Disclaimer: Not looking to start any fights or put anybody down for their taste in watches. I'm just looking to understand points of view different than mine.
Just had an experience that got me thinking about the value proposition of Seiko dive watches versus competing brands. This happened when a fellow WUS member offered to trade his Seiko Shogun for my Steinhart OVM 2.0. In terms of cost, this would be a trade "up" for me, based on where I value my Steinhart and the likely cost of a clean, used Shogun. In terms of value to me, it would probably be an even trade, if that.
And it got me thinking about Seiko divers, in general. From an aesthetics standpoint, I've never been a Seiko fan, not really liking the largish, round indices on the otherwise plain dial, and the somewhat garish bezel designs on some, but this is all beside the point. My issue is with the fact that even an $800 - $1000 Seiko diver is going to have a low-beat (21,600 bph) movement and a Hardlex mineral glass crystal. Meanwhile, there are literally countless divers out there in the $300 range that have high-beat movements and sapphire glass. Now, I know that Seiko has a reputation for cranking out sturdy, reliable, mostly well-finished divers, but it would seem that there is a trade-off in terms of feature-set versus the competition one you get past their entry level offerings.
Removing styling from the equation, I just don't see the cost/value proposition of anything beneath an MM300 or an Emperor Tuna.
Lastly, I had to consider this: I love the look of the Helson Sharkdiver and have owned 4 of them. If they were spec'd out like a similarly priced Seiko with a low-beat movement and Hardlex crystal, would I still be interested? The answer is "no", though I will qualify this by saying I did own a 42mm SD in brass with the low-beat NH35 movement. I got it for about $225 used, and I really wanted a brass diver, so it was worthwhile to me overlook the movement. Of course, it did have a sapphire crystal.
Anyway, I'm obviously partial to the smooth sweep of a high-beat movement and love the scratch resistance of a sapphire crystal.
My question to the WUS faithful is, what is it about Seiko dive watches that make them a good value TO YOU?
Just had an experience that got me thinking about the value proposition of Seiko dive watches versus competing brands. This happened when a fellow WUS member offered to trade his Seiko Shogun for my Steinhart OVM 2.0. In terms of cost, this would be a trade "up" for me, based on where I value my Steinhart and the likely cost of a clean, used Shogun. In terms of value to me, it would probably be an even trade, if that.
And it got me thinking about Seiko divers, in general. From an aesthetics standpoint, I've never been a Seiko fan, not really liking the largish, round indices on the otherwise plain dial, and the somewhat garish bezel designs on some, but this is all beside the point. My issue is with the fact that even an $800 - $1000 Seiko diver is going to have a low-beat (21,600 bph) movement and a Hardlex mineral glass crystal. Meanwhile, there are literally countless divers out there in the $300 range that have high-beat movements and sapphire glass. Now, I know that Seiko has a reputation for cranking out sturdy, reliable, mostly well-finished divers, but it would seem that there is a trade-off in terms of feature-set versus the competition one you get past their entry level offerings.
Removing styling from the equation, I just don't see the cost/value proposition of anything beneath an MM300 or an Emperor Tuna.
Lastly, I had to consider this: I love the look of the Helson Sharkdiver and have owned 4 of them. If they were spec'd out like a similarly priced Seiko with a low-beat movement and Hardlex crystal, would I still be interested? The answer is "no", though I will qualify this by saying I did own a 42mm SD in brass with the low-beat NH35 movement. I got it for about $225 used, and I really wanted a brass diver, so it was worthwhile to me overlook the movement. Of course, it did have a sapphire crystal.
Anyway, I'm obviously partial to the smooth sweep of a high-beat movement and love the scratch resistance of a sapphire crystal.
My question to the WUS faithful is, what is it about Seiko dive watches that make them a good value TO YOU?