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Recommendations for entry level Divers

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Hey! I'm new to the watch community and I'm looking for a great mechanical dive piece that will last me many years. I am a fan of the Rolex submariner, but any design is fine. My budget is $200 right now, but if I see anything compelling that is above 200 I will save up for it. Thanks in advance!
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Omegaman68
546
Aug 12, 2018
Look into Grovana or Revue Thommen.
DavidSolLee
8
Jul 31, 2018
Vintage1982BenzThat's dope man! I wish their was a 013 cause my wrists are 6 inch. Still, thanks man!
Welcome, David! There are a myriad of good to great options in your price range - Invicta, Orient, Seiko and many others have attractive offerings. If you did stretch your budget you then enter Steinhart and Squale territory, with a ton of microbrands offering attractive pieces in between the $400-1,000 range.
I'll try not to ramble and focus a bit here. Since you said you like the Sub design, Invicta was the first thing to come to mind. You may hear some being negative about Invicta, but I have owned a couple of their watches and never had an issue and I know plenty of collectors who still really enjoy their Invicta divers. A million color ways to choose from, quartz or automatic, various sizes. Here is a really classic one with auto movement for well under your budget.
https://www.amazon.com/Invicta-Diver-Collection-Automatic-Silver-Tone/dp/B001E96DHA
The reason I sold my last Invicta was I replaced it with a Steinhart Ocean One, which is a straight up Submariner homage/clone. I like mine quite a bit, enough that I purchased a second Steinhart (the Ocean One Vintage Military). This one would double your budget plus a little more, but I can attest to the quality of Steinhart - the OVM is one of my favorite watches.
https://www.steinhartwatches.de/en/ocean-1-black-keramik.html
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Bringing it solidly back in to your budget, Orient has some nice offering in the Mako and the Ray. Here is a side by side of the two.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1Eq0G3N5Z0
The Mako II has the arabic numerals at 12, 6 and 9 while the Ray has the indices with no numerals.
Mako - https://www.amazon.com/Orient-Japanese-Automatic-Stainless-Diving/dp/B01AK5TQRM/?tag=finetailored-20
Ray - https://www.amazon.com/Orient-FAA02004B9-Display-Japanese-Automatic/dp/B01AK5TQXG
A watch you will see get a lot of love (and I am biased, wearing mine right now) is the Seiko SKX line. The SKX007/009 are the gateway to a lot of watch enthusiasts collections. New with a warranty will stretch your budget, but you can find them grey market or used under $200 with a little digging around.
Here is the 009 from Long Island Watch on sale for $209 new. They are a very reputable dealer and I've made a few purchases from them.
https://www.longislandwatch.com/Seiko_SKX009K2_Watch_p/skx009k2.htm
Whatever you decide come back and share a photo in the wrist check forum! Have fun with looking around, it is half of the fun.
I'm wearing my SKX009 once more today, they are great watches.
Happy you found the post helpful and enjoy!
Omegaman68
546
Aug 12, 2018
Vintage1982BenzReally great advice, I agreed with everything stated here. Also, check out Grovana‘s Submariner homage, it’s a lot of bang for your buck.
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