Best Dive Watch Ever...

[T Bone]

Just returned from Grand Cayman, my first trip to the Caribbean (and, my first hurricane!). Met there with a group of 12, we all met on the Doxa Forum (guess what brand was most common on the boat?). Also saw several other collectible dive watches, one guy even dove with a restored vintage Omega Ploprof (those things are so valuable, I'd be hard pressed to put it near water!).

There were a ton of Doxa's there, I dove 3 of mine, the 750T Professional, the 750T Military Sharkhunter and the 750T Divingstar GMT, all pictured below.

Ironic in a way, a group that met on a forum, a trip proposed on that same watch forum, and we dove together all week and had a fantastic time! The watches I dove are pictured below....

 

[Jon_Tupper]

Beautiful watch! I love everything about the Doxa exept the "beads of rice" bracelet. Do you have a NATO G10 strap for that? I would love to see a Doxa on a strap.

 

[Cyclops_Diver]

Beautiful watch! I love everything about the Doxa exept the "beads of rice" bracelet. Do you have a NATO G10 strap for that? I would love to see a Doxa on a strap.

A Doxa on a strap? Personally I think a Doxa belongs on a bracelet, period! The new Doxa, the 800T I believe (with the Tritium) comes on a G10 I believe. My view is that the Doxa bracelet is the most comfortable bracelet I've ever worn!

Thanks for the link to the Bond page. Very cool.

 

[T Bone]

The 800Ti doesn't come on a NATO strap, but they have an optional one for it (you can buy the strap for a few bucks less elsewhere). They did show it on the strap though, and it looks great.

The newest models (5000T and 800Ti) don't have a beads of rice bracelet, so for those who don't like the rice beads, there is the beefy new bracelet on those two models.

I have some NATO's and also some Zulu's I wear on the Doxa's (and other watches) from time to time....

NATO

Tropic rubber reproduction

Sharkhunter on Zulu

 

[76107]

All I need from a watch is:
Time & Date, Alarm, Countdown timer and good illumination as well as the ability to operate upto 130ft.
I too got a Timex Ironman for $30 and it's great, I cerainly wouldn't cry if I lost it, or chase after it if it became detached from me.
I wouldn't say NO if somebody gave me a $2000 watch, but I'd rather keep the $30 watch and spend the $1970 on a dry suit.... anyone fancy testing me by offering me a $2000 watch?

 

[Stringer Bell]

I wear Rolex Sea-Dweller, its good to 4000ft

Dive computers are Suunto: D3, D4, D9....thinking about getting a used Stinger, heard alot of good things about it...but my favorite is D4

 

[promark420]

I have a Victorinox Swiss Army Dive Master 500 Limited Edition. (I'd post the URL, but I haven't made enough posts here. I mostly lurk.) Solid black, titanium, automatic movement w/see-through back, helium escape valve, illuminated markings up to 20:00, date, hour markers--everything you need, nothing you don't.

Of course I'm biased, but it's one of the coolest dive watches I've seen outside of the black Luminox watches. I love Rolex and Tag; they have that classic, bold and always appropriate style, but they don't look as cool as mine. My next watch (whenever that is) will most likely be a Sea Dweller. But for now, I just plain can't afford a Rolex. Now, I looked at plenty of dive watches before settling on this one. I looked at several watches that cose much more than mine. The only other ones I liked were the Sea Dweller and Omega Seamaster. The Doxas, to me, are close, but they looked a little busy. It's something about the hour markers that rubs me the wrong way...

I bought mine in February and took it to Bonaire in May '08, and it was awesome! I never had a problem reading it--even during a night dive at Town Pier. It's no Luminox, but the thing glows. Boy does it glow! My brother has a Movado 800 series dive watch that has yet to see the water, and it's really nice, but my illumination blows it out of the water. (Get it? Hyuk hyuk.) It'll glow throughout the night. I've woken up before 5:00 AM and known what time it is. The last time it saw any light was at least 5 or 6 hours before.

If you can't tell by now, I think that ease of reading is the biggest factor in determining a dive watch. I guess one of my problems with dive watches that have lots of doo-dads is that they can be hard to read. That's one reason why Breitling turns me off in general. I'm sure they're great for pilots, but leave my dive watch easy to read. Oh that and my brother knew of three people with Breitlings--all of them needed repairing at some point. That's not servicing, but repairing.

To all automatic owners: do you ever find yourself just staring at your second hand floating along the dial? I have lost track of how many times that's happened to me, and I've had this hunk of titanium for almost a year.

I also dive with a Suunto Vyper computer. No way I'd use that giant thing as a watch...

 

[fah]

I like my watch to be automatic, classic in design and minimalist. I use either my Breitling SuperOcean Professional or Rolex Submariner.

 

[Mike Newman]

So, years ago I decided I could afford a Rolex. I really wanted the Submariner - and I wasn't even a diver back then. My wife insisted that spending that much I should have something that would work as a dress watch too. Finished up with some gold bound thing on a leather strap. My oldest son has that - never loved it.

Now, for a dive watch, I love the Dive-Rite Nitek Plus. Brilliant, functional watch with full dive computer functions. For daily wear, and I have only rarely taken it diving, I have the beautiful Breitling Seawolf with titanium case and black dial. If I wanted a pure diving watch that worked best, I would go to the Luminox Navy Seal (again black dial) that I used for a long time. The all-conditions visibility with the tritium dots make it perfect.

 

[corhols7781]

I use an Invicta Pro Diver automatic with a copper background. Beautiful watch, doesn't lose time, wear it daily and while diving, and didn't cost me a fortune!