I have been looking at dive watches and seeing what's out there at the 3k or less price range. Dive watches are the largest segment of watches when you consider all the different brands including the affordable watch market and mid-tier brands. There is also no doubt when it comes to diving watches Rolex Submariner is the icon, it is not the first, nor did Rolex invent the dive watch but no one can argue that there are hundreds of watches that pay homage or outright copy the design of the Submariner. There are other watches like Blancpain 50 Fathoms that can claim they manufactured the first dive watch and then there are others like Omega with its own icon the Seamaster, Doxa and than their is Seiko who has made a huge contribution to the dive watch.
For people like me, I will never be able to afford a Submariner, I do own an Omega SMP 3000 Chronograph but I rarely wear the watch because it is not very comfortable due to its heft, the watch is like a tank. I do own a Seiko Orange Monster a first generation it is a nice watch but does not excite me all that much, I can't complain as it was given top me for free by a fellow watch enthusiast. Now I do own watches that have adequate water resistance to engage in water activities like my Seiko Alpinist, Marice Lacroix Aikon, and my Yema Bronze GMT Superman, each has 20 bar water resistance but they are not per say diving watches.
So I have been looking at divers from many brands Zelos, Axios, Seiko, Longines, Mido, Oris, Tag Huer to name just a few. There are so many watch brands with so many divers you could spend days going through all the different watch brands. There are divers that follow the same formula with external bezels like the majrotiy of dive watches, some with internal bezels that are manipulated by a second crown like the Longines legacy diver, JLC Polaris and Mausrice Lacroix Pontos diver. External bezels can be aluminum, sapphire, and ceramic. In the under 3k you can find Stainless steel, and Bronze cases and. maybe an old vintage diver in solid gold but that would be hard to come by.
I do like some microbrands and they offer very value-oriented watches with great specifications but they just do not seem like a long-term proposition for me, if I spend five hundred bucks for a microbrand with a Seiko movement, am I really going to have it serviced in ten years when it starts losing time, or just throw it away and buy another. I have Seikos, Orient Star, and a Yema and I wonder if I will ever pay a few hundred for service or just shelve them when they no longer keep accurate time. I am the type of collector that does not flip watches, every one of my watches was not purchased impulsively. I have always researched and made watch comparisons when buying a watch, and that is why buying a dive watch is such a hard proposition when the amount of product out there is so vast.
There are many watch brands that I would love to own, but out of my price range like Breitling, Omega, Zenith, JLC, Rolex, Piaget, etc So as I stated above I am sticking to new watches that can be found for under 2.5k range, I would make Rolex or Tudor an exception to buy pre owned at the under 2.5k but that is not a reality
These are the brands I am choosing from
Seiko Marine master if I could found at a good price. The problem with Seikos is they have so many to choose from
Tuna, Samarai, Sumo, Marine Master, I can go on with all the Seiko dive watches. Choosing the right Seiko is like choosing a needle in a haystack
Certina watches nice watches pretty much with the same styling queues as the Submariner.
Longines has many models from Conquest, Hydroconquest, and Heritage lines, they are priced right and they have a great movement. Now the problem with Longines is that they kind of steal the design queues of other watches, like their hands are too similar to the Tudor snowflake for instance but even so nice watches at a good price.
Maurice Lacroix Pontos Diver is a really nice watch but a bit at the upper end but if I found one at a good price definitely be under consideration. I am not so much a fan of the internal rotating bezel.
Tag Huer: Great design with one cavaet, same movement as most Swiss mid-tier watches using Sellitta movements, on average they are pricier than others on the list with the exception of Tudor. Top of my list of choices with Oris. There is one negative about the Tag and that is the cyclops why did the f&*^ did they ruin the dial with a cyclops.
Tissot Nice watches but none of their models really excites me. Good prices
Tudor: If I had the money a Black Bay would be my first choice and do not even mention a Pelagos I would love to own a Pelagos but I am not going to spend over 3k. I looked in the pre-owned market and like Rolex Tudor does maintain its values I could not find a Black Bay or Pelagos under 3.8k
Mido: Nice looking watches and a strong competitor with Longines Hydroconquest but inferior movements to the Hydroconquest. most not all of their watches come with a day-date complication and I detest day-date complications on dive watches. Midos are nice but just do not stick out from the crowd
Alpina: Better than Mido very competitive with Longines
Doxa: I love Doxa watches they are eye-catching and definitely a conversation piece and they come in some really nice colors like tiffany blue, fluorescent yellow, red, and oranges. The problem with this is that I do not think they would be a daily wearer. I love tiffany blue but I do not think I would like to wear it every day. The price is at the top of the list but more affordable than Tag and Tudor.
Rado Captian Cook is a nice watch, many are priced right and have unique styling, definitely under consideration
Sinn I really like Sinn but they are more then what I want to spend and you can't find them discounted anywhere. They are also big and heavy. The U1 is in the running but the diameter is 44mm and 14mm off the wrist which are both negatives.
Now at the top of my list
Oris: Oris offers a large offering in the diver arena from the Oris Diver to the Oris Aquis. Most of the watches I like from Oris are priced higher than the Longines but they offer quite a bit more for the price increase. At the top of the Oris divers is the Aquis. Now Aqui comes with two diffewrent movements at two different prices. The one I am interested in ios the one with its own manufactured movement. The Oris of interest is a really beautiful modern styled watch at 41.5mm and 13.5. high off the wrist. It has an extremely beautiful gradient blue dial. it reminds me of what Zelos is doing with its dials but with its own unique styling and like Doxa does not borrow from other brands. The Oris like Rolex and Tudor uses screwed-in bracelet links and a ceramic bezel. With Oris's own manufactured movement, you are now competing with Tudor. This new Oris movement comes with a ten-year warranty, ten-year service interval, a double barrel movement which has a five-day power reserve, a 28,8000 BPH high beat movement, it has a see-through case back where you can see the movement and if you hold the watch at a certain angle you could see that the movement resembles a bear the Oris mascot with the double barrels resembling bears ears, two blued screws looking like the eyes and the rotor resembling a smiling mouth. Now the negatives, this watch is an integrated watch which means you are limited to only swapping straps with Oris, this may bother some people but the bracelet is top notch and so are the Oris rubber straps. The next problem is the price I wanted to keep the price under 2k where Longines Rado and Mido live, this particular watch retails at thirty-five hundred dollars but is heavily discounted at grey market sellers at under 2.4k and even discounted at ADs, no one pays full retail for this watch.
So now I continue my search
So far on my shortlist are Oris Aquis with the new 400 movement, Rado Captain Cook, the Longines Hydrocoinquest, Sinn, If I can find a Tudor Black Bay at an affordable price. The Oris is definitely in the lead but the price is stopping it from being the clear winner. I am still looking at other brands I might have missed.
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For people like me, I will never be able to afford a Submariner, I do own an Omega SMP 3000 Chronograph but I rarely wear the watch because it is not very comfortable due to its heft, the watch is like a tank. I do own a Seiko Orange Monster a first generation it is a nice watch but does not excite me all that much, I can't complain as it was given top me for free by a fellow watch enthusiast. Now I do own watches that have adequate water resistance to engage in water activities like my Seiko Alpinist, Marice Lacroix Aikon, and my Yema Bronze GMT Superman, each has 20 bar water resistance but they are not per say diving watches.
So I have been looking at divers from many brands Zelos, Axios, Seiko, Longines, Mido, Oris, Tag Huer to name just a few. There are so many watch brands with so many divers you could spend days going through all the different watch brands. There are divers that follow the same formula with external bezels like the majrotiy of dive watches, some with internal bezels that are manipulated by a second crown like the Longines legacy diver, JLC Polaris and Mausrice Lacroix Pontos diver. External bezels can be aluminum, sapphire, and ceramic. In the under 3k you can find Stainless steel, and Bronze cases and. maybe an old vintage diver in solid gold but that would be hard to come by.
I do like some microbrands and they offer very value-oriented watches with great specifications but they just do not seem like a long-term proposition for me, if I spend five hundred bucks for a microbrand with a Seiko movement, am I really going to have it serviced in ten years when it starts losing time, or just throw it away and buy another. I have Seikos, Orient Star, and a Yema and I wonder if I will ever pay a few hundred for service or just shelve them when they no longer keep accurate time. I am the type of collector that does not flip watches, every one of my watches was not purchased impulsively. I have always researched and made watch comparisons when buying a watch, and that is why buying a dive watch is such a hard proposition when the amount of product out there is so vast.
There are many watch brands that I would love to own, but out of my price range like Breitling, Omega, Zenith, JLC, Rolex, Piaget, etc So as I stated above I am sticking to new watches that can be found for under 2.5k range, I would make Rolex or Tudor an exception to buy pre owned at the under 2.5k but that is not a reality
These are the brands I am choosing from
Seiko Marine master if I could found at a good price. The problem with Seikos is they have so many to choose from
Tuna, Samarai, Sumo, Marine Master, I can go on with all the Seiko dive watches. Choosing the right Seiko is like choosing a needle in a haystack
Certina watches nice watches pretty much with the same styling queues as the Submariner.
Longines has many models from Conquest, Hydroconquest, and Heritage lines, they are priced right and they have a great movement. Now the problem with Longines is that they kind of steal the design queues of other watches, like their hands are too similar to the Tudor snowflake for instance but even so nice watches at a good price.
Maurice Lacroix Pontos Diver is a really nice watch but a bit at the upper end but if I found one at a good price definitely be under consideration. I am not so much a fan of the internal rotating bezel.
Tag Huer: Great design with one cavaet, same movement as most Swiss mid-tier watches using Sellitta movements, on average they are pricier than others on the list with the exception of Tudor. Top of my list of choices with Oris. There is one negative about the Tag and that is the cyclops why did the f&*^ did they ruin the dial with a cyclops.
Tissot Nice watches but none of their models really excites me. Good prices
Tudor: If I had the money a Black Bay would be my first choice and do not even mention a Pelagos I would love to own a Pelagos but I am not going to spend over 3k. I looked in the pre-owned market and like Rolex Tudor does maintain its values I could not find a Black Bay or Pelagos under 3.8k
Mido: Nice looking watches and a strong competitor with Longines Hydroconquest but inferior movements to the Hydroconquest. most not all of their watches come with a day-date complication and I detest day-date complications on dive watches. Midos are nice but just do not stick out from the crowd
Alpina: Better than Mido very competitive with Longines
Doxa: I love Doxa watches they are eye-catching and definitely a conversation piece and they come in some really nice colors like tiffany blue, fluorescent yellow, red, and oranges. The problem with this is that I do not think they would be a daily wearer. I love tiffany blue but I do not think I would like to wear it every day. The price is at the top of the list but more affordable than Tag and Tudor.
Rado Captian Cook is a nice watch, many are priced right and have unique styling, definitely under consideration
Sinn I really like Sinn but they are more then what I want to spend and you can't find them discounted anywhere. They are also big and heavy. The U1 is in the running but the diameter is 44mm and 14mm off the wrist which are both negatives.
Now at the top of my list
Oris: Oris offers a large offering in the diver arena from the Oris Diver to the Oris Aquis. Most of the watches I like from Oris are priced higher than the Longines but they offer quite a bit more for the price increase. At the top of the Oris divers is the Aquis. Now Aqui comes with two diffewrent movements at two different prices. The one I am interested in ios the one with its own manufactured movement. The Oris of interest is a really beautiful modern styled watch at 41.5mm and 13.5. high off the wrist. It has an extremely beautiful gradient blue dial. it reminds me of what Zelos is doing with its dials but with its own unique styling and like Doxa does not borrow from other brands. The Oris like Rolex and Tudor uses screwed-in bracelet links and a ceramic bezel. With Oris's own manufactured movement, you are now competing with Tudor. This new Oris movement comes with a ten-year warranty, ten-year service interval, a double barrel movement which has a five-day power reserve, a 28,8000 BPH high beat movement, it has a see-through case back where you can see the movement and if you hold the watch at a certain angle you could see that the movement resembles a bear the Oris mascot with the double barrels resembling bears ears, two blued screws looking like the eyes and the rotor resembling a smiling mouth. Now the negatives, this watch is an integrated watch which means you are limited to only swapping straps with Oris, this may bother some people but the bracelet is top notch and so are the Oris rubber straps. The next problem is the price I wanted to keep the price under 2k where Longines Rado and Mido live, this particular watch retails at thirty-five hundred dollars but is heavily discounted at grey market sellers at under 2.4k and even discounted at ADs, no one pays full retail for this watch.
So now I continue my search
So far on my shortlist are Oris Aquis with the new 400 movement, Rado Captain Cook, the Longines Hydrocoinquest, Sinn, If I can find a Tudor Black Bay at an affordable price. The Oris is definitely in the lead but the price is stopping it from being the clear winner. I am still looking at other brands I might have missed.
