When I started writing about watches for a living, it seemed like every watch was a dive watch. I’m only slightly exaggerating. Six years ago, we were entering the height of vintage dive watch reissue fever, and things have only begun to slow down on that front in a noticeable way in the last year, or thereabouts. So when it came time to look at the year in divers and pick the five best, surveying the landscape really drove home a few important points. First, dive watches are no longer the center of watch culture. I’m not exactly sure what is (but I have some thoughts, and we’ll get to them in a later article), but divers simply do not dominate the new release calendar or the thoughts and wishes of enthusiasts the way they did a few short years ago. 

The other realization I had in compiling this list is that the players in the dive watch landscape are shifting. Sometimes subtly and sometimes dramatically. The brands represented here (and, more apt, not represented) tell a big part of the story in dive watches in 2025. 

This year end list (and others you’ll see in these pages leading up to the end of 2025) is not meant to be exhaustive or definitive, but is more of a personal reflection on how I saw the year in a particular category. Don’t worry, you’ll get other perspectives soon from other members of our team. I specifically wanted to write about divers because, well, I’m not really a dive watch guy, and I thought it might be interesting and a fun challenge to consider what moved me in this category this year. As always, we want to know what you think. So let us know in the comments if I’ve made a horrible omission (I almost certainly have) or if any of these watches are actually not worthy (I’m quite certain they are). 

Citizen Promaster Aqualand 40th Anniversary Edition 

This watch won me over during Chicago Windup weekend, where I hosted a panel where it was the main topic of discussion. The Aqualand is a genuinely strange watch that’s both extremely niche and extremely well known (at least among the broader watch community) for it’s unusual case featuring a depth sensor that you have to believe is going to make you feel like you’re wearing a medieval torture device once you strap it on, but somehow defies all logic and is quite easy to wear. 

I wanted to make sure Citizen was represented on this list because they are, without a doubt, the most important producer of affordable dive watches in the world right now. Let me be even more clear: Seiko is not the most important producer of affordable dive watches in the world right now. Someday, it might be worthy of business school coursework to study how Seiko relinquished their place as the home for enthusiasts when it comes to divers. Is it simply Citizen filling a void that Seiko left when they went a bit upmarket? That’s part of it, but it’s not that simple. The divers Citizen is making right now, particularly those at price points that inspire impulse shopping the way Seiko once did, are genuinely pretty great, offering improved finishing, appealing designs, and an interesting heritage play. The Aqualand is Exhibit A: an actually historic dive watch, completely unique in the market, that can be had for well under $1,000. Your move, Seiko. 

Paulin Mara 

Microbrands and small indies have been making divers for as long as there have been microbrands and small indies. So it’s not necessarily a big deal that Paulin decided to try their hand at a dive watch. But the Mara is uniquely impressive in its execution. I’ve always thought of Paulin as a design oriented brand, not necessarily focused so much on the tactile experience of wearing and owning a watch, but the visual and aesthetic pleasures they can provide. The Mara, though, is really well made, and Paulin was quite thoughtful about materials, shape, and all the things that make wearing a dive watch a unique experience. 

For me, it really comes down to two things. First, the sapphire bezel is a really smart choice, particularly on the black dialed variant, with a bezel in a ghostly gray color that evokes vintage divers in an otherwise extremely contemporary design. I love the optical quality of seeing the bezel insert through sapphire – it’s a visual trick that I wish more brands would employ. The other thing that Paulin nailed is the case shape, which they were somehow able to create in a similar profile (though obviously beefed up a bit) as their wonderful Modul line. There’s a coherence between the Mara and other pieces in Paulin’s lineup that we expect from brands that have a long range vision, and are careful and calculated about the watches they bring to market. 

Tudor Pelagos Ultra

The people’s champion. When I got back from Watches & Wonders this year, the Tudor Pelagos Ultra was the watch that I was asked about the most. It’s also the watch that I’ve seen more of my watch friends buy than any other this year. It stands out among Tudor’s releases this year as the watch that probably represents the biggest swing for the brand: a new dive watch category, an “ultra” professional version of their professional diver, that makes one wonder if the original pro diver is still even needed. Tudor’s ability to squeeze additional water resistance into a case that is effectively the same size as the original Pelagos is kind of mind boggling, and all of the little aesthetic changes (flattening the dial, abandoning the signature Pelagos rehaut) are worth it in my opinion. 

I can’t discuss Tudor divers without also mentioning the Black Bay 54 in Lagoon Blue, a surprise release this summer that briefly took over the watch internet. This is the exact flipside to the Pelagos Ultra, even incorporating a similar shade of blue, though in much larger quantities. It perfectly illustrates Tudor’s ability to play to the masses. Both the BB54 LB and the Pelagos Ultra are niche products. One is a hyper masculine super diver with more water resistance than virtually every owner will ever need, and the other is, forgive the term, a bit of a fashion watch, meant to appeal as an aesthetic object first and foremost. Tudor knows better than any other brand that in order to achieve long term success, they need to play to both audiences (and of course those who sit between them). What they also understand, and it’s even more important, is that sometimes customers from one side of the spectrum cross into another. 

Ulysse Nardin Dive Air

Ulysse Nardin calls their new Dive Air “the lightest mechanical dive watch.” Of course, as soon as that claim was made, there were from comment sections that the Swatch x Blancpain diver made of bioceramic was actually lighter. That’s fine. We can call the Dive Air the lightest dive watch that doesn’t need to be tossed in a landfill when it breaks. 

Some watches that you get a chance to try on for just a few minutes at a trade show have a way of staying with you for months, and that’s how I feel about the Dive Air. It’s very impressive. It weighs just 52 grams, which is a lightness that makes you think a trick is being played on you. The case is made out of a combination of titanium and carbon fiber, but Ulysse Nardin claims that much of the dramatic weight saving is a result of smartly skeletonizing the movement, which also gives the watch an unforgettable visual impression.  

When I think about the future of watchmaking, and advancements that will be made over the course of the next decade and beyond, this is the kind of stuff I expect we’ll see more of over the next ten years. Mechanical timekeeping is probably about as good as it’s going to get, I imagine. But there are a whole host of advancements to be made on the materials side that could result in lighter, more robust watches with case geometries and movement architecture not previously possible. That, to me, is exciting, and what the Dive Air represents. 

Zenith Defy Revival Shadow Diver 

Zenith’s “Shadow” watches are consistently some of their most appealing and satisfying, with Chronomaster Revival and Defy Revival versions of the microblasted titanium watches preceding the diver version we got this year. These watches sit somewhere between the straight up vintage inspired one-to-one reissues that the brand has become so good at pulling together, and the more contemporary versions of their sports watches, which sometimes tend toward the avant-garde. The Shadow series hints at an alternate past, offering a slightly tweaked spin on the vintage reissue experience. The Defy Revival Diver in its Shadow guise was released alongside a Defy Extreme Diver in the same Shadow colorway, highlighter yellow highlights and all. Seeing the two watches side by side helps underscore the idea that the Revival piece really feels like a modern watch even today, particularly as brands seek to be a little more experimental in what they offer their customer base.   

I’ll be honest, though, and admit that I had kind of forgotten about this watch until just a few weeks ago when Omega unveiled the new incarnation of the Planet Ocean, complete with a faceted, highly angular case that is a radical departure from their established design language. While the Planet Oceans don’t really look anything like the Defy seen here, they’re playing with similar ideas, breaking out of the standard round shape for something a little flatter and a little more idiosyncratic and, well, challenging. These watches are statements – they don’t blend in. And that’s the biggest difference between the divers that jump out at me in 2025 and the divers that dominated the enthusiast community a decade ago. Yes, there have always been unusual, experimental, and completely off the wall dive watches. But it feels like we’re in a moment where the biggest brands are ready to throw away the rule book, and that feels promising.