The 15 Best Diving Watches According To 1500 Participants
1500 watch fans were able to make a selection out of 40 diving watches in the price categories up to 1000 Euro, 1001 – 2500 Euro, 2501 – 5000 Euro and over 5000 Euro. Furthermore, there was an extra category for quartz watches only. Our colleagues from the German WatchTime executed a survey among their readers and we thought it would be nice to share the results.
In each category, you will find the three models that received most votes. Of course, as this survey was held on a German language platform, you will see that there is a slight preference for German brands some times.
Top 3 Diving Watches – Up to 1000 Euro
#1 Glycine Combat Sub (493 votes)
The Glycine Combat Sub is a 42mm stainless steel diving watch with screw-down crown and uses an ETA2824 self-winding movement. Retail price is €998 Euro.
#2 Victorinox Maverick Mechanical (448 votes)
This Victorinox Maverick Mechanical has a 43mm stainless steel case. The watch uses an ETA2824 self-winding movement and has a retail price of €825 Euro.
#3 Limes Endurance II (372 votes)
The Limes Endurance II has a 42mm stainless steel case and uses a Sellita SW200 self-winding movement (which is more or less identical to the ETA2824). Retail price of this Limes diving watch is €865 Euro.
Diving Watches 1001 – 2500 Euro
#1 Stowa Seatime Black Forest Edition (391 votes)
The Stowa Seatime Black Forest edition has a uni-directional bezel with ‘Dynadots’, to indicate 15 minutes. The watch has a 42mm titanium case and uses an ETA2836 self-winding movement. Retail price is €1390,- Euro
#2 TAG Heuer Aquaracer 300M Calibre 5 (381 votes)
This TAG Heuer Aquaracer 300M has a 41mm stainless steel case and uses the ETA2824 self-winding movement. This watch comes either with a stainless steel bracelet as pictured, or using a black softstrap with folding clasp. Price starts at €2300 Euro.
#3 Fortis B-42 Marinemaster Day/Date (184 votes)
The Fortis B-42 Marinemaster Day/Date uses an ETA2836 movement and is able to indicate day and date on the dial. The 42mm stainless steel case has an easy to grasp uni-directional bezel with a luminous dot at 12 o’clock. This Fortis B-42 retails for €1550 Euro.
Diving Watches 2501 – 5000 Euro
#1 Tudor Pelagos (330 Votes)
The Tudor Pelagos is equipped with the in-house Tudor caliber MT5612 movement since this year. This also means that the movement has been chronometer certified by COSC. This 42mm Tudor watch retails for 4110 Euro and comes with a titanium bracelet as well as this rubber strap (as pictured above).
#2 Sinn T1 B (254 Votes)
The 45mm titanium Sinn 1T B was featured in one of our recent articles by Michael Stockton. Inside, a self-winding Soprod caliber A10 has been fitted. The Sinn 1T B comes on a blue rubber strap and retails for €2800 Euro.
#3 Oris Aquis Depth Gauge Chronograph (177 Votes)
Oris features a mechanical depth-gauge in this big 48mm chronograph model. The watch uses a Sellita SW500 self-winding movement and has pushers that can be used in the water as well. This Oris Aquis Depth Gauge Chronograph retails at €4700 Euro and comes with a rubber strap as well as a stainless steel bracelet.
Diving Watches Over 5000 Euro
#1 Rolex DeepSea Sea-Dweller (484 votes)
The Rolex DeepSea Sea-Dweller with D-Blue dial is a €10,700 Euro timepiece but hardly available due to the demand. It is a slight modification on the already existing black dial DeepSea model that was introduced a couple of years ago. The 44mm stainless steel case has a titanium case back, an automatic helium valve and of course the in-house caliber 3135 movement inside. The sapphire crystal is 5mm thick and ensures the watch is ready to go 3900 meters deep.
#2 Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe (189 votes)
This new Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe measures 43,6mm in diameter and the case has been made of black ceramic. Inside, Blancpain installed the in-house caliber 1315 movement with anti-magnetic silicium spring. This Blancpain retails for €11880 Euro.
#3 Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback Automatic Titanio (141 votes)
Robert-Jan recently did an in-depth review of the Panerai Luminor Submersible 1950 3 Days Chrono Flyback Automatic Titanio. An amazing watch with a 47mm titanium case and a black ceramic uni-directional bezel. This Panerai PAM00615 uses the in-house P9.100 caliber movement and has a 3-days power reserve and flyback function. This watch retails at €16600 Euro.
Diving Watches – The Quartz Models
One could say that it makes no sense to take very expensive watches with you in the water. A watch – and its movement – needs to be reliable, so why shouldn’t quartz pieces be included? Although a lot of watch collectors and enthusiasts have a healthy restraint on quartz watches, we see no harm in giving them some love as well. We own a couple ourselves ! 🙂
#1 Citizen Promaster Marine (471 votes)
This Citizen diving watch retails for €199 Euro and in return you will receive this 44mm stainless steel watch that is water resistant to 200 meters and has been ISO6425 certified. Inside there is the Eco-Drive technology that doesn’t require a battery change but instead, charges the battery using artificial and sun light. A relatively cheap professional tool for divers and comes on a rubber strap.
#2 Certina DS Action Chrono (323 votes)
This Certina watch is water resistant up to 300 meters and uses an ETA quartz chronograph movement. It has a 43mm stainless steel case and a uni-directional bezel. Retail price of this Certina is €750 Euro.
#3 Alpina Seastrong Diver 300 Chronograph Big Date (279 votes)
Alpina is the sister-company of Frederique Constant and aims at more sporty watches, like this Seastrong Diver 300 Chronograph Big Date. The watch measures 44mm in diameter and has a tough stainless steel case and a uni-directional bezel. The chronograph and big date are nice features to have on board as well. This Alpina retails for €995 Euro.
These 15 watches who were selected by over 1500 watch fans from German speaking countries do no necessarily reflect our own preferences, but some of them have a well deserved spot in these 5 categories. Of course, the number of watches people could choose from was limited (to 40 watches in total), but it gives an interesting overview of what’s out there for different budgets. Please see our article on a top 10 diving watches here, based on consumer data.
