First Dive Watch

Take a look at the Casio MDV-106. Great entry level diver, tried and tested. I love mine!

It depends what is your budget. Casio MDV106-1A is a great looking watch for a very low budget. If you have a higher budget, than a Seiko, Timex, Orient, Citizen, Dan Henry or Luminox chould be something for you.

Price range? Automatic or (god forbid) Quartz?

Hard to beat Orient these days. Seiko seems to be pricing themselves into a different level and I wouldn't buy one unless I could do QC on it, since they don't...

Spend enough to get a sapphire crystal.

Quick question: What do you plan on doing with the watch? Do you want to wear it daily with minimal hassle? Do you want to mod it sometime in the future? Will it actually see water? Is heritage important to you?

Not sure exactly what you are looking for, but there are a lot of options available at the price of that Seiko SNE573 solar diver. One of my favorite diver's watches is my Seiko SNJ025 Arnie, and you could find one of the SNJs for around the same price as the SNE573. You could even start looking at some entry-level swiss diver watches at that price range, for example Glycine and Hamilton.

Echoing above, get the Duro.  You'll certainly have more dive watches later in life, but you'll always come back to the Casio.  I'll make people upset with this too, but the Citizen Prodiver really is a phenominal watch by every metric.  Closest you can get to the feel of a vintage sub.  Don't let the logo on the case dissuade you, you'll never notice it when you're wearing it.

If youre not particular about the movement, the Citizen Promaster Diver is something I picked up recently and really enjoyed. The black dial with titanium case was the style I got and its great. Eco-Drive movement is reliable and the bracelet feels solid for the price.

Orient was the brand that really drew me into This Thing of Ours.  You won't go wrong with one of them.

Do check out the skx as well as the new seiko 5 series and even vostok amphibia if you prefer durability over looks.

Coming from the Kamasu I have to give it a +1, personally I found the bracelet to be less than great but strapcode sells really nice upgrades.

Theres also the Kamasu 2 which is more of a homage with circular indices. 
 

I personally rock a Vostok amphibia, you can find them at significantly low prices, and you can even find them with modded bezel and the like directly from amazon. I’m partial to the 2416/710059 model, the bezel is easily swapped with skx compatible inserts, and scuba dude isn’t your only choice if youre looking for something more understated. Despite being a downgrade specswise I find it to still be a value even at 100USD, and a Great starting point as far as divers go.

You’re likely going to get so many recommendations that it’s going to be hard to choose between them. That said, buy the watch that a) makes you say “damn” when you look at it and b) you can afford. If you do that, you’ll buy the right diver. 

My first diver was Orient Ray 2 in blue. The round hour markers is what did the trick the trick for me. 

Hey, if it’s good enough for Bill Gates, it should be good enough for us plebes. 😊

Check out Islander watches! 

Probably the Duro, but be prepared to spend in some straps and maybe a bracelet

Can't go wrong with Orient. Have a look at the Citizen NY0040, NY008x, NY0100 series. Will take Citizen over Seiko any day, all day. Better made, lower prices and superior performance and QC. 

Lorier Neptune(but it's sold out at this moment)

Nomas Ahoi (if you have the budget)

Any Squale (they are just beautiful)

Maen Hudson 38

I can just go on forever, but to be more concise, I think microbands are a good choice

Ys, I know Nomos and Squale are not microbands

Others may have suggested these already...my apologies for the repeat.  If you are allowing yourself to look in the $500-ish range, I'd suggest the Glycine Combat Sub or the Victorinox INOX Professional Diver.  Both look great, and are true divers.  The Glycine may be a bit over $500...  As for Seiko, the SKX is an unbelievable workhorse, but someone above said Seiko has priced themselves up a bit...so there's that.  Happy hunting and please let us know what you decide on!

I would have to agree. I also just bought a 710059 and think that for the money it kicks some of the Seikos. 

Around 50$, as the others suggested, the Casio Duro is the way to go. This year they even released new model (Pepsi, Batman, Hulk). Check these refs : MDV106B-1A1V ; MDV106B-1A3V ; MDV106B-2AV ; MDV106B-1A2V

Around 100$, the Vostok Amphibia has so many iterations you can literally find anything.

When you get to 200$, there are a lot of options, such as Orient Kamasu, or Citizen Prodiver, (know that the Kamasu is not a certified diver)

If you can afford a 500$ watch, I recommend you take a look at Certina DS Action Diver 38mm, since we are in the period of winter sales, you can find it for 600$. They offer tremendous amount of specs for the money (Certified Diver, Swiss historic brand, 300M water resistance, good quality bracelet, 6 different color schemes) my preferred one is the blue one, which reminds me a lot of the Rolex Smurf :).

I probably will be wearing it daily switching off with my G Shock, so it will need to be durable. I will probably also take swimming and on trips. I probably won’t mod it. Thanks!

Lug to lug?

Thanks! I’ve heard a lot about those glycines!

Then my vote would be for the Orient, as it is most likely the most watch for your money, right out of the box, especially at grey market prices. Be careful when swimming with these watches. The setup of the gaskets and bezel springs differs from higher-priced models. I like to refer to this category as diver-style watches. For example, an Orient Kamasu is not ISO rated.

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Depends on your budget, theres tones of options out there. I hate to say this, out of 60% of my watches are divers 😑

SKX