Looking for a new watch. Not going to be spending crazy money but will be looking at about £500. May go a little higher if I like it.

Want something tough and waterproof.

I am considering this Chris Ward Makaira Pro £500

Any other suggestions?

Just bought one of these

and while I was looking looked at some Omegas and the OH said I can get myself one of these as a treat for myself so just sorting out in my head if i want a silly expensive watch.

Momentum m1 deep6. EVERY watch I own dies horribly. This is gouged and still works.

Seiko ‘SPORK’

No longer made, but can be found on’t interwebz, mine was new old stock, bought last July with warranty, for £350.
Lovely watch to wear, and very accurate, once regulated. I did mine myself, by trial and error, last set Jan 1st, just checked and it’s twenty five seconds fast.

Interestingly i just bought one of those seiko kinetics too -wearing it now – i liked the idea that it would charge up and potentially last for months but didn’t realise i would have to wear it quite so much to keep it charged (i like to change watches day to day). Had a skx007 previously which got nicked but really loved that and looked good on a bond strap. I do like the look of that spork to. But this caught my eye recently which i really like the look of Clicky

A few of my dive watches

Orient Star 300m by Matthewjb, on Flickr. About £500 second hand

Sea Devil by Matthewjb, on Flickr. I think this one was about £400.

Panerai PAM 112 by Matthewjb, on Flickr

The Spork looks nice if you can find one. Alternatively get a customised Seiko from Yobokies

Liking the Panerai, lovely watch. 😀

I’ve recently taken delivery of one of these seiko’s from yobokies (sekioboy), very impressed wi it and i’ve only had it on my wrist for the past two days but the amount of folk that have asked me about is astounding, to be honest this is the first watch i’ve worn since i was a kid – my ex bought me a Tag Monaco but i sold it recently on ebay as it was rather dressy looking and i never wore it, i much prefer this 😀

Nice Seiko, soma, very tasty. 😀

I looked for a SPORK and couldn’t find one I was prepared to take a risk on. Was a little gutted.

You massive bunch of ****. I seem to have just spent £260 on a Tissot V8. For many years, I’ve wanted a watch not made by Casio with which I could shower, swim and ponce about with.

Found it.

Recently got one of these, a bit old school but still made under licence in Japan.

Who pays 300+ on a Jap watch? April 1st??

I’ve got the Chris Ward one with a stainless band on order. Not that I dive, just because I like the look of it. A bit different from most other dive watches.

Not that I dive

Nobody that dives wears a watch like these (except to the pub). You wear a computer and possibly a cheap Casio.

This isnt a troll (I like watches) – why wear them then? They arent asthetically nice, more drab. I wear mine as Ive broken many watches. Last suunto lasted the best but went through multiple straps. My momentum (bought wholesale) still going strong. £300+ for drab???? Sorry

hora – Member
Who pays 300+ on a Jap watch? April 1st??

I do, because it’s exactly the watch I wanted, Seiko have a superb reputation for the quality of their watches, and, frankly there’s a great many European watches that cost much, much more and are really just trading on the name, [cough]TAG Heuer[/cough].
My SPORK is beautifully made, better than the TAG Series 1000 I paid £250 for around 25 years ago, and has only gained twenty five seconds over three months, so it’ll be interesting to see what it gains over six months of wearing.
If I had the £1600 to spare, I’d happily buy the Seiko MarineMaster ‘Tuna can’ I’ve had my eye on for ages, but there are very few European watches I’d pay that sort of money for, with the exception of a Panerai.
Oh, and drab? What do you mean? I like clear, unambiguous and easy to read whatever the circumstances, lots of silly dials, colours and daft graphics on a watch is just wankiness, it compromises what the watch is designed to do: tell the chuffing time!

How do you know its gained 25 seconds over 3 months?

CountZero

Lovely watch to wear, and very accurate, once regulated. I did mine myself, by trial and error, last set Jan 1st, just checked and it’s twenty five seconds fast.

how did you do the regulation? Mine loses 10 mins in two weeks so I need to have a fiddle with it. Do you need a special tool to open the back?

Who pays 300+ on a Jap watch?

Probably someone who knows something about watches.

If you’re worried about spending £300 don’t look up a Grand Seiko

Yours for only £6,000.

Seiko are one of only 2 watch manufacturers who can make every part of the watch from scratch. Including the oil that lubricates the mechanism.

Most just design cases for other companes’ mechanisms. A bit like buying a Ferrari and finding Ford made the engine.

How do you know its gained 25 seconds over 3 months?

Ummm, I set it exactly to the second against the clock on my phone, and when the clocks changed last night it was twenty five seconds fast…

how did you do the regulation? Mine loses 10 mins in two weeks so I need to have a fiddle with it. Do you need a special tool to open the back?

Yes, you can get them in Maplins, comes in a set of two parts, a knife for press-fit backs, and a screw-grip wrench for case backs with the recesses.
It’s very much trial and error, there’s a little adjuster which the mainspring attaches to, with a + and – at each end. It needs a fairly sturdy pin set into a little recess, and nudged very slightly one way or the other, depending on whether its fast or slow. I gave it to a mate to do first, as he’s a goldsmith, and gets asked to do watches; he did it twice, and made it worse, from a minute a week, to a minute a day, fast then slow!
He got pissed off and told me to get the tool and do it myself! 😀
I also used a jewellers loupe to magnify things, but it still took me four goes, the last time I nudged it a bit far, then pushed it back, but the amounts are microscopic, you need patience!
Oh, and be very, very careful with the ‘O’-ring; it sits in a recess, and it’s very easy to have it move and pinch outside of the back as you tighten it down, a light smear of silicon grease helps lube it, but only very light.
Here’s a list of all the various dive watches that Seiko have done; plenty to choose from!
http://www.watchfreeks.com/view_topic.php?id=21099&forum_id=25&page=1
And there are instructions on the web for self-regulating Seiko automatics, but I haven’t bookmarked it, I’m afraid, just look via Google, if you need any more info.

Looks like commercial divers are staging an overturn of the IT middle managers as kings of STW.

mathewjb – That Sea Devil is lovely. If I could of got hold of one might have went for that. Panerai is beautiful but I could bring myself to spend that much on any watch!

all the pies – You might be right, I have commercial diving quals and I know there are quite few others on here from other threads.

mathewjb – That Sea Devil is lovely. If I could of got hold of one might have went for that.

Benarus have some other models. This one looks quite good. Price is $700.

Panerai is beautiful but I could bring myself to spend that much on any watch!

I won’t show you my JLC then 🙂

Although I’ve got a few expensive models most are around the price you’re talking about. If you’re happy to look at second hand you can get some bargains. My Orient Star cost £500. New they are about £1000.

Somewhere like tz-uk is a good place to look.

I have a Breitling Colt Ocean

I’ve had it 7 years and wear it every day except when I go diving or when I ride my bike. At the moment I am diving 3 times a every day and haven’t ridden my bike since June 2012. That’s the downside of living on a boat in the Maldives!
My OH has a Breitling that she wears every day including all the diving. Both have been faultless.
To the OP, buy whatever you like but I have seen more post dive flooded TAG’s than any other brand.

Looks like commercial divers are staging an overturn of the IT middle managers as kings of STW.

Are there any commercial divers on here ?

Matt24k – Member

I’ve had it 7 years and wear it every day except when I go diving

Oh the irony…

(Seamaster owner here, and I wear it for everything except biking and climbing.)

:lol:There is a certain amount of irony in the fact that 99% of divers watches see nothing more than the deep end of the swimming pool.The reason I don’t wear mine diving is that it either needs to be adjusted to fit over my wetsuit or under it where I can’t see it. If it adjusted to go over my suit it won’t fit when I’m not diving.
I wear it when free diving but when scuba diving my dive computers show the time and a lot of other more important info.

I wear mine during coitus. I like to keep punctual precise-sex.

im a bit biased

I like CW , and bought makaira pro when it came out

on a bracelet, this one here £560 if i remember correctly

Looks like commercial divers are staging an overturn of the IT middle managers as kings of STW.

I can’t even swim! The criteria for me is that the watch should be tough, and very clear and easy to read. A divers watch, by definition, is both of these things. I did notice that the Watchfreeks thread refers to a number of the Seikos as Pilot/Divers, which makes lots of sense; old-style pilots watches tended to be fairly large, with very large, clear markings, but without the bezel. I do use the bezel occasionally, but it’s the clarity and general toughness, along with build quality and value for money that I like about the Seikos. The uber-complicated nature of lots of watches like Breitling ‘pilot’ watches puts me right off; I don’t want to have to wear reading glasses in order to use a bloody watch!

