Omega is one of the most influential brands in all of watchmaking history. And its Seamaster Diver 300M is second only to its Speedmaster in status and fame. Why is it so popular? That’s a question many might not even ask — it’s thatestablished as an icon.
But, like a simultaneously curious and intentionally annoying child, I always have to ask: why? You might be able to rattle off several reasons for the Seamaster’s popularity from the top of your head: it’s the Bond watch, it’s a great watchmaker’s flagship dive watch, it’s a remarkably strong value for its price — it’s just plain that good when you see it in person.
All valid points. But I wanted to spend time with the most classic, most representative variant, experience how this watch serves as a daily wear, and further ask the question: does it hold up to the hype? And, more importantly, help you decide if it’s the watch for you.
Omega’s Seamaster collection is vast but the Diver 300M is the flagship model.Zen Love
Omega Seamaster Diver 300M: What We Think
The best thing about the Seamaster Diver 300M is that it’s got a character and look completely unlike any other mainstream dive watch — and yet it has mainstream legitimacy and appeal. It’s quirky and potentially polarizing, but in the end, I found this to be an exceedingly good thing. In other words, it pulls off its quirks and the result is a highly distinctive and immediately recognizable identity.
The Seamaster bracelet is great, but the watch also was extremely fun to wear on this seat belt NATO from B&R Bands. Zen Love
I’d argue that the main reason for its success is its stellar quality and execution. That’s got to have been a prerequisite to it becoming “the Bond watch,” which ultimately brought it to a much wider audience. You might debate how it complements the fictional secret agent’s character, but when you see the watch in person, inspect its details and understand its tech, it shows some of the most impressive Swiss industrial manufacturing and precision, inside and out.
So, the answer is, perhaps unsurprisingly, yes, it absolutely stands up as one of the best luxury dive watches you can get and it even does so at a pretty competitive price. You just have to decide if its character and look are for you, but if you’re on the fence, getting it on the wrist just might win you over.
Wears slightly smaller than its dimensions suggest
Cons
Polarizing design
Helium escape valve isn't very practical
Bracelet doesn't tapper, making it feel bulkier
Can wear large for some people
To learn more about our testing methodology and how we evaluate products, head here.
It’s got a funky design
As noted above, the design of the Seamaster Diver 300M has become so familiar that one might simply forget that it’s funky as hell. Think of almost any other dive watch you’d call an icon: they’re often characterized by simplicity and pure, pragmatic design. The Seamaster Diver is decidedly not so.
A crown protruding asymmetrically at 10 o’clock (more on that below); curvaceous case facets with contrasting brushed and polished finishes; a scalloped bezel; skeletonized hands tipped with dots or a triangle; a wavy dial pattern; glossy finishing across the ceramic (“ZrO2”) dial and bezel; the five-link bracelet’s decorative finishing… There’s a lot going on here visually.
There’s a lot going on visually and technically in the Seamaster Diver 300M.Zen Love
While there’s lots of love for the Seamaster Diver 300M, this busy design can also be polarizing. There was a time when I was on the fence about it. It felt a bit like flashy ’90s over-design to me. But time has changed my tune, especially time spent living with the watch — for two reasons: quality and personality.
Much of the enjoyment of watches today comes from stopping to appreciate their details and construction on the wrist. This is an area in which Omega does a stupendous job. All those busy details and three-dimensional facets are executed so expertly that they make the Seamaster Diver 300M endlessly interesting.
Funkiness can also be a good thing. I love weird and unconventional watches and sometimes tire of the same, endlessly recycled styles. The Seamaster Diver is definitely different, and hard to actually compare to many other watches. I always prefer something that’s got its own story, purpose and character. It’s subjective, but I love the way the Seamaster Diver delivers a bit of eccentricity.
Ready for covert missions in underwater caves or underground clubs. Zen Love
It’s the Official Timekeeper of superspy James Bond
There are many colors and variants of the Seamaster Diver 300M. And fictional secret agent 007 has worn a number of watches over his career, including various Omegas since he became a brand loyalist in 1993. But I chose this model in particular because it’s the most representative of the collection — and that’s due to it being for all intents and purposes the James Bond watch.
Bond has been known to use his watch as a “knuckle duster” according to the novels’ author Ian Flemming.Photo by Zen Love for Gear Patrol
It all started for Omega when Pierce Brosnan wore the Omega Seamaster Diver 300M in the 1995 Bond film Golden Eye, two years after the model debuted. It had a blue dial and bezel, and the same basic model (though upgraded from quartz to automatic) appeared in several subsequent Brosnan Bond renditions and on Daniel Craig’s wrist as Bond in the 2006 Casino Royale. It firmly established Bond as an Omega man and some would even argue helped make wearing dive watches with formal attire more socially acceptable, as Bond rocked it with a tux.
