Horological Neckbeardery

I think watch collecting milestones are silly and people tend to obsess over them too much. But truthfully there is one horological milestone that I do hold pretty dear: your first dive watch. For the modern watch collector, a dive watch (even if it’s only one) is one of those collection standards that you’re going to consider and potentially purchase at one point in time. Jump To: Common Questions | Dive Watch Terminology | The Best Dive Watches My first dive watch was a 2nd generation Seiko Sumo and I didn’t realize it back then but that watch would become very special to me, shaping the standard through which I then viewed all dive watches. But the reality is that I also had a very difficult road to determining that the Sumo would be my first dive watch. The watch community is full of so many biases and we’re bombarded with so much nonsense watch marketing – it gets to the point where it becomes difficult to determine what dive watch to purchase because it’s so easy to feel like the decision has been taken away from us. You get concerned with getting a diver that has “street cred” or possibly you want to make sure you don’t get something “cheap” that will fall apart. I struggled with that – many other collectors struggled with that – and I don’t want anyone else to deal with that ever again. That’s why I did my best to compile as much relevant information here as I possibly could to help you feel confident in your purchase. Below you’ll find the most commonly asked questions about dive watches followed by a breakdown of the most important dive watch terms with which you should be familiar (in order to make an informed purchase). Then…