want to own one. If you're new here and aren't subscribed, then click the subscribe button now. Thank you so much, it's really appreciated. You can get a Tudor for $5,000, but I'm not going into detail with a not quite Rolex, more affordable Tudor alternative. Instead, we're dropping all the way down to under $3,000 for a Longines Hydroconquest. Apart from the status of the Rolex logo, this watch does most of what the Rolex can. It's not quite as accurate. It's not quite as robust movement, not white gold hour markers, but it's got a ceramic bezel. It's got a black dial. It's got high legibility. It's got a premium look and feel. It's got a decent, but not class-leading clasp. Even non-experts would readily notice the difference from a watch like this to a Rolex, but absent of the Rolex, most people would also conclude that this is a really good watch. As the price goes down, it does get harder to find luxury desk divers. By definition, a $20 watch is just not going to communicate luxury in the same way as a $10,000 Rolex, but Christopher Ward in their classic C60 tried and offered a desk diver that is half the price of a Longines and in my opinion, better in some ways and inferior and only very few. What's better? The bezel play is more precise. Now, what's worse? You get a better movement in terms of power reserve and accuracy in the Longines movement. The SW200 in the Christopher Ward is a good workhorse movement, but the ETA movement that Longines uses is just better on most parameters. Under 500 divers, you don't see a lot of diver watches trying to live up to the luxury desk diver aesthetic. They don't because it's usually not that convincing from an execution standpoint or from a positioning standpoint, but also because this price point just lends itself more to a more tool and more functional aesthetic. But the Orient Mako does come close to a luxury style desk diver. The 40 millimeter Mako doesn't have a ceramic bezel. It's the only suggestion I have that doesn't have the black bezel, but the choice of sunray dial, the relative thinness of the case, the slight understatedness, that's not a word, but I just made it up, level of knurling on the bezel makes for a watch that's a little softer in its look than something like a Citizen Fujitsu bow, which comes across as much more tool forward. Pop of color on the seconds hands and the choice of different color sunray dials also gives this watch a bit of that premium feel you're looking for. You'll be paying in the vicinity of $500 or less for this watch, but it's every bit worthy of consideration. I like the luxe unusual space because where the desk divers try not to have any personality of their own, the watches in the unusual space are all trying to say something. The highest end example of this is the Ulysse Nardin Air. At $40,000, you need to have a special level of disregard for your purchase if you're willing to go diving with this thing. It's 44 millimeters, it's titanium, it has 200 meters of water resistance. It's every bit a diver, at least so far, but it's skeletonized, which is hopeless for legibility. I would also question the shock resistance of a movement that is so delicate in its construction. There's no stable base plate or barrel bridge to hold everything in place. I would also be completely uncomfortable with this watch being exposed to shock, no matter what the manufacturer says, but it screams cool. It screams, look at me. It screams, I have a yacht and a helicopter. And sometimes instead of landing the helicopter on the yacht, I just jump straight out of my helicopter and I swim to the yacht. I've wrestled a Marlin with my bare hands and I only sniff cocaine from the breasts of the finest prostitutes. My point is that this is an extravagant, attention-seeking watch, but also for someone that cares about things like movements and movement aesthetics. It's a fabulous watch. And Ulysse Nodin, who I did not like when they were doing gold bricks that looked like something that came out of Louis XIV's collection, they're now doing something really cool and edgy. Zenith has their mini Hublot line in the Defy Extreme models. These are big, brash watches made to be noticed. This is also an integrated watch. And at $12,000, this is absurdly expensive. I don't think the price is justified at all, but very few watches at this price point really are. It's something else you're paying for. It's not going to hold its value like a 10k Rolex. It doesn't have a feature set that justifies a 12k price tag, but it's really a good watch. On a NATO strap, this watch is unwearable. The integrated lugs, which are removable, when you put the NATO on, it makes the watch sit super high on the wrist, but on a bracelet or the rubber strap, this watch looks absolutely stunning. It has got a bit of that Royal Oak Offshore kind of vibe, but it offers a lot more flexibility and it's just more fun in its design. For this buyer, it's not yachts, helicopters, and cocaine. I'm thinking it's more a fast and furious design. It's manly, it's youthful, it's party, it's fun. The Omega Ploprof is usually in the tool unusual space, but with a number of significant changes, this watch presents as a far more luxury offering than its predecessors. It's got a gradated smoky blue dial. It's got a duotone color scheme, which detracts on legibility compared to the older models that prioritized colors like orange for that pop you wanted. And it's got a case that has been polished in multiple places that just make this watch shinier and more ostentatious. I'm a big fan of this watch because it's such a paradox. It's pure tool watch history with luxe aesthetic choices. It's big, it's brash, but it doesn't have any of those baller vibes that the Zenith and the Ulysse Nardin do. For a lot of people, its thickness makes it unwearable, but honestly, it's not much worse than some of the full-size G-Shock Mudmasters. $16,000 is a price that only the Omega intern can come up with, so going secondary is probably a better idea. Not every unusual diver has to look bonkers. The Nomos Ahoy actually goes in the opposite direction and forces you to ask the question, if any watch just has 200 or more meters of depth rating, is it a dive watch, even if it has no bezel? Nomos position it as their everyday all-rounder watch. It's got crown guards, it's got 200 meters of water resistance, and they market it as suitable for diving. Personally, I'd probably only dive in the sense of jump off boat, swim to surface, climb back on boat, so not so much in the sense of goofy flippers and goggle face. At $5,000, you get a lot of watch for your money. The owner of this watch knows what a skiff is. If you have a boat, it's not a yacht. It's one of those mahogany wood runner-bound style boats where the women wear summer dresses, big sunglasses, and even bigger hats. The men wear boat shoes and they tie their shirts around their necks in that oh-so-preppy Hamptons kind of way. The last watch is the Yamaha Superman Slim. It's $2,500. Maybe not the quirkiest watch in the world, but it has its moments. The scale type bracelet is rarely seen in the wild, and it is what sets this watch apart from a lot of other three-link braceleted watches. The case itself is a classic take on the skin diver type watches that a lot of people find appealing. It's got that luxe vibe to it, but the small, maybe inconsequential to some addition of the bezel lock mechanism just gives it enough of a twist for me to put it on the unusual end of the continuum. In addition, Yamaha also have their own in-house caliber inside, and it's one of the best-looking ones at this price point. It has a black DLC-type coating, which is nothing like the horde of steel gray movements out there. The textured coating is a super delightful departure from those classic movement design conventions. There's a traversing balance bridge, which both technically has some advantages in addition to adding to the aesthetics of the movement. A micro-rotor is always cool. It's not technically a hyper-complex movement, which is a good thing in the sense that it doesn't have a lot of stuff that makes it prone to inconsistency of performance or makes it more fragile. It looks good, and it gives you something more than a stock Sellita Everwell. It's ultra-thin, which helps on the overall watch dimensions. It's got 70 hours of power reserve, and it's accurate to plus three and minus seven seconds of accuracy. When you get to the tool regular space, you'll see that the high end kind of disappears from the conversation for obvious reasons, while the low end really delivers, and you see an expansion of options. If I get criticized for lumping a Breitling watch into the tool category, I wouldn't hold it against that person. Breitling's claim to fame, even today, is not necessarily blingy, but it's flashier and more statement-style pieces. But the Superocean, not the Superocean Heritage, in particular, on a strap, less so on their three-link bracelet, feels quite tool-watchy once you get it on the wrist. Their overall design choices on this model compared to Rolex and the Submariner make for a bulkier, more angular, and chunkier watch that just signals function more than form. The case is chunky. There's a mirrored guard-style protrusion on the left side of the case. The dial uses strong contrasting colors on a lot of versions, and the blocky hands really help with legibility. It's 42 millimeters. It's got a decent power reserve. It's just under $6,000, give or take a tariff or two. This is a brilliant example of a tool-forward diver. Seiko makes an entrance with the SPB453, which is one of the 62MAS interpretations. It's not quite the skin diver that the more premium SJE093 is, but this is an incredibly capable diver which has everything you want from a tool-forward watch. It's not flashy in any way. The aluminum insert bezel keeps things real. The case doesn't have a lot of beveled edges, and the ones that are are really thin. It sticks pretty consistently to that skin diver aesthetic. The only thing really missing is a domed crystal. The dials are matte black. The lume plots are applied. The hands are simple. The watch is entirely monotone, and it's a Seiko bracelet, and what more can I say, $1,300? That's pretty decent. Citizen have the Fujitsubo. It's titanium, not steel. It's even more simply finished than the SPB453. It's got no drilled lugs, which is a shame, but I'll survive. It's got a 60-click bezel instead of 120-click bezel. The bezel knurling is a bit softer, but you have to love a watch the story of how one was found at the bottom of the ocean, caked in coral, and was still functioning. The watch is usually a couple of hundred dollars cheaper than the Seiko, but I think it would be a tight race in terms of which one more often is perceived as best. On pure looks, I lean slightly more towards the Seiko, but the bracelet on the Citizen is way better with more adjustment options. The Fujitsubo is a hugely accomplished design and every bit a worthy addition to a tool watch collection. Unimatic watches can be bought for down to $400 or $500. They get the price that low by doing three things. The case and the overall aesthetic is super minimalist. They're usually entirely sandblasted with no money spent on chamfering or polishing of any kind. The movements will often be quartz, and there's usually not a steel bracelet. The quartz UT1 will set you back barely $600, and the key buying proposition for the Unimatic watches is their extreme minimalist design. If it was a building, it would be somewhere in the realm of Bauhaus or brutalism. In cars, it would be a Volvo. It's square, it's practical, it's safe. It's got 300 meters of water resistance and a watch that gets the most out of something incredibly simple. Invicta make watches with designs that force you to ask the question, should people who have been chomping mushrooms nonstop for decades be allowed near heavy machinery? Psychedelic monstrosities is a part of Invicta's claim to fame. Compared to any other watch I've spoken about