Steeldive Dive Watches

Is a Steeldive watch a FAKE?

No – Steeldive watches are generally designed as a tribute to some of the best and most famous dive watches. They are often, but not always influenced by iconic Seiko dive watches and other Swiss dive watches. Importantly, they are NOT fake watches as they do not make any claim to be the original watch. These watches do NOT bear any of the original branded livery (logos etc). Just look at the spec below – that’s not what you’d find in a cheap copy watch.

Specification of a typical Steeldive watch

• Sapphire Crystal Glass
• NH35 Automatic Movement
• 120 Click Rotational Ceramic Bezel
• 300m Water Resistance
• Screwdown Crown
• Screwback Case
• 316L Stainless Steel Case
• Stainless Steel Strap with extra Branded Rubber Strap
• Hacking Movement
• C3 Luminova on the face
• Lug Width – 20mmCase Diameter – 41mm
• Lug to Lug – 47mmCase
• Thickness – 13.5mmWeight – 140g
• Hard Presentation Box and warranty card

Dilema – a modern reliable homage watch or a vintage refurbished one

In our opinion it makes sense buying one of these watches over a 20 year old watch of unknown origin. Steeldive make a lovely homage to the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. They also produce tribute watches to many of the most popular Seiko diver’s watches. This includes homages to the Seiko SKX, Tuna, Turtle and a very nice Seiko Captain Willard homage. That one reproducing the looks of the classic 1970’s 6105 Seiko Turtle. Other best sellers are the Steeldive SD1970 (Captain Willard), the SD1975J Kanagawa Wave (Seiko Tuna homage) and the Steeldive SD1952 MilSpec (Blancpain Fifty Fathoms tribute)

“Branded” alternatives to Steeldive

There are two other brands that may appeal to customer’s looking at these Steeldive watches – Invicta and Orient. They are massively popular brands in Asia – known for their own quality and innovation, not simply “tribute” watches.

Invicta Divers Watches

The Invicta range of dive watches include the hugely popular Invicta Pro Diver and the 300m water resistant Invicta Grand Diver (both pictured below). Invicta Dive watches feature very good quality Japanese movements like the Miyota 8215 (Citizen owned) and the Seiko produced NH35 (automatic / hacking).

Orient Dive Watches

Orient watches are a wholly owned subsidiary company of Seiko Epson. All Orient dive watches use movements Made in Japan – in other words – great quality at a sensible price. The most popular from this brand are often referred to as the Orient Mako – a Rolex Submariner styled divers watch – and the Orient Kamasu. However, Orient themselves do NOT refer to these watches by those nicknames.

A final word of warning!

When you wear yours expect to be asked over and over – “where did you buy it? – I want one”