BEST MENS DIVE WATCHES 2023

One look at this watch and you can tell it was inspired by the sea. The stainless steel case in combination with the black resin band and the anti-reverse bezel, make for a stylish diver watch. It’s easy to read with the 3-hand analog look, so if you’re looking for a stylish watch to wear in and out of the water, the Casio mens dive watch MDV106-1AV is the one for you.

CASE DIAMETER: 44mm
MOVEMENT: Quartz
DEPTH RATING: 660ft
WATCH-MATERIAL: Mineral,Stainless Steel, Quartz, Plastic

MOMENTUM has some of the greatest dive watches for both men and women and the M50 is nothing short of great. It’s pressure tested up to 1650 ft meaning it’s great for any water sport or activity as well as deep-sea dives. The dial glows in the dark and allows easy reading at any point of the day.

CASE DIAMETER: 44mm
MOVEMENT: Japanese Quartz
DEPTH RATING: 1650ft
WATCH-MATERIAL: Synthetic Sapphire,Stainless steel, Japanese Quartz, rubber

Orient continues to hone its craft by developing unparalleled mechanical movement, and redefine style by utilizing the latest Japanese street fashion mens dive watch for the world to consume.

CASE DIAMETER: 41.5mm
MOVEMENT: Japanese Automatic
DEPTH RATING: 660ft
WATCH-MATERIAL: Stainless Steel

The Breitling Super Ocean II is a stunningly beautiful timepiece that is an absolute classic. The watch features a substantial 44mm bezel and a relatively thick case at 14.2mm. This chunky feel makes the watch an ideal companion to someone who has a larger wrist. The Super Ocean II can handle anything with a mind-bending 1,000 meters/3,300 feet depth rating. The watch is available in several face colors, although the blue face is the most striking. Combine the face with luminescent hands and hour markers, and the watch is incredibly easy to read both underwater and in the dark. The Super Ocean II mens dive watch features a self-winding automatic chronometer movement, which means that you never have to worry about changing the battery or winding up your watch, wear it often and it will keep accurate time for years to come.

CASE DIAMETER: 44 mm
MOVEMENT: Self Winding Automatic Chronometer Movement
DEPTH RATING: 3300ft
WATCH-MATERIAL: Stainless Steel

A timeless classic from Citizen, the Promaster Diver mens dive watch, is an excellent option for those looking for the classic look of a rugged stainless-steel case and a thick rubber strap. The Promaster is depth rated to 200 meters, so would meet almost every diver’s needs. The watch has a 43mm bezel and a large face that is simple to read underwater. The mineral crystal glass provides ample resistance to most scratches. The watch features a Japanese quartz movement, so you will need to get your batteries changed every few years.

CASE DIAMETER: 48mm
MOVEMENT: Japanese Quartz
DEPTH RATING: 1000ft
WATCH-MATERIAL: Stainless Steel

This Seiko Dive Watch Prospex Samurai PADI Edition Stainless Steel Dive mens dive watch is a great watch that represents excellent value for money and blends functionality with style very well. Although the watch features a 40mm bezel, the face is very clear and easy to read in most conditions. Reading the watch is made easier with Seiko’s LumiBrite hands and hour markers, which contrast nicely against the black-blue dial, to make the numbers pop out. This clarity makes tracking your dive time a breeze. The second Seiko dive watch on our list also features a Swiss automatic movement, so there is no need to worry about changing the battery or winding up your watch.

CASE DIAMETER: 44mm
MOVEMENT: Swiss Automatic
DEPTH RATING: 660ft
WATCH-MATERIAL: Stainless Steel

The Victorinox Swiss Army Men’s ‘Dive Master 500 Black Ice mens dive watch is a classic Swiss watch, simple, functional, and rugged. The 43mm face features a crystal sapphire glass, which gives it heavy duty scratch resistance. Whether the occasional knock on land or a dive boat the face o your watch should remain scratch free. The simple, stylish features of the watch mean it is at home when paired with dive gear, or in a more formal setting. The watch features a relatively large bezel that is easy to read on dives. Whether youjust like to dive on reefs, plunge deep using helium mixes, the Victorinox Swiss Army Men’s “Dive Master 500 Black Ice” can cope with everything you throw at it with its substantial 500m depth rating.

CASE DIAMETER: 43mm
MOVEMENT: Swiss Quartz
DEPTH RATING: 330ft
WATCH-MATERIAL: Stainless Steel

Seiko dive watch had a long history of making durable dive watches and was one of the first companies to offer dive watches to the mass market. The Seiko Dive Watch Prospex Automatic is a beast of a machine with a 47mm bezel diameter and a 22mm thick strap. With such substantial heft and size, the watch looks perfect on men with a bigger wrist and has a rugged style that feels at home on a dive boat. The watch can handle the demands of almost all divers with a depth rating of 200 meters. The Seiko Dive Watch Prospex Automatic does not require a battery change since it features a Japanese automatic movement.

CASE DIAMETER: 47mm
MOVEMENT: Japanese Automatic
DEPTH RATING: 660ft
WATCH-MATERIAL: Stainless Steel and Rubber

A timeless classic from Citizen, the Promaster Diver, is an excellent option for those looking for the classic look of a rugged stainless-steel case and a thick rubber strap. The Promaster is depth rated to 200 meters, so would meet almost every diver’s needs. The watch has a 43mm bezel and a large face that is simple to read underwater. The mineral crystal glass provides ample resistance to most scratches. The watch features a Japanese quartz movement, so you will need to get your batteries changed every few years.

CASE DIAMETER: 43mm
MOVEMENT: Japanese-quartz Movement
DEPTH RATING: 660ft
WATCH-MATERIAL: Stainless Steel and Rubber

Watch Movement

The watch movement or caliber is essentially the power source for your watch and what makes it tick. There are three types of watch movement on the market: Quartz, Mechanical, and Automatic.

Quartz: A quartz movement causes the seconds’ hand to tick over in individual seconds. This type of movement requires a battery to operate. Quartz movements need battery changes and are generally not recommended. Changing a watch battery is not as easy as changing a dive computer battery. To replace a quartz battery, you need specialist tools and training, and you will have to take your watch to an authorized dealer to do the procedure and the following tests to ensure it remains waterproof and watertight.

Mechanical: A mechanical movement causes the seconds’ hand to sweep across the face of the watch in one continuous motion. You wind your watch up by turning the crown of the watch, this stores energy in the watch and allows it to operate. You have to keep winding the watch periodically to keep your watch powered up. Mechanical movements are old school, and you will not find modern dive watches featuring a mechanical movement. This is partly because it is complicated to ensure the watch is watertight when you have to transfer the rotation of the crown to internal mechanisms of the watch.

Automatic: An automatic movement is the king of watch movements and none more so than a Swiss automatic movement. With automatic movements, the watch stores the kinetic energy generated by the motion of your wrist when moving with the watch on. This stored energy is then used to power your watch. This is by far the best and most convenient watch movement on the market, and as long as you wear your watch every so often, it will stay powered indefinitely. Almost every modern high-end dive watch will have an automatic movement.

Bezel Diameter

The bezel diameter affects two aspects of every diving watch. First, the larger the diameter, the larger the watch face and the easier it is to read underwater. Second, the Bezel diameter affects how the watch will look on your wrist. If you are going to spend several thousand dollars on a watch, you want it to look good. For men with smaller, thinner wrists, a watch with a Bezel diameter of 41/42mm is ideal and give a chunky yet proportioned look. Men with bigger wrists can go up to 45/46mm diameter bezels while keeping the aesthetic of the watch. Needless to say, if you have thin wrists and buy a big watch, you will look like a kid wearing his Dad’s watch, on the other hand, someone with a big wrist wearing a small watch will look like they borrowed their kid’s watch. Choose a watch that fits your wrist.

Rotating Bezel

Every dive watch should have a rotating bezel, which allows divers to monitor their dive time. The bezel should only be able to rotate clockwise to avoid accidents and will have marks every 10 minutes on it. When you begin your dive, you turn the bezel to where the zero or 60 minutes mark lines up with the minutes’ hand. When you check your watch during the dive (say after 20 minutes) the minute hand will show your dive time on the bezel. The reason the bezel only rotates clockwise is so your dive time can never be accidentally reduced, which would be dangerous.

Watch Strap And Clasp

Watch straps come in a host of flavors; leather, rubber, stainless steel, and titanium are all options. While titanium and stainless steel are classy options that mean you can wear the watch with everyday attire, the watch strap’s length is restrictive, and even though many straps have an expansion mechanism that can be released, it generally is not enough to make your watch fit comfortably over a thick wetsuit or a dry suit. Traditionally, dive watches had a rubber strap which is more adjustable so that it fits on your bare wrist or a variety of suits. The only downside of a rubber strap is that it may not look nice when wearing it with more formal clothes. Leather straps are not to be recommended with dive watches since leather does not handle repeated immersion in water well.

Depth Rating  

When selecting a dive watch, it needs to be waterproof and depth rated to at least 660ft (200m). This quick quality check is an easy way to flag whether a diver should should make a Best Mens Dive Watches list such as this, or whether it is simply all looks and no functionality. That is the bare minimum required for any scuba diving watch. Some watches are marketed to be waterproof to several hundred meters or several thousand feet. While it is nice to show off a watch that is depth rated to 1,000 meters/3,300 feet, you will never actually use the watch to its maximum potential (the deepest dive ever by a human was 701 meter in a chamber on dry land).

Helium Release Valve

A lot of high-quality dive watches advertise a Helium release valve, and while it is nice to have, it is pretty much useless to 99.99% of recreational and technical divers. A helium release valve only comes into play if you are involved in deep commercial saturation diving where you spend a significant amount of time in a diving bell and chamber. Under these conditions, due to the high pressure and the small size of Helium atoms, it can penetrate the watch. As divers start their ascent in the recompression chamber, they need to vent the pressure from inside their watch case using the Helium release valve. For commercial saturation divers, a helium release valve is essential. For the rest of us mere mortals, it is just a fad.

As always, we create our content with you, fellow adventurers, in mind. So, how’d we do? Did you find this informative? Did it help you make a decision? Did we miss anything? We’d love to hear from you below. Thanks for reading and we hope your next adventure is a great one!