Every Friday - a new list! This week we chose the top five Seiko Prospex dive watches.
Following yesterday's article on the current Prospex collection, we decided to highlight our favorite diver models from it. As many know, Seiko offers a wide range of Prospex divers in various price categories - from around €500 to nearly €4,000 for the Marinemaster models. Choosing favorites was not an easy task, not due to a lack of worthy options, but rather because of their abundance.
As always, our Top 5 includes watches from different price segments to cover the diversity of the collection. As I explained in yesterday's in-depth article on Prospex, the collection is constantly changing: models appear, are updated, or disappear. Therefore, this Top 5 is merely a temporary reflection of the current situation. Nevertheless, it includes many excellent options, as you will see below.
Seiko Prospex HBC001
We start with a model that isn't for everyone. The diver category with a GMT function is rare and unusual. Many GMT watches are merely styled as divers, with an additional hand and a different bezel, but true GMT divers are a special niche. The idea of combining diving and travel watches is logical: to reach the best dive sites, you often have to fly. The combination of functions is justified, but the main challenge is successfully designing the dial to display local time, home time, date, and remaining dive time. Seiko has succeeded in this.
The HBC001 (green dial) and HBC002 (black) models are based on a modern interpretation of the 1968 diver. The series was first introduced in 2023 with models SPB381 (black), SPB383 (green), and SPB385 (icy blue). Last year, the brand updated the series, releasing models SPB519 and SPB534 with increased water resistance to 300 m and a new clasp. Later, the standard HBC002 and HBC001 models were also updated and are now available. We included the green version in the list due to the pleasant dark green shade and contrast with the gold GMT hand.
Comfortable GMT Diver
The stainless steel case measures 42 mm in diameter, 13.3 mm thick, and 48.6 mm lug-to-lug. The angular case features a unidirectional bezel with a ceramic green insert and a white diving scale. The dark green dial is styled like the classic Marinemaster with large luminescent markers and signature hands. The date window is neatly positioned between 4 and 5 o'clock, and the 24-hour GMT scale is placed on the inner ring (rehaut), maintaining a clean design. The long gold GMT hand makes it easy to read home time. Seiko's designers managed to do this without excessive clutter.
Inside is the automatic caliber 6R54, beating at 21,600 vibrations per hour (3 Hz) with a 72-hour power reserve. Unfortunately, it is a classic rotor mechanism, not the more convenient