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Best Dive Watches

The goal to find the best dive watches is impossible to reach without taking into consideration what you’re specifically looking for. To make it easier, we broke it down into several categories and show you the best dive watch in each of them.

Buyers Guide to Find the Best Dive Watch

You can simply click on the following navigation areas to find your category or scroll through all of them. Leave your comments below if you have a specific dive watch that you would consider worth being displayed.

What is a Dive Watch?

A commonly asked question is what differentiates a dive watch from any other regular wrist watch. The difference are basically a few features that a dive watch has to offer to be called that.

Firstly, it’s a watch that is designed for underwater use. That means that the watch has to be water resistant to at least 330 feet (100 meters). Most dive watches you can find will be water resistant down to 990 feet (300 meters).

There is an international standard ISO 6425 defined for a true dive watch. That standard requires the watch to be water resistant to at least 330 feet, provide adequate readability at 10 inches in darkness, be resistant to magnetism, shock and chemicals. There are additional requirements from this standard like for example a bezel that shows elapsed time in 5 minute increments. A dive watch that fulfils all the requirements in the standard is usually marked with the word DIVER’S to indicate that the watch is ISO 6425 conformant.

You should be aware that most of the watches you can find are not truly designed for scuba diving. Even if a watch is water-resistant for example down to 300 meters, then that does not mean that it can be used for scuba diving. They are not necessarily designed to sustain the pressure underwater for a long time so you might want to be careful about wearing any dive watch when scuba diving.

Best Dive Watch Brands

Most of the well-known watch brands do offer dive watches. Here’s a list of the best known brands that have dive watches in their product portfolio:

• Breitling
• Casio
• Citizen
• Invicta
• Omega
• Rolex
• Seiko
• Tag Heuer
• Tissot
• Victorinox

This is certainly not a comprehensive or complete list but it give you an idea that there are dive watches available for everyone. Whether you look for an affordable dive watch or want to dive with luxury on your wrist, there are diving watches for everyone.

Best Affordable Dive Watches

We had many discussions what an ‘affordable’ dive watch might be. The word affordable seems to be different for everyone. Some think that affordable is definitely under $100 while others even think that affordable would be under $1,000. To avoid a ton of controversy we simply didn’t try to find the best affordable diving watch but instead ask you to define for yourself what affordable means and then pick the best dive watch in that category below.

Best Dive Watches for Men

This first section covers the best diving watches for men. We split the rankings up in several categories to make it easy to find the best scuba watch for every need.

Best Dive Watches under $100 for Men

You can find a reasonable selection of dive watches that cost less than $100. Some of these come from brand manufacturers and feature a solid design.

Our best choice in this category is the Invicta watch. It features a classic dive watch design at a great price. Customer feedback is overwhelmingly positive and you end up with a nice looking dive watch that is reliable and solid.

Best Dive Watches under $200 for Men

Looking at dive watches under $200 brings up a much better selection, including some brands that are known for good quality.

Our top pick in this category is the Seiko Dive Watch. It’s sturdy and reliable and won’t let you down.

If you’re looking for a more stylish model then the Seiko is your pick. It has a classic dive watch look and definitely looks great on a man’s wrist. Customer feedback on all of these is very positive and you can’t go wrong choosing either of these dive watches.

Best Dive Watches under $300 for Men

This category features yet another set of brand name dive watches at a price point below $300. The three watches featured here come with their distinct differences.

The Invicta looks stylish and very much like a traditional dive watch. The Luminox is yet another model out of the Navy Seals series and looks much more like a tactical watch. Lastly, the Citizen features more sports oriented looks.

Our pick in this category is the Citizen Scuba Fin diver watch. It’s designed to be used for scuba diving while looking stylish. If you’re looking for a more classic look with recreational scuba diving potential, then the Invicta is a good choice for you.

Best Dive Watches under $500 for Men

This category features diving watches up to $500. The brands picked in this category feature Tissot, Seiko, and Luminox.

The three models feature different design approaches. The Luminox model looks like a tactical watch. The Seiko is rather bright with its orange dial. The Tissot clearly looks the most elegant while still looking sporty. The dark blue dial gives it a modern look while not screaming in your face.

Our top pick in this category is the Tissot. It’s a brand name watch that looks great on a man’s wrist. Modern and sophisticated.

Best Dive Watches under $1,000 for Men

This category starts to feature watches with titanium cases instead of stainless steel. For most there’s not much difference between the two materials and they are both strong and resistant enough to be used for a dive watch.

The Reactor Poseidon is in our opinion the most masculine looking watch these three. The Seiko Prospex is a beautiful classic dive watch. The same is true for the Invicta Pro Diver watch.

Our top pick is the Seiko in this price range. It combines features and functionality with a classic look. The Reactor model is probably best worn by men with a large wrist. Otherwise, the watch might be a little overpowering.

Best Dive Watches under $2,000 for Men

This category features again a number of very distinctly different watches. The Victorinox looks the most like a tactical watch while the bright orange Traser screams action and sport.

The TAG is in a category of itself here. It’s modern yet classic and simply a gorgeous looking timepiece. The TAG is also our top pick for this category. It’s the most sophisticated looking and honestly, who wouldn’t want a TAG on their wrist?

Best Luxury Dive Watches for Men

The Luxury category features the luxury brands everyone knows. These are all fantastic diving watches that anybody can be happy to own.

The main differences are certainly the brand you prefer and the size. The Breitling, as to be expected, is the largest one. It might be best suited for a larger wrist.

The IWC is just a hint on the large side but still fits pretty much any wrist. It’s a modern interpretation of a classic dive watch look.

The Rolex has the smallest case of the top three. It features an elegant and sophisticated design as you might expect from a Rolex.

In our opinion the best pick is the IWC. It looks the most modern. If you’re going for brand recognition then the Rolex is your best choice. If you look for a rather large timepiece then go for the Breitling.

Best Dive Watches for Women

This section coves the best dive watches for women. Similar to the men’s section we broke our picks down into categories. Most of the brands are similar to what has already been showcased in the men’s section.

Best Dive Watches under $100 for Women

The category under $100 features a few well-known brands. The three watches picked feature distinctively different designs.

The Casio watch is probably the youngest looking one of the trio. It features a nice contrast of the black and pink on the bezel and the pink background on the dial.

The Nautica has more masculine features which is not that surprising as it is a unisex dive watch. It is a rather large watch and will probably be best suited for a larger wrist.

The Invicta features a classic dive watch design. It’s a great looking stainless steel diving watch that you can wear for any occasion.

Our top pick is the Invicta. It combines classic elegance with modern elements and is suited for recreational scuba diving.

Best Dive Watches under $200 for Women

This category features women’s diving watches under $200. Our three picks in this category come from two different manufacturers.

The Momentum M1 St. Moritz watch is sporty looking and is the largest of the three. You might consider this watch if you have a large wrist as it otherwise might simply be too large.

The Momentum M1 with the orange dial is smaller in size than the St. Moritz model. The orange dial is giving it a very modern and sporty appeal while the watch overall features a classic dive watch design.

The Invicta is our top pick in this category. It’s a solid watch that looks elegant and sophisticated. The brown dial and bezel give it a touch of color without being overwhelming.

Best Dive Watches under $300 for Women

The category under $300 features two Victorinox models and one Reactor watch. All three watches have their distinct design differences even though the Victorinox watches do look very similar at first glance.

The main differences between the two Victorinox diving watches are not only the colors. The cases are different sizes where the white dial watch has a larger case, making it more suitable for a larger wrist.

The Victorinox model with the green dial is smaller and in line with a more typical women’s watch.

Our pick for this category is the Reactor dive watch. It features a more classic design and can be worn for any occasion.

Best Dive Watches under $500 for Women

The category for women’s dive watches under $500 features three well known brands. The designs of these watches are very different and it comes down to personal taste regarding what style you prefer.

The Victorinox model has a black casing that is combined with a lilac dial and a lilac strap. It looks modern yet has some design elements of a tactical watch.

The Seiko combines the classic dive watch look with some modern elements. It does look somewhat masculine yet elegant.

The Reactor watch is a classically designed diving watch with a pink dial. It looks modern and feminine and is our top pick in this category.

Best Dive Watches under $1,000 for Women

The category under $1,000 features three different brands. The Oris dive watch features a very minimalist yet elegant design. It can be worn for pretty much any occasion.

Contrasting to this, the Abingdon watch is a rather colorful example of a dive watch. The purple dial and bezel give it a touch of color without being overwhelming.

The last watch in this trio is the Tag Heuer Aquaracer with a Mother of Pearl Dial. It’s a sophisticated and elegant looking watch and a classic timeless timepiece. It’s also our top pick for this category!

Best Dive Watches under $2,000 for Women

The three watches that are featured in this category do all sport the classic dive watch look. All three are beautiful timepieces and will last you for a long time.

The Rotary Legacy dive watch features the sportiest look of the three. It comes with a black dial and bezel and is also the largest of the three watches.

The TAG features a blue mother of pearl dial with diamonds. It’s the smallest of the three watches and the most elegant looking one.

The Breitling Cold is sized just in between the two other models. It features a black dial. As expected from a Breitling watch it is somewhat masculine looking.

Our pick for this category is the Tag as it combines timeless elegance with the features you would expect from a dive watch in this price category.

Best Luxury Dive Watches for Women

The women’s best luxury dive watches is a hard category to define. Luxury means that the price has no limit. We picked three luxury diving watches from three luxury brands for you.

Yet again, there’s a Tag in this category. It’s yet another version of the Aquaracer line with diamonds all around the bezel. While beautiful looking, it probably is not really a watch you’d ever want to wear when diving. However, you certainly can if you chose to.

The Omega Seamaster is a sportier looking interpretation of a luxury dive watch. It has a blue dial and a blue bezel. While looking sporty and modern, it also does look elegant and sophisticated.

The top pick and the top of the line in our comparison is the Rolex Yacht Master. It’s pretty much the quintessential luxury dive watch for women. It combines a luxurious, elegant and sophisticated design into a masterpiece on your wrist.

Conclusion

Which is the best dive watch? This question can’t be answered. There’s too many variables and different needs that any person has where it simply is impossible to find an overall one. We would suggest to stick with one of the known brands like Tag Heuer or Omega and not to for the cheapest model you can find.

In many cases you might be able to find a certified pre-owned model from a luxury or high-end brand for a good price. You might want to consider getting such a watch instead of going for a lesser priced new model from a less-known brand.

Brand name dive watches will last you a long time, possibly even a lifetime. You’ll pay once and have your timepiece to enjoy for years.