in this video, they are objectively not good. The movement qualifies as a movement. The crystal is called Flame Fusion, and I don't know what that is, but it's a cooler name than Land Dweller. The depth rating is maybe, and the dial is Rolex Submariner adjacent. The bezel, last time I handled one, has enough play to pass an oil tanker through it. And the Invicta logo on the side is just as classy as the Blancpain logo on the case lengths of the Fifty Feathers. But this watch is surprisingly solid given the $70 price. Also, in theory, I suppose it should be a luxury style watch with polished center links and all, but the point of this watch is to get it bashed up. If your parking brake on your car isn't working, you can use the watch as a wedge to ensure that it doesn't roll away. Just, you know, it's a fun watch. The FXD, that's the chewed I'm putting on this list. The main thing that makes it unusual is fixed lugs. There's no steel bracelet possible. It's pass-through only. The FXD is my favorite Tudor dive watch. It's a tool watch, it's solid, it's completely capable, and it has a personality because of those fixed lugs. It's 42 millimeters. It makes for a bigger watch by today's standards, but you want this watch to be a little bit bigger. It's not for the fainter part. It's for wannabe Navy SEALs and men who wear camo, but not wraparound Oakleys. Those men, they wear G-Shocks, but camo or khaki plus some level of comfort with using a firearm. Then you're in the ballpark of the type of person this watch is aimed at. It's masculine, it's effortless, and it's $5,000. It's relatively decent value. The blue and black are my favorite. The GMT, less so because of the Fortina, but I would go for it in a pinch. Zinn might not always be as great value as they used to be, but they do have one of my favorite non-standard tool watch divers of all time. It's the U50. Both the black SDR model and the Hydro, which is filled with oil, which makes servicing a little bit more of a chore, but not by much. More importantly, it allows the watch to go to 500 meters of depth without needing to make the watch thicker. The crown is offset at the 430 position. The case is made out of submarine steel, and depending on the model, it's also tegimented, which makes it harder or something. There's no bezel insert. It's a bezel mechanism that is one integrated piece of metal. It's also affixed to the case so it can't pop off. The thing you're going to instantly notice when handling it the first time is how dense this watch feels. There's no lightness to this watch that you get from so many others, and of all the watches on this list, this is the only one where I would dare throw it at a wall and still be confident that it might still work. It feels that solid. 2,600 is a lot, but as I explained in a video a few months back, Zinn put money in things that people don't immediately value, things like the solid affixed bezel instead of an aluminum insert, the tegimenting process. It doesn't have the same value to a lot of people as an easy-adjust mechanism on a bracelet, but it's a meaningful feature in the context of what Zinn are trying to deliver. Doxa and the 300T are in the ballpark price range of Zinn watches from, you know, in the mid-thousands to just under $3,000, depending on the model and configuration. They have the Doxa-specific case shape. They use a flat-top, stiff-click bezel construction and high legibility dials. The Doxa 300T is a design that signals that you might actually be talking to a person who hasn't just snorkeled on the surface somewhere in Krabi, but has actually got a PADI certificate and an up-to-date dive log with years and years of dives to his or her name. It's not a desk diver, doesn't work with a suit, but it communicates competence in diving. It communicates credibility and it communicates an outdoor persona, especially the orange one. To me, it's a genius example of a true diver with design decisions that were made to optimize for diving. The grippiness of the bezel, the bright colors, the raised bezel, the case, which allows for a big dial and bezel, but an overall small case footprint. The beads of Rice Bracelet 2 has a built-in extension system that is functional and effective. You are easily going to have extension enough to fit the watch over a wetsuit. Casio have the Frogman, which like the Mudmaster are the premium extreme G-Shocks, and I don't like them. They're way too big and they are not good looking. The Mudmaster I like because it comes across as more balanced. The Frogman just doesn't. The GW 7900 though is a far more balanced design. It's also not as chunky as those big boy G-Shocks. $200 gets you 200 meters of water resistance. It's got a digital display. It's got a tide indicator. It's solar charging, so you never have to think about changing the battery. It's got a stiff resin strap that does soften a little bit over time, but buttons everywhere. And these are ones that are not fingernail squishy, which is a technical term. And it's just cool. If you own this watch, you are familiar with the experience of rib boats and high speeds in high seas. And that very, very special smash landing that impacts through your feet and up through your spine into the base of your skull. You also know the feeling of attempting a swimmer pickup and being dragged along the side of the boat with the salt ocean being blasted up your nostrils. It's not as fun as I make it sound, mind you, but if you've tried it, you've tried it. This is a phenomenal little watch. There are a million more dives out there. I can't and don't intend to mention them all, but these were the ones that I think are great options, ones that I would personally choose and ones that for different reasons are excellent starting points for comparison. So you can see what you can reasonably expect at a given price point. Share your ideas in the comments as well. I hope you enjoyed the video. And remember that your watch might work at 300 meters of depth, but you likely won't. Like, subscribe.