Entering the mid-range is an overwhelming experience. This is also where true reliability rears its head; so, here are a couple of suggestions that help selecting through comparing. You need to be sure keeping from the gripping fear of the watch stopping a few hundred feet underwater. It is kind of creepy guessing how much air is left in the tank and fighting a rising tide of panic. $300 to $500 is a fair price for peace of mind.
Now, let’s not get into the Citizen vs. Seiko vs. Orient vs. Casio quarrels; that will be a sheer wastage of time. All, in a very general way, are considered equals, with Citizen and Seiko definitely given the upper tiers. All four make quality watches, it’s just on
e has its own strong points over others. Seiko’s Lumibrite and Kinetic, Citizen’s Eco-drive, Orient’s affordable yet high-end mechanicals, Casio’s range of features…in the end, it is really all about personal preferences and your liking towards a specific model. So comparisons are to be drawn on watches with similar feature sets and a built in same materials. This takes care of the price factor automatically.
The Citizen Promaster Eco Drive Aqualand Diver and the Citizen Eco Drive Divers Aqua Land Promaster are fair examples of what a recreational water sports enthusiast might want. Others within this range are the Citizen Aqualand Diver Promaster, Citizen Diver Depth Meter Promaster Cyber Aqualand and the Citizen Aqualand Diver Depth Meter Promaster. The Citizen Promaster 200M Marine Diver watches come on the last mark of the category.
This is a territory less prowled by Seiko. There are only a few like these Kinetic Sportura Diver’s or the Seiko Japan-made Automatic Monster Diver that are worthwhile mentioning apart from the Seiko JDM Automatics and the Velatura Diver’s. Those looking for something off-beat shall find Orient’s M-Force Automatic Diver Power Reserve or Casio’s G-Shock Frogman interesting.
But come the professional Diver’s and one can’t wade past the Seiko ProSpex. The PROSPEX adopts a titanium case to put the quartz movement in and uses ceramic shroud; the hybrid ana/digi models were the first to feature an alarm. This line of watches is not confined within the Dive domain but offers for a variety of professions requiring precision pieces.
In the Diving world, Prospex is synonymous to Tuna, the nick for Seiko MarineMaster Professional 1000M Diver. There are also available two 300m versions. See the other one here. And some of these Marinemaster Professional Diver watches may probably change your idea of Seiko watches forever.
In the last part, we will see the Prospex range in detail and also a few more that fit well into the category. Keep diving till then.
