Seiko has a long history of making superior dive watches perfect for pros, weekend enthusiasts, and everyone in between. In this three part series, we’ll take a look at the histories of three distinct dive watch families under the Seiko umbrella – timepieces so iconic and treasured by watch aficionados that many have their own, unofficial nicknames – and track their evolution to today’s most modern, tech forward, Prospex iterations.
Previously, we looked at the Turtle family of divers, a highly functional watch made for everyday use, ideal both for recreational divers and watch lovers needing a solid and durable timepiece. Today, we look at the Marinemaster range, and Seiko’s history of superior dive watches designed for professionals who risk their lives in the deep sea everyday.
The 1960s were something of a golden age for functional watches. Long before watches became collectibles prized for their rarity, they were purpose-driven instruments meant to do a specific job. In the ’60s, a new job that required specialized tools and brave workers was professional diving. The planet’s oceans, holding huge reserves of untapped natural resources, became fertile ground for exploration in the years following World War II, with technology finally able to (somewhