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Dive Watches

Created for diving professionals, dive watches boast high water resistance, highly legible dials and help tell divers how long they’ve been submerged for via a rotational bezel. They’re loved for their distinctive and robust design, making them one of the most popular watch genres around.

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Popular Brands
  1. Rolex Rolex
  2. Breitling Breitling
  3. Omega Omega
  4. TAG Heuer TAG Heuer
  5. Tudor Tudor
  6. Cartier Cartier
  7. Panerai Panerai
  8. IWC IWC
  9. Audemars Piguet Audemars Piguet
  10. Patek Philippe Patek Philippe
  11. Hublot Hublot
  12. Jaeger-LeCoultre Jaeger-LeCoultre
  13. Vacheron Constantin Vacheron Constantin
All Brands
  1. A. Lange and Sohne A. Lange and Sohne
  2. Audemars Piguet Audemars Piguet
  3. Ball Ball
  4. Baume et Mercier Baume et Mercier
  5. Bell and Ross Bell and Ross
  6. Blancpain Blancpain
  7. Breitling Breitling
  8. Bremont Bremont
  9. Bvlgari Bvlgari
  10. Carl F. Bucherer Carl F. Bucherer
  11. Cartier Cartier
  12. Chanel Chanel
  13. Chopard Chopard
  14. Corum Corum
  15. Eterna Eterna
  16. Fortis Fortis
  17. Frederique Constant Frederique Constant
  18. Girard Perregaux Girard Perregaux
  19. Glashutte Original Glashutte Original
  20. Graham Graham
  21. Grand Seiko Grand Seiko
  22. Hamilton Hamilton
  23. Hermes Hermes
  24. Hublot Hublot
  25. IWC IWC
  26. Jaeger-LeCoultre Jaeger-LeCoultre
  27. Longines Longines
  28. Maurice Lacroix Maurice Lacroix
  29. Montblanc Montblanc
  30. Nomos Glashutte Nomos Glashutte
  31. Omega Omega
  32. Oris Oris
  33. Panerai Panerai
  34. Patek Philippe Patek Philippe
  35. Porsche Design Porsche Design
  36. Rado Rado
  37. Raymond Weil Raymond Weil
  38. Rolex Rolex
  39. TAG Heuer TAG Heuer
  40. Tudor Tudor
  41. Vacheron Constantin Vacheron Constantin
  42. Zenith Zenith
Series
Case Size
The size of a watch is very important for style and comfort. If you prefer an oversized watch like a Panerai Luminor, you’ll probably want Large. If you’re looking for something more discreet like a Rolex Lady Datejust, you’ll want Small. For everything in between, Medium.
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Stock Type
  1. Watchfinder Watchfinder
Case Material
  1. Bronze Bronze
  2. Carbon Carbon
  3. Ceramic Ceramic
  4. Other Other
  5. Platinum Platinum
  6. Rose Gold Rose Gold
  7. Silver Silver
  8. Steel Steel
  9. Steel & Rose Gold Steel & Rose Gold
  10. Steel & White Gold Steel & White Gold
  11. Steel & Yellow Gold Steel & Yellow Gold
  12. Titanium Titanium
  13. White Gold White Gold
  14. Yellow Gold Yellow Gold
  15. Yellow Gold Plated Yellow Gold Plated
Dial Colour
Black
Blue
Bronze
Brown
Champagne
Diamond
Green
Grey
Ivory
Orange
Pink
Purple
Red
Salmon
Silver
Specialised
White
Yellow
Strap
  1. Bracelet Bracelet
  2. Fabric Fabric
  3. Leather Leather
  4. Rubber Rubber
Box and Papers
  1. Original box Original box
  1. Original papers Original papers
Movement
A mechanical watch is powered by a spring. Manual mechanical watches must be hand wound. Automatic watches are also mechanical, and are wound by a weight that spins with the wearer's movements. A quartz watch is battery powered and extremely accurate.
  1. Automatic Automatic
  2. Manual Manual
  3. Quartz Quartz
Promotion
Limited Edition
  1. Limited Edition Limited Edition
Reset Results (1844)
Results (1,844)
Sort
Rolex Datejust Lady 179161 374305

Rolex
Datejust Lady
179161

Box
Papers
Year 2009
£6,750
Rolex Datejust Lady 69160 401865
Vintage

Rolex
Datejust Lady
69160

Box
Papers
Year 1996
£3,200
Rolex Datejust 16233 424472

Rolex
Datejust
16233

Box
Papers
Year 2002
£6,375
Rolex Datejust 16233 424619
Vintage

Rolex
Datejust
16233

Box
Papers
Year 1994
£6,375
Rolex Datejust 16233 418605

Rolex
Datejust
16233

Box
Papers
Year 2006
£5,750
Rolex Datejust 16234 404995
Vintage

Rolex
Datejust
16234

Box
Papers
Year 1998
£5,650
Rolex Datejust 116200 424861

Rolex
Datejust
116200

Box
Papers
Year 2012
£6,375
Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date 115200 424207

Rolex
Oyster Perpetual Date
115200

Box
Papers
Year 2016
£6,100
Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date 115234 420215

Rolex
Oyster Perpetual Date
115234

Box
Papers
Year 2008
£6,550
Rolex Lady Oyster Perpetual 76080 400669

Rolex
Lady Oyster Perpetual
76080

Box
Papers
Year 2001
£3,450
Rolex Yacht-Master 169623 423945
Vintage

Rolex
Yacht-Master
169623

Box
Papers
Year 2000
£6,450
Rolex Yacht-Master 169623 406806

Rolex
Yacht-Master
169623

Box
Papers
Year 2005
£5,750
Rolex Submariner 16610 409033
Vintage

Rolex
Submariner
16610

Box
Papers
Year 1999
£8,000
Rolex Submariner 16610 416561
Vintage

Rolex
Submariner
16610

Box
Papers
Year 1992
£7,550
Rolex Oyster Perpetual 124200 419469

Rolex
Oyster Perpetual
124200

Box
Papers
Year 2021
£6,245
Rolex Air-King 114200 360023

Rolex
Air-King
114200

Box
Papers
Year 2010
£5,450
Rolex Oyster Perpetual 41 134300 427085
Manufacturer's Warranty

Rolex
Oyster Perpetual 41
134300

Box
Papers
Year 2025
£8,700
Tudor Black Bay 58 M79030N-0001 425168

Tudor
Black Bay 58
M79030N-0001

Box
Papers
Year 2020
£2,985
Rolex Submariner 124060 424799

Rolex
Submariner
124060

Box
Papers
Year 2024
£10,300
Tudor Ranger M79950-0001 424857

Tudor
Ranger
M79950-0001

Box
Papers
Year 2023
£2,445
Rolex Datejust 41 126300 426916
Manufacturer's Warranty

Rolex
Datejust 41
126300

Box
Papers
Year 2024
£8,725
Tudor Black Bay 58 M79030N-0001 424791

Tudor
Black Bay 58
M79030N-0001

Box
Papers
Year 2021
£3,035
Rolex Oyster Perpetual Date 15200 423713
Vintage

Rolex
Oyster Perpetual Date
15200

Box
Papers
Year 1991
£4,025
Panerai Submersible QuarantaQuattro PAM01287 407312
Manufacturer's Warranty

Panerai
Submersible QuarantaQuattro
PAM01287

Box
Papers
Year 2022
£7,250
Rolex GMT Master II 126720 VTNR 426791
Manufacturer's Warranty

Rolex
GMT Master II
126720 VTNR

Box
Papers
Year 2024
£12,750
Rolex Oyster Perpetual 124300 426502
Manufacturer's Warranty

Rolex
Oyster Perpetual
124300

Box
Papers
Year 2022
£6,950
Panerai Luminor Marina Carbotech PAM01661 421861

Panerai
Luminor Marina Carbotech
PAM01661

Box
Papers
Year 2020
£7,150
Omega Planet Ocean 232.30.46.21.01.002 420932

Omega
Planet Ocean
232.30.46.21.01.002

Box
Papers
Year 2010
£4,250
Eterna Kontiki 7740.40.11.1289 177453
Manufacturer's Warranty

Eterna
Kontiki
7740.40.11.1289

Box
Papers
Year 2017
£1,950
Rolex Datejust 41 126333 398932

Rolex
Datejust 41
126333

Box
Papers
Year 2019
£10,450
Tudor Submariner 75190 417434

Tudor
Submariner
75190

Box
Papers
Year 2002
£4,450
Rolex Submariner 14060 427053
Manufacturer's Warranty

Rolex
Submariner
14060

Box
Papers
Year 1997
£8,150
Rolex Air-King 14000M 423894

Rolex
Air-King
14000M

Box
Papers
Year 2002
£4,165
Rolex Datejust 126234 424667

Rolex
Datejust
126234

Box
Papers
Year 2023
£10,250
Rolex Daytona 116503 423588

Rolex
Daytona
116503

Box
Papers
Year 2017
£18,750
Rolex Oyster Perpetual 116000 426342

Rolex
Oyster Perpetual
116000

Box
Papers
Year 2009
£5,935
Rolex Oyster Perpetual 124200 423441

Rolex
Oyster Perpetual
124200

Box
Papers
Year 2023
£6,500
Rolex Yacht-Master 226659 425156

Rolex
Yacht-Master
226659

Box
Papers
Year 2019
£20,950
Omega Planet Ocean 232.32.46.21.01.003 423827

Omega
Planet Ocean
232.32.46.21.01.003

Box
Papers
Year 2002
£3,915
Rolex Datejust 116200 424407

Rolex
Datejust
116200

Box
Papers
Year 2013
£5,850
Rolex Datejust 116234 424859

Rolex
Datejust
116234

Box
Papers
Year 2015
£7,475
Jaeger-LeCoultre Extreme World Chronograph 1768170 407547

Jaeger-LeCoultre
Extreme World Chronograph
1768170

Box
Papers
Year 2015
£7,150

Dive Watches

History

The dive watch, a symbol of adventure and resilience, has a rich and exciting history that stretches back to 1927 when Rolex launched its Oyster model. This innovative watch, with its screw-down case and crown, is considered the first fully water-resistant wristwatch.

Famously, it was worn that year by a young swimmer called Mercedes Gleitz who was the first woman to swim the English Channel. To advertise the feat—and the capabilities of its latest watch—Rolex bought the front page of the most widely read British newspaper of the time, the Daily Mail.

Rolex went on to supply movements to Panerai, who developed the dive watch further with the specialist timepieces they made for the frogmen of the Italian navy in the late 1930s. These early dive watches had a water resistance of 30 metres—unimpressive by today’s standards which requires a dive watch to have a minimum water resistance of 100 metres.

By the mid-1950s, scuba-diving was a popular worldwide pastime due to the invention of the aqualung a decade earlier. This led to a spate of similar-looking dive watches like Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms, which featured the first rotating bezel—enabling divers to accurately measure immersion time—and the Rolex Submariner. Both these watches were water-resistant to 100 metres, while the Zodiac Sea Wolf, released shortly afterwards, doubled this to 200 metres.

In the decades since, dive watches have become more and more capable of withstanding extreme water pressure. In 2012, Rolex launched its Deepsea Challenge model which boasted an incredible 12,000 metres water resistance. In the same year it was attached to a submersible that Hollywood director James Cameron piloted to the deepest part of the world’s oceans—the Marianas Trench—to a depth of 10,898 metres, surviving the ordeal unscathed.

Key features

Today, dive watches continue to push boundaries, incorporating advanced technologies and materials such as helium escape valves, luminescent dials, and enhanced water resistance.

What sets dive watches apart from other timepieces? Let's look at what makes a dive watch unique, designed specifically for the rigours of underwater exploration.

Firstly, their exceptional water resistance is critical. Unlike standard watches, dive watches can withstand the extreme conditions of deep-sea diving, with a water resistance rating of at least 100 metres and many capable of depths up to 300 metres or much more.

Additional features of a dive watch include a unidirectional rotating bezel for tracking immersion time, bold luminous markers and hands for good visibility in murky conditions, and a helium escape valve to prevent damage during decompression. Most dive watches don’t have the latter as they are only of use in saturation diving when a diver spends time in a decompression chamber.

Some diving watches even incorporate helium-filled cases and built-in depth gauges, allowing divers to monitor their current depth without the need for additional equipment. These features make dive watches a useful tool for underwater exploration, although in an age of wearable dive computers they are more often now used as a back-up option.

One thing every mechanical dive watch must have is a constantly running seconds hand, or some kind of display indicating the watch is running that can be viewed in total darkness.

The science of water Resistance in dive watches

Water resistance is a vital feature of a dive watch. Special seals and gaskets prevent water infiltration, while robust materials like stainless steel or titanium ensure durability and resistance to corrosion. Rigorous testing verifies a dive watch's ability to withstand different pressures and temperatures, simulating the conditions encountered underwater.

Water resistance is measured in metres or bar units, indicating the depth to which the watch can be submerged safely. It's worth noting that factors such as water temperature and movement can affect a diving watch's performance underwater.

Popular dive watch models

The Rolex Submariner is a classic choice, renowned for its robustness and precision, and capable of withstanding depths of up to 300 metres. It was famously worn by James Bond until the 1990s when he swapped one dive watch for another: the equally iconic Omega Seamaster.

Other enduring models that are as timeless as they are stylish include the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, Breitling Superocean, Panerai Luminor and IWC Aquatimer. Fellow Swiss brands Tudor and TAG Heuer offer more affordable choices like the Black Bay and Aquaracer, respectively.

At Watchfinder, we offer a vast selection of pre-owned luxury dive watches from all of the aforementioned brands, from Rolex to IWC, catering to every budget and taste. Explore our collection and discover the exceptional craftsmanship and performance of these remarkable watches.

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