The model seen here, however, is the current generation featuring a host of refinements introduced in 2018. It’s not the exact model the Bond character wore in the films — it feels more contemporary and, in my opinion, looks even better.
It’s tech, details and build quality are simply unassailable
The impressive Omega 8800 automatic movement shines through a display caseback.Zen Love
Watch enthusiasts often use terms like “build” or “fit and finish.” These are ways of talking about qualities that are hard to quantify or even describe in concrete terms, but which are certainly real and consequential — they account for a lot of the money you spend on luxury watches. They refer to the gut feeling and palpable sense of quality you get when handling a watch.
Swiss watches from brands like Omega and in the price range of the Seamaster Diver 300M are expected to rank highly in this regard, but Omega still manages to impress. From the tight tolerances to the finishing and precision of each element, it seems to go even further than the competition. All the details give it a chance to shine in this way, where other luxury dive watches might go for more of a simple, tool-watch vibe.
Omega is more than justified in emphasizing its Co-Axial Master Chronometer movements in model names and dial text.Zen Love
Inside is much of the tech that makes Omega stand out as a watchmaker in general. The METAS certification that earns the watch its Master Chronometer designation is no joke or marketing mumbo jumbo. I’ve visited the Omega factory in Biel/Bienne, Switzerland, where the facilities are breathtakingly advanced and impressive, first of all, but where I also received a demonstration of METAS-certified movements’ magnetic resistance and accuracy.
Tested over 10 days for precision, anti-magnetism, water resistance and durability, suffice it to say that they’re held to a standard with which it’s hard for other watchmakers to even compete. These features make a big difference in the wearing and longterm ownership experience, as well as cutting down on the need for servicing the watch.
You certainly could take it diving but it’s more of a “lifestyle diver” than a true tool watch, and that’s okay
The design elements mentioned above are not based on the practical needs of a diver. When you’re underwater you won’t be appreciating the dial’s wavy pattern. That’ll serve its decorative purpose better on land while you’re looking slick. Choosing skeletonized hands doesn’t aid legibility, per se, but the watch remains very legible (I’m a stickler for legibility). The examples go on, but you get the point.
James Bond paired the Seamaster Diver 300M to a tux, so a blazer is easily fair game.Zen Love
Of all of the thoughtful details you might describe as superfluous for a dive watch, though, the helium escape valve at 10 o’clock is notable. Never mind that helium escape valves on watches are made only for use by professionals in a very specific and rare line of work: commercial saturation diving. While some watches with this feature (like the Rolex Sea-Dweller) use an automatic valve, Omega uses a manual valve that’s unscrewed just like a crown. The funny thing is that unscrewing the crown itself would work just as well.
Compared to the watches worn by Pierce Brosnan in the Bond films, the modern (2018) version of the Seamaster Diver 300M features refinements and upgrades such as a more conically shaped crown for the helium release valve, ceramic dial and bezel and a larger wave pattern on the dial. Photo by Zen Love for Gear Patrol
Omega Seamaster Diver 300M: Alternatives
If you like the Seamaster Diver 300M’s look but, say, want something more affordable, what are the options? That’s a tough one. There’s not much that compares with the Seamaster Diver. Presumably, a traditional dive watch look is not what you’re after, as there are endless options for that.
Seiko’s got the quirkiness but tends to offer a more tough, tool-watch personality than the Seamaster Diver’s lifestyle vibe. The Seiko Prospex line features the relatively modern and toned-down version of the “Monster” dive watch ($525), and this might fit the bill, but it’s pretty subjective. We’d say you’ve got to aim a bit higher in price to get anything with a similar experience.
The Tudor Black Bay is a regular go-to recommendation and it offers impressive build quality and an in-house movement. It’s relatively traditional but its prominent snowflake hour hand just might provide that idiosyncratic touch (if that’s what you desire) and you can even get it with a METAS-certified movement ($4,450) for less than the Seamaster Diver. Similarly, the Ulysse Nardin Diver 42mm ($7,700 on a bracelet) is an elevated dive watch from a blue-chip brand offering a lot of refined details and a distinctive look.
From Omega itself, you can get a 36mm version ($4,400) of the Bond watch, though without Master Chronometer certification, for about a grand less. In the end, you might just have to accept it: there’s really nothing else out there quite like the classic but offbeat Omega Seamaster Diver 300M.