Countzero vfm isnt there then. For me, a non-diver. A standard G-shock would hit that criteria. A 300-500 fashion divers watch is firmly a fail.

Are there any commercial divers on here ?

I’ll take that as a no then 8)

winston, you might also want to take a look at Squale.

EDIT: Oh and
– RLT watches
– Timefactors (make Precista watches)
– Kemmner (sells on ebay but has made cases for Timefactors iirc)

Steinhart is also worth looking at.

Countzero vfm isnt there then. For me, a non-diver. A standard G-shock would hit that criteria. A 300-500 fashion divers watch is firmly a fail.

Got one of those for work. Cost me £75, and is nowhere near as comfortable to wear, and the Lume is nowhere near as bright. Anyway, I’m not at all sure what you mean by value for money; it’s worth every penny to me, it fulfills all necessary criteria for a watch that I intend keeping and wearing for the rest of my life. It looks good to me, it’s very tough, (the only reason I don’t wear it to work is because I sometimes use machinery that could result in scrapes or gouges in the case or crystal, and as I bought it with money left me by my mum, I don’t want it messed up by work), it’s time-keeping is accurate, much more so than the Casio, and calling a watch that’s made to be used for diving a fashion divers watch is plain stupid, just because I, personally, can’t swim! It’s a watch that can be worn for diving, and is tough enough for most aquatic purposes.
Christ, how many more times to I have to explain that I wear it because of the way it looks, it’s build, accuracy, and clarity, if I was going for ‘fashion’, I’d be wearing some shonky bloody thing by Police, with six stupid, meaningless little dials on it. Even the G-Shock is as minimalist a watch as I could get from Casio, that was still up to being bashed around inside a commercial folding machine, plate-processor or film-processor.
I dislike complex watches, dive/pilot watches are designed for clarity and ease of use, and are tough; that’s not ‘fashion’,
that’s functional design, something I rate above all else, and I wanted long-lasting quality.
There, is that simple enough for you to understand? 🙄

I don’t consider the Counts’ Spork, nor the yobokies Seiko or any of the so called “divers” designed large face/clear dial watches to be fashion led – anything with a multitude of useless dials such as my previous Tag was far more fashion led and utterly impractical in use, a tiny little chronograph hand that was clearly designed for fashion over function – i never once wore it but thankfully it paid off my overdraft and left me enough to by my Seiko 😀 .

I honestly cannot remember the last time i wore a watch but i did not buy the Seiko with an eye to fashion, or at least i don’t consider my reasons for doing so were in any way influenced by such a desire. I remember there was a thread last year when someone posted up a pic of a Spork and i instantly thought to myself i’d wear that, which as i had always considered a watch to be a totally unnecessary trinket with having the time displayed on my phone was surprising, the Spork was nice and plain looking without fancy/useless dials and most of all it had a legible face, all it did was tell the time and date – what more does a watch need to do? just a shame they are hand to come by these days. In the same thread a link to Yobokies was also posted up and i eventually got round to selling the Tag and ordering my cheap Seiko. I think the Seiko is a superior watch, it appears to be better built and from what i’ve gleaned on the few watch forums i’ve looked at, Tags’ aren’t all that.

I set my Seiko against the online atomic clock last week, i think it may have gained a second or two in that time which is pretty bloody good for what it is and what it cost.

Well done gents, a simple post that requested some suggestions for a “DIVERS” watch that costs about £500 has turned into some kind of debate about what sort and make of watch somebody should wear and when they should wear it.

I occasionally dive for my work and are commercially qualified, however, as you never time your own dives a watch is pointless and I have never worn one.

I rarely sport dive now but always use a computer anyway with a spare between 1 buddy pair.

I wanted a strong, simple waterproof watch that could be worn in a working environment and in the pub.

If you don’t like dive watches or think £500 is excessive why bother posting?

Thanks for all the sensible input.

This is the one that I have. I think it retails at circa 90quid.

I have very thick wrists and the strap although meant for wetsuits- suits my wrists perfectly! 8)

Its also very robust- I’ve not broken it although I’ve landed on rocks etc etc with it.