Modern Vintage Divers...there are no easy answers

In my never ending obsession with vintage styled dive watches, I routinely ask myself what actually drives my preferences and decisions. Is it just looks, specs, price, brand, history? It should seem obvious that for this specific category looks and history should reign supreme, but the practical nerd in me can't overlook the other "normal" aspects of watch buying. I will eventually get to the two watches on the front of this post, but bear with me for a few paragraphs.

The advantage of focusing mostly on looks is that it really opens up the doors to endless options. Every big brand and microbrand out there pretty much makes a good looking vintage vibe diver. But then again, having so many options can also make one overly picky since there are so many models to choose from. And that's where the other factors come into play...

When I started diving into vintage styled divers (pun intended) it was really just a look I was going for. However I quickly got paralyzed with options and I convinced myself I could narrow things down with "originality". That is, how true to an original design from the 50s, 60s, 70s a watch was. This implied the brand had to have history to claim their own design from back in the day, but then this also got a bit dicey. I mean unless you pick a Fifty Fathoms outright (and the newest designs aren't that true to form from the 50s) then it just becomes tall tales of who has the "real" claim to fame. In other words, alot of brands made dive watches back in those days that were worthy tools used by professionals and adventurers alike. So though this narrowed things down a bit, it didn't do much to unparalize me.

So back I went back to the most objective parts of choosing a watch: specs and price. These two factors however put microbrands back at the front of the line. See how trying to rationalize watches logically is a fool's errand??!!

Ofcourse going through these motions means my current collection is eclectic. I have a Seiko Turtle and SKX to rep the neovintage Japanese vibe (may be adding an MM200 to round out that lineup). Then I have a Lorier Neptune, Helson FF homage, Casio Duro, 5KX, amongst others. I'm in the midst of thinning out the herd, but I'm missing a crucial piece still: a "dress diver".

To me a dress diver is both an oxymoron and subjective choice. I mean look at any Omega SMP, James Bond clearly will wear all of those with a suit. You might even say any diver can be dressy if you just put on a milanese bracelet or a leather strap. However my own definition of a dress diver is one that has a vintage look, mostly polished surfaces and a very conforming bracelet or strap. This has led me to the Mido Ocean Star Tribute and the Longines Legend Diver. Before you all start throwing at me the Black Bay, Sub or SMP as suggestions note these are either too brushed, too tooly or too modern to pass my criteria. Let me explain.

The Mido Ocean Star is a very overlooked watch line in general. But it is actually one of Swatch Group's best offerings IMO. They are near or sub $1k watches with excellent specs and looks. Better than the Tissot Seastar if you ask me. Even Hamilton and Certina I feel are more popular, but not better than Mido. Rado, Omega, Longines, etc are a different price category so I feel that's where direct comparisons can stop. The Ocean Star Tribute in particular has great vintage cues in a 40.5mm case and guess what? It's mostly if not purely polished surfaces. Great articulate bracelet too, a splash of color, aluminum bezel, domed sapphire crystal. You name it, they got it right. The only spec that's annoying is a 21mm lug width, but I can live with that. I already have some 21mm watches, bands and bracelets.

This also brings me to my next candidate, which I've discussed before, the Longines Legend Diver. This is already a popular watch and the no-date variation goes for a premium now. The standard version is 42mm, also mostly polished finish with a milanese bracelet option. It has a pretty long lug-to-lug of 52mm though, which is why I did not like it on wrist. It just wears so big! The 36mm or rumoured 39mm may fix this. So why did I put a pic of the bronze with green fume dial version? Because it looks amazing! And that's the thing about the looks category, if you really like something it's easier to overlook all the other "cons". I've also been looking at other green dials and bronze cases. This bronze legend diver technically kills 3 birds with one stone. And if you're about to point out I just contradicted myself due to the fact the bronze version is brushed, you're right, but again, looks!

Here's to one more round of impossible questions and unnecessary contradictions. As usual I'll probably just go with whatever floats my boat when I see it person. If you made it to the end hope this gives you hope you're not crazy, just a watch enthusiast.