Accurate diving style wrist watch..

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

johnboy

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Oct 2, 2003
2,258
5
Hamilton NZ
www.facebook.com
Hi,

I'm thinking of upgrading my wristwatch. I currently use for the most part either a simple and cheap Timex Camper or a Seiko Diver with the S726 movement.

What I'm after is something with the following points:

Waterproof to dive watch standards...
Accurate A lot more so than the seiko...
decent lume
Day and date
simple stainless steel case etc nothing garish or covered in gold etc.

Decent crystal.

Ive been looking at the seiko prospex range. A simple question I have is if you take the desirability of the big brand names out of the equation Omega, Rolex etc.. Is something like a Seiko prospex 'as good' technically as say a Rolex???

cheers

John
 

Imagedude

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 24, 2011
2,004
45
Gwynedd
I have 7 Seiko Divers' watches, all with a quartz movement. They are all accurate to 1 second per day or better.
 

JonathanD

Ophiological Genius
Sep 3, 2004
12,809
1,479
Stourton,UK
Seiko crystals are a million worlds away from the sapphire crystals Rolex use. As you'd expect really at the price point difference.

As Imagedude says, you can't get much more accurate than quartz watches. Unless you go for Breitlings SuperQuartz, which is accurate to +/- 15 seconds per year.
 

johnboy

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Oct 2, 2003
2,258
5
Hamilton NZ
www.facebook.com
Seiko crystals are a million worlds away from the sapphire crystals Rolex use. As you'd expect really at the price point difference.

As Imagedude says, you can't get much more accurate than quartz watches. Unless you go for Breitlings SuperQuartz, which is accurate to +/- 15 seconds per year.


So crystal aside is a seiko quartz movement fundamentally as accurate as a rolex or Omega etc???
 

Imagedude

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Feb 24, 2011
2,004
45
Gwynedd
A quartz movement will be much more accurate than a spring mechanism but is less glamorous.
 

santaman2000

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Jan 15, 2011
16,909
1,114
67
Florida
I suspect none of them are as accurate as an atomic watch (within one second every 60,000,000 years) Even Cascio make them now so the price should be reasonable. I don't know if they come in dive watches though.
 

Silverclaws

Forager
Jul 23, 2009
249
1
Plymouth, Devon
Beyond seiko if it is accuracy that is wanted in analogue form then it is the expensive names Rolex etc

But seiko are good that is why many divers spec them, except perhaps the kinetic seiko's, they still need attention at roughly ten year intervals as the accumulator inside needs to be changed. At one time it was a capacitor that was charged with movement, but they failed and leaked gumming up the mechanism, now it is a Lithium Ion cell, but they do not last forever as I know full well as my Seiko pepsi diver style is currently holding charge for no more than two days, it is in need of it's cell change after ten years of accuracy and continued operation. So with kinetics there is a problem, so my next watch will be a Seiko 5 movement automatic diver.
 

Lupin Rider

Full Member
Mar 15, 2009
290
0
uk
Hi,

I'm thinking of upgrading my wristwatch. I currently use for the most part either a simple and cheap Timex Camper or a Seiko Diver with the S726 movement.

What I'm after is something with the following points:

Waterproof to dive watch standards...
Accurate A lot more so than the seiko...
decent lume
Day and date
simple stainless steel case etc nothing garish or covered in gold etc.

Decent crystal.

Ive been looking at the seiko prospex range. A simple question I have is if you take the desirability of the big brand names out of the equation Omega, Rolex etc.. Is something like a Seiko prospex 'as good' technically as say a Rolex???

cheers

John

I moved from a seiko orange monster 7s26 to a green rolex submariner with the parachrom spring. The seiko can gain ten seconds in a day and only lasts 24 hours if not worn. The submariner is designed to the soca standard for accuracy but i have found that it has easily outperformed that as in six months it has only lost 30 seconds against a clock that radio tunes each day to the grenwich signal. The other thing is at the periphery of my hearing it sounds fantastic singing away in a tuneful chiming heartbeat song from the bedside table. I can hear it at nightime when all is quiet. Every time i look at it i remember my late mother and my last conversation with her so its sentimental as well. Regarding the crystals on a construction site i banged it damn hard (in a clumsy moment) on the end of a scaffolding pole on the crystal and it had no affect. awesome and very precious to me.
 
Last edited:

sandsnakes

Life Member
May 22, 2006
983
13
68
West London
Hi I did a dive course out in the Caribbean about ten years back and the instructor recommended this the Avia Pole Star. As you can see still going strong. The more modern version is the Mariner. The watch is pretty much bomb proof and keeps very, very good time. Very good price and very reliable, you can get a steel bracelet fitted for a £10 at a car boot. Depending where you buy it it comes out under the £60 mark. Interestingly it was the watch that the instructor used and the my American friends flashy 'rolex type' watch stopped working after the third dive. :lmao:

SandsnakesAviaPolarStar.jpgavia mariner.jpg
 
Last edited:
Sep 21, 2008
729
0
55
Dartmoor
I had a Seiko Diver which I totally loved until some gormless numpty of a watch mender broke it while changing the battery! 10 years later I still can't believe he did that <grumble grumble>

I now have the Seiko Kinetic Diver. No need for a battery change ever again.
 

Silverback 1

Native
Jun 27, 2009
1,216
0
64
WEST YORKSHIRE
Hi,
I'm thinking of upgrading my wristwatch. I currently use for the most part either a simple and cheap Timex Camper or a Seiko Diver with the S726 movement. What I'm after is something with the following points:
Waterproof to dive watch standards...
Accurate A lot more so than the seiko...
decent lume
Day and date
simple stainless steel case etc nothing garish or covered in gold etc.
Decent crystal.
Ive been looking at the seiko prospex range. A simple question I have is if you take the desirability of the big brand names out of the equation Omega, Rolex etc.. Is something like a Seiko prospex 'as good' technically as say a Rolex???
cheers
John

+1 0n the Citizen Eco-Drive, great value watches, battery free maintenance and a good choice, www.heinnie.com has some good models in stock including divers spec.
As usual the big question is budget, if you go to www.timefactors.co.uk there are some great Precista watches, mechanical and quartz, that offer premium quality with no frills at a good price, there are also other makes that may be of interest to you, i am waiting for the Speedbird PRS22 GMT to come back into stock and i will be having one.
Hope this helps.
 
Depends are you actually looking for a Dive watch to dive with or a Dive watch to wear in the pub as Bling

For diving dont bother use a Dive computer and have a second one as back up (proper one not a watch which has some dive computer capability they have to small a read out

For a watch which I rarely wear I use a Traser they are in the few hundred ££s so more than the cheapos but not up there with the Big £££££ bling stuff

I also only get my Traser done by the UK Traser watch smith Graeme Green as hes just down the road and even tho I dont wear it under water often he does full pressure testing after any back off work. (its been quite happy at 50m or actually worse as there isnt enough pressure to compress the seals fully at 5m for long dives teaching)

ATB

Duncan
 

ebt.

Nomad
Mar 20, 2012
262
0
Brighton, UK
I now have the Seiko Kinetic Diver. No need for a battery change ever again.

I had one of these for a while, but bizarrely the slight whirring noise you get when you move your arm kept waking me up at night. Im the kind of guy who'll sleep through normal noise, but anything 'sneaky sounding' makes me stir :)
 

dave53

On a new journey
Jan 30, 2010
2,993
11
70
wales
hi all imo rolex and omega of which i own both are time pieces and accuracy isn't there fortes they are both automatics and are mechanical if i wanted a watch that kept good time i would be looking at crystal or safire run watches just my opinion regards dave
 

Firefly1

Member
Jun 20, 2012
28
0
North Wales
Sep 21, 2008
729
0
55
Dartmoor
I had one of these for a while, but bizarrely the slight whirring noise you get when you move your arm kept waking me up at night. Im the kind of guy who'll sleep through normal noise, but anything 'sneaky sounding' makes me stir :)


Are you sure? Mine makes no noise at all :confused:
 

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE