Dive watches have come and go throughout history; the most recognizable of them are pieces from Rolex and Omega. Submariners and Seamasters have graced the wrist of many, with some even saying it’s the perfect tool watch to wear. But the folks from the JDM (Japanese Domestic Market) would beg to differ…

Much has been said about Seiko watches in the past, but for the likes of Seiko’s PROSPEX line, it has been fairly limited. Readers of our website may have seen one of them here and another one here. But what really makes the PROSPEX a piece worth having? Allow me to offer a different perspective, the PROSPEX perspective… The PROSPEX, as the name implies, simply means “Professional Specifications”. It is Seiko’s answer to the professional world that desires nothing but the very best from their watches. As such, professionals and fans of the lineup alike have deemed it as the quintessential high-end Seiko tool watch to own. A little history lesson will tell you that the popularity of a certain activity called SCUBA (Self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) diving was on the rise back in the 1960s. We all know that the ability to time the dive was crucial to every diver, and the outcome of which on the horological industry was game changing. Dive watches have become the most popular timepiece in town. Every watchmaker around the world race to produce such a piece, and in it the original Seiko diver watch was born – the 6217. The year was 1965, it was Seiko’s first ever dive into the world of ‘high-end’ Professional Divers and also one of the reason that made Seiko divers an icon that it is today.

From then on, Seiko has been manufacturing all sorts of watches dedicated to the sport. Ranging from affordable quartz pieces all the way to robust high-end automatics. With the latter becoming what was known as the PROSPEX. PROSPEX watches are not to be confused with Seiko’s standard mechanical line-up of watches. The build quality of these watches are far from cheap and they’re very much akin to that of a Rolex piece. A high-end precision instrument that came from the brand that was famous for cheap-end quartz. Speaking about build quality is just the tip of the iceberg here. The PROSPEX brand is rich in cutting edge technology. Seiko’s PROSPEX is also one of the leading innovators in terms of dive watch advancement. Allow me to enumerate a few of them: The PROSPEX is the first diver piece to adopt a titanium case in lieu of the standard steel case, the first to put a quartz movement in a professional dive watch, the first to use ceramic shroud for deep-sea diving, the first to use a hybrid analog digital watch with an alarm and the list continues. To top it all off, the pieces are powered by Seiko’s very own in-house movements, and we all know they are one of the best in the industry today in every respect. Although the PROSPEX line is not limited to dive watches, the lineup offers a wide variety of precision pieces dedicated to each profession that requires them. Consisting of automatic or quartz movement, analog or digital display, the PROSPEX line is not easy to get around with. It being a Japanese exclusive makes matters even worse. Most folks can’t even tell the difference between a standard Seiko from a PROSPEX piece.