Going swimmingly: our favourite dive watches of 2025

Jason Lee

2025 was a turbulent year for the watch industry. Retail prices surged in the wake of the Trump administration’s proposed 39% tariff, before some relief arrived later in the year when the US rate was revised down to 15%. Even so, the ripple effects were felt across the market, and few collectors made it through unscathed. (Editor’s note: “ripple effect” is a great pun when we’re talking dive watches…)

Yet if pricing made headlines for the wrong reasons, product did the opposite. It was also a standout year for dive watches — one packed with genuinely compelling releases that made restraint difficult. For me personally, that translated into a far more expensive year than planned, driven not by impulse but by how convincingly right some of these watches felt. With that in mind, here’s a look at our favourite dive watches of 2025. Consider this your invitation to go back under the surface.

Baltic Aquascaphe MkII

Baltic’s Aquascaphe has long been one of the best modern answers to the vintage-diver brief, and the MkII shows the French brand understands what not to change. After seven years, the updates focus on legibility and everyday interaction, rather than rewriting the personality. It’s less about novelty than turning a strong idea into a sharper daily tool.

The case is subtly sharper and more sculpted, with shapelier lugs that feel more distinctive while staying compact. Tool-watch practicality remains: drilled lugs are still here, and the big functional addition is crown guards, paired with a slightly beefier crown that suits the Aquascaphe’s intent. The MkII keeps the charm and restraint of the original, but feels more deliberate in the hand. Price: US$730 from the Time+Tide Shop

Wren Diver 38 Seafoam

American microbrand Wren’s Diver 38 Seafoam might look like a straightforward follow-up, but it’s really a spec upgrade wrapped in a smaller case. The move to 38mm (down 3mm from the Diver One) makes the design work for a wider range of wrists, and it sets the tone for the rest of the improvements.

You get a ceramic bezel insert with Super-LumiNova for a fully glowing timing scale, and a step up in movement from the Sellita SW200-1 to the more premium ETA 2892-A2, complete with a customised rotor visible through a display caseback. (You can also have it with or without a date complication.) The bracelet is the detail that seals it: a tool-free extension system that makes on-wrist adjustment quick and painless. It’s not competing on heritage — it’s competing on execution. Price: US$1,595

Doxa SUB 750T

The SUB 750T has always been Doxa’s sweet spot: tougher than the 600, less extreme than the 1500, and still believable as a daily diver if you like your watches unapologetically purposeful. Its return in 2025 feels like a missing piece clicking back into the catalogue.

Doxa has slimmed the case from about 14mm to 11.95mm while keeping the full 750-metre water resistance intact, and the flat sapphire crystal helps the profile feel cleaner and more current. Then there’s the colour menu: eight dial options with nautical names — Professional orange, Sharkhunter black, Searambler silver, Caribbean blue, Divingstar yellow, Aquamarine blue, Whitepearl white, and Sea Emerald green. Whether you’re collecting them or just picking your favourite, the 750T’s return is hard to argue with. Price: US$2,490 from the Time+Tide Shop

 Seiko Marinemaster Professional SLA081

The Marinemaster SLA081 is the kind of watch that reminds you Seiko still understands what a professional diver is meant to feel like. It’s robust beyond the numbers, with case construction and finishing that come across as built for use. Yet the dial is really the hook: rich, detailed, and the sort of surface that makes you pause in good light.

The case, on the other hand, reads as a deliberate echo of Seiko’s historical dive tools. Inside, you’re getting a movement with Grand Seiko lineage and the refinement you’d expect from a flagship Seiko diver. It won’t be the easiest wear for smaller wrists, but if you want a modern, no-nonsense Marinemaster with genuine heritage behind it, the SLA081 makes a convincing case. But don’t take my word for it: let Borna explain why it’s such a good watch, and why it’s one of the three best Seikos released in 2025, here. Price: US$4,600

Tudor Pelagos Ultra

Tudor went unapologetically large in 2025, and the Pelagos Ultra makes a strong argument for why size isn’t the same thing as bulk. The 43mm titanium case comes with proper professional credentials: a helium escape valve, a 1,000-metre depth rating, and larger ceramic lume blocks that push legibility well into “overkill” territory. In my opinion, it’s the most complete expression of the Pelagos line to date.

When the Pelagos Ultra finally landed in Tudor boutiques across South Korea, I walked in more out of curiosity than intent. On paper, a 43mm dive watch had already been mentally written off — my wrist measures around 6.6 inches, and experience has taught me to be cautious. I expected another capable but unwieldy tool watch that simply wouldn’t make sense for me. What I didn’t expect was to walk out having bought one.

On the wrist, the Pelagos Ultra wears far better than its dimensions suggest, thanks largely to a lug design that subtly curves and settles around the wrist rather than sitting flat on top of it. The result is a watch that feels balanced and secure across a wide range of wrist sizes, not just the larger end of the spectrum.

2025 was a year of heavy churn in my watch box — plenty came and went — but the Pelagos Ultra proved to be a keeper. The matte black dial, with its fine grain texture, is beautifully judged, and the sky-blue “Pelagos” line adds just enough colour without breaking the tool-watch spell. Snowflake hands and blocky indices feel entirely at home here, reinforcing the watch’s purposeful character. And then there’s the bracelet: an Oyster-style design without faux rivets, a small but decisive detail that has previously pushed me to part with otherwise excellent watches. Price: US$5,950

Panerai Luminor Marina Militare PAM05218

Panerai reissues are at their best when they stay close to the source, and the PAM05218 gets that balance right. It’s a revival of the 1993 5218-202/A Marina Militare, a model originally offered exclusively to Italian Navy personnel in the same year Panerai first became available to civilian buyers.

That pre‑Vendôme period has real gravity for collectors, and with only around 140 originals made, this reference has become a cult object for committed Paneristi. The appeal is simple: the purposeful Luminor silhouette, minimal fuss, and a connection to Panerai’s modern origin story. Bringing it back as a broader release feels less like nostalgia and more like giving enthusiasts a realistic way into a chapter that’s usually out of reach. Price: US$9,200

Omega Seamaster Planet Ocean Mk IV

The Planet Ocean has always been the more industrial Omega Seamaster, and the new Mk IV feels like a carefully judged polish rather than a reinvention. Omega offers three bezel options — black ceramic, blue ceramic, and its signature orange, now in a brighter shade — all paired with matte black dials, arrow hands, and bold lume-filled markers.

The real story is proportion. Thickness drops to 13.79mm, and the lug-to-lug sits at 47.5mm, which makes a 600-metre diver feel far more wearable than the spec sheet suggests. Omega also brings back openworked Arabic numerals in a more squared style as a nod to the 2005 original, while keeping the applied indexes flooded with Super-LumiNova. Familiar, but more restrained. Price: US$9,500

Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 38mm (and Fifty Fathoms Tech)

Blancpain addressed the Fifty Fathoms’ biggest practical hurdle: size. A new 38mm model joined the 42mm and 45mm in regular production in 2025, keeping the signature design language and 300-metre capability while making the icon viable for far more wrists. It also completes a genuinely useful three-size lineup — a rarity for a collection at this level. Price: US$19,500

We also need to give an honourable mention to the Fifty Fathoms Tech (and particularly its BOC IV limited edition variant), which takes the Tech Gombessa’s lugless case architecture and scales it down, returning to a more conventional dive-watch layout. In grade 23 titanium, with blocky lume indexes, it reads as an unapologetically modern Fifty Fathoms. If you want the collection’s DNA with a contemporary attitude, this is the one to try. Price: US$22,700

Ulysse Nardin Diver [AIR]

Ulysse Nardin turned up at Watches and Wonders with a bold stat: the Diver [AIR] weighs just 52 grams, and is presented as the lightest mechanical dive watch in the world. That headline matters because it isn’t achieved with a gimmick; it’s the product of deep engineering choices aimed at real-world comfort.

Rather than piling on showy complications, the complexity here is devoted to making a diver feel almost absent on the wrist while still reading as a serious tool watch. It’s also a reminder that innovation doesn’t need a hype narrative to be worth paying attention to. Price: US$38,000