A common critique leveled at Seiko over these last few years is that they’ve abandoned the affordable enthusiast dive watch market and have been creeping toward a higher priced product. Honestly, it’s fair. Those of us of a certain age can fondly remember the days when an SKX diver could be had for a few hundred bucks, and it basically stood alone in the Venn diagram of pedigree, dive watch bona fides, enthusiast credibility, and affordability. The fact is, there’s a lot of competition for affordable divers these days, much of it driven by the popularity of a handful of key Seiko references.
So it’s no wonder that they’ve sought to expand their footprint elsewhere and make a higher end, more expensive product. What often gets lost in these conversations is that the higher priced Seiko divers are actually very good dive watches that still cover much of that hypothetical Venn diagram, perhaps leaning a little further away from affordability. Seiko recently announced a handful of new references and while many of us hoped a truly affordable SKX alternative might be in the mix, they’ve once again debuted a new diver at a higher rung of their pricing ladder.
The highlight for collectors and serious Seiko fans will likely be the Seiko Prospex Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver’s Watch (the official Seiko naming conventions are always a bit cumbersome). Yes, this is yet another mostly historically accurate take on the first ever diver rated to 300 meters of water resistance released in 1968. Seiko has gone back to this well more times than I can count, and I feel sorry for the pot-committed collector types who are on the hook for yet another version of this watch. Unlike some previous iterations, however, this one stands apart as it’s the first non-limited version of the Prospex Marinemaster to feature Seiko’s higher end Caliber 8L45. This is a sought after movement family among Seiko collectors and offers three days of power reserve and Seiko’s top accuracy rating of -5 to +10 seconds per day. Is that a good accuracy rating? Yes, it is objectively very strong and will no doubt keep anyone wearing a watch powered by this caliber on time for meetings and the like. But we can’t help but point out that it lags well behind COSC standards and even further behind newer more rigorous standards set forth by COSC and METAS.
But Seiko collecting isn’t really about comparison to other brands, at least not entirely. It’s very much it’s own, insular thing, particularly when you’re talking about their higher end dive watches. This is a watch that will appeal (or not appeal) to die-hards based on the little details, like the finely grained dial texture and faceted hour markers, the former meant to decrease reflections, the latter meant to highlight them for the sake of legibility. Most of all, though, the iconic case shape of the Marinemaster is what keeps people coming back. It’s truly historic and every new iteration of this watch is another link in the Seiko dive watch history chain. This reference, the HBF001, is crafted from stainless steel and measures 42.6mm in diameter and 14.1mm thick.
In addition to the standard production HBF001, Seiko is also releasing the limited edition HBF002, part of the brand’s partnership with JAMSTEC (the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology). JAMSTEC is involved in a number of initiatives to advance marine research and the science and technology around it, and this watch specifically celebrates their contributions to the Arctic Research Program and the first ever Japanese ship with ice breaking capabilities, the Mirai II. As you might expect, the limited edition has an ice themed dial motif in a textured blue that is meant to resemble a path of ice being broken apart by an ice breaking ship. It’s also paired with a bright blue ceramic bezel. It’s very attractive but kind of the polar opposite in tone of the HBF001, which is about as sober as it gets. In terms of specs, the HBF001 and HBF002 are identical. The JAMSTEC limited edition will be made in a run of 1,000 pieces.
While it appears the bracelet for these watches is a holdover from previous iterations of the Marinemaster, Seiko notes that the clasp has been updated with a new quick-adjust mechanism. According to the brand, the clasp supports adjustments of up to 16mm in 2mm increments.
Retail pricing is set at $3,600 for the HBF001 and $3,900 for the HBF002. Both are expected to be available in July. Seiko
Zach Kazan
2026-03-19 20:00:00