Sub £400/$500 Tool/Dive watch - unusual recommendations

Not this one!! 38mm 👌 My wife's 😭 I'm so jelly... There are one with a grey dial aswell.

That’s the right size at least and I can see why you are jealous. As they say - happy wife, happy life! 

I have mentioned Scurfa watches a couple of times on WC, I have the titanium Diver One which has a quartz movement, but they also do the newer Treasure Seeker which has an automatic movement and is 41mm in size.

Really great watches in my experience and a proper family business run by a professional diver with a bit of a story behind the brand. Just over your budget due to the VAT, but they do come up below used occasionally. 
 

Just had a look, those are amazing! If the yellow one was in stock I might have had to try to find more pennies down the back of the sofa...

Look at the 36 and 39 Glycine Combat Subs… both in that price range and are usually well-regarded as great bang-for-your-buck Swiss diver.

Cheers, will keep an eye open for a nearly new one to pop up. They Combat Sub is currently 525 euro on Gylcine‘s website. Looked at jurawatches.co.uk as a UK AD to see if there was bargain to be had and they are selling at £1,400 - triple the price!!! 🤷‍♂

Well, I would always go to Seiko for that price if I'm looking for a sports watch

I know you said no Seikos but for me it's the best option for what you are looking for

Keep in mind that Seikos always wear smaller, that's part of the Seiko magic

Go check out some models at a store, in real life, not in pictures and/or videos 👍🏻

Just walk In and try on a few, what could go wrong (for my wallet)???

Well... from the moment you enter the store, I am not responsible for what may happen, and I will deny having been involved in any sort of "watch buying advice at WatchCrunch".

In fact... What is WatchCrunch? And who are you?? 

Have you thought about Aquatico? They make some really nice dive watches in 39mm and the price is right $299 before discount. I think they are running a 30% off sale for Father's Day.

Nice thing is you don't see these everywhere, they are not a direct homage of anything, and they have 300M of water resistance so you pretty much can go anywhere with them. They run the ubiquitous Seiko NH35 - so solid movement - hacking and hand-winding.

I have the Aquatico Dolphin in "tiffany" blue (they have some really nice alternative choices in black, white, deep blue, and some more colorful others):

Here's the link to their site:

https://aquaticowatch.com/products/aquatico-dolphin-39mm-automatic-dive-watch-tiffany-blue-dial-nh35

Oh I just remembered one more...if you want that retro 1960s French Military Dive Watch look, then Le Forban started reissuing some of their classic designs a few years ago. I remember seeing a YT video from TGV about Le Forban when he was talking about the Marine Nationale watches.

Both designs are less than 500 euros and the case size is a friendly 38.4mm. They are also cuff friendly at 12.75mm in thickness.

They both use Miyota movements and have water resistance of 150M - I know that's a little short, but likely to be good enough for the pool or a swim on the sea shore.

I love that 1960s French dive watch look - Glashutte Original has used a similar design for their SeaQ. My only wish is that they would have offered a "no date" version of the dial.

Here's a couple images and the link:

https://leforbansecuritemer.com/en/la-brestoise/

Really like the retro look, and the size. 150m wr would be plenty for my purposes. Is the Miyota 8215 movement any good? I have no experience of it but read different things (though I can’t really be a snob about this in my price range)

citizen promaster tough bn0211 (42mm) - it doesn't have a rotating bezel but it has all the other specs a diver does and then some (sapphire crystal, hard coated case and bracelet that's 5 times more scratch resistant than steel, mono-block case, decent lume, eco-drive). this is as tool-ish as a tool watch can get..

save this to your ebay account ($150) to get notified when they have some available: https://www.ebay.com/itm/265131377118?epid=23034767502&hash=item3dbb0fc1de:g:HT8AAOSwJ4xeXshF 

the seller is very well regarded and the watches are like new.

here's a 6 months follow-up type of review: 

It says he doesn’t ship the the UK, unfortunately, but thanks for the thought!

Great question and the one that probably is the most challenging as the Miyota 8215 is an entry level movement and sometimes can be noisy when the rotor is spinning. 

It's a solid movement, it has hand-winding but is not hackable. It also has the issue of stuttering seconds (explanation here: https://calibercorner.com/stuttering-seconds-hand-explained/ )

You can read all about the movement at the great site Caliber Corner (I use this site all the time to research different movements and try to understand them):

https://calibercorner.com/miyota-caliber-8215/

If I had to choose between an NH35A or a Miyota 8215, then the Seiko movement wins for me as it has better features. It's too bad Le Forban didn't use one of the 9100 series of Miyota movements, as I would have paid the few extra bucks to have a higher grade movement.

I'll drop in some comments here from HODINKEE when discussing the 8215 movement in relation to its use in the Timex Marlin:

"The movement appears to be a Miyota 8215. Automatically wound, this is a very simple and well-known movement with 21 jewels and a power reserve of around 40 hours. One quirk of this movement is while the 8215 does offer both automatic and hand-winding ability, it does not feature hacking, so the seconds hand continues to run even when the crown is in the time-setting position."

" ...you cannot fault Timex for using the 8215. Long the defacto entry-level movement, while the 8215 is basic, it is also inexpensive, reliable, and simple to service."

Thanks, @ChronoGuy that‘s very helpful!! 

Put my Komandirski on today - your lead-in photo reminded me I hadn't worn it for awhile.

That is really cool looking 🔥 - I’m pretty torn as I really want one but my opposition to purchasing it is from a moral, rather than a horological standpoint (although I recently bought a vintage Slava from a seller in Ukraine that I hope will make it, eventually!) Although if I buy one that is already in this country, then the money doesn’t go back, so that could be an option. Yet each time I give in to buy a watch in the 100 category makes me have to wait longer to get any of the ones people have suggested; most of the list came in above what I could afford (straightaway, at least…) 

I purchased mine from scubadudestore on eBay - they are based in Delaware. Watch was in stock and shipped swiftly - had it in less than a week. Paid an extra $10-15 to get it on eBay, but money stayed in USA and delivery was fast. Worth the few extra dollars.

Here is the link to their store:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/202727754744?hash=item2f33840bf8:g:amMAAOSwhn5dIdvs

You'd have to pick them up on the secondary market but I love my two Morar's by the Marloe watch company. Usual about 200 to 300 second hand

Yeah those are really nice, will keep an eye out. I actually really like the look of their new Solent collection but I’m just not sure they are robust enough in terms of design/water resistance and have no lume. I’m now well and truly down the micro brand rabbit hole on this one and finding a lot a like in this price range (and even more that are too expensive 🤣). 

Really digging these internal rotating bezels, compressor style (as true compressors out of price range). Shame the Spinnaker Bradner seems too big, as I think I prefer it’s looks to the Dan Henry (plus full sapphire glass). 
 

Grey version is the way. Best diver for the money no doubt!

I think Aquatico is a FANTASTIC company that makes quality watches. I bought the Green and Brown dial Big Pilot watches (both for $330 on their 40% off Easter Sale) they offer on their website, and my god...they blow Seiko away with design appeal, and mind you, with a Seiko movement within. I mean, these watches are very similar to the IWC Pilot watches and with today's technology...why pay $5000-$10000 for a super quality watch with a $200 price tag. The absurdity of these times..lol