Watches

**WillBrink** · 04-09-18, 07:56

Originally Posted by joeg26er

What would you guys say is the best, most durable watch under $500 diver that can be used for scuba?
The 200m (and some 300m) watches are not scuba rated AFAIK

Not a lot of people going 300m without scuba gear I'd imagine. Dive watch is a dive watch far as I know.

**Det-Sog** · 04-09-18, 09:04

^^^

That. I’ve been at 100’ many times with a 200-300 meter rated diver and never had a problem. If you are just diving recreationally, you will not exceed the limitation of a decent dive watch.

**Whiskey_Bravo** · 04-09-18, 09:08

Originally Posted by Det-Sog

^^^

That. I’ve been at 100’ many times with a 200-300 meter rated diver and never had a problem. If you are just diving recreationally, you will not exceed the limitation of a decent dive watch.

This ^. 200m is the standard and should work just fine. 200 metes is over 650 feet, which you will never get close to even half the rating.

**Alex V** · 04-09-18, 12:14

My Tag says 200m... it's never been in water lol

**ramairthree** · 04-09-18, 18:34

Well,
Disclaimer, I think of myself as a diver, and have done so since the 1980s.
But the reality is I have not been in the ocean since a decade ago at key west and last divers were screwing around in a quarry north of a Fort Bragg not much after that. And even ten years or more ago it was viewed as odd to just look at a table and set a bezel on a watch.

I have done the 120ft check out a wreck now and then, but the reality is I can only speak to the PADI advanced open water type crowd, not to serious professional divers.

If that applies to you,

An off the shelf Seiko Diver will do they trick.
My first was a 150M 6309 in the 1980s. It survived pool PT, swims, helocasting, cast and recovery, etc. just fine.
River crossings, swamps, jungles, cold, desert, etc.
I replaced it a decade later for new flow with their 7002.
That thing is running just fine.
As is the H601 dual display I got about the same time so I could have a stop watch.

Currently their ISO divers are 200m, and work great.
Just go to Amazon, type in SKX007 or SKX173.
For 200 bucks or less pick the round indice 007 or rectangle indice 173. They both are great. Same watch except for the dial.
For an extra hundred bucks you can get the J version of either. Made in Japan and intended for the Japanese domestic market. But there is no reason to.

Also for 300 bucks, type in SRP777. This is the same rating as the above watches, but shaped like the old 6309 they made from about 1976 to 1986.

The SKX ones I listed look a lot like the quartz 150m divers they had in the 70s and 80s, their late 1980s slim version of the 6309, and their 7002s they made before the SKX ones.

Basically, their SKX007, SKX173, and SRP all look very much like their classic dive watch’s offered over the last five decades.

They have a dozen other dive watches of various styles that are also of the same performance, but the above pretty much encompasses their classic look ones. And that is just automatic movement ones. They have quartz, kinetic, solar, perpetual, spring drive, etc. As Will said, to the point it probably drives many customers away.

Show me any other ISO dive watch with an automatic movement between 150-300$ besides the Seiko, and I find them suspect. Except maybe Citizen.

**Sam** · 04-26-18, 14:12

Just received from Hong Kong via Germany

through Amazon for $120 total.

Like what I've read at Watchuseek, the "leather" strap is cheap and feels like cardboard, the "package" that it came in looked like it was wrapped by a pre-teenager, the box was foam ice cooler material, it was packed with lots of bubble wrap. Winding it felt low quality, similar to my $50 "Rolex" bought at the central market stall in Phnom Penh.

It will make a good play watch though.

**SilverBullet432** · 04-26-18, 15:07

Originally Posted by Sam

Just received from Hong Kong via Germany

through Amazon for $120 total.

Like what I've read at Watchuseek, the "leather" strap is cheap and feels like cardboard, the "package" that it came in looked like it was wrapped by a pre-teenager, the box was foam ice cooler material, it was packed with lots of bubble wrap. Winding it felt low quality, similar to my $50 "Rolex" bought at the central market stall in Phnom Penh.

It will make a good play watch though.

Straight Tudor ripoff! I highly doubt it’s 660 feet water resistant...

It looks cool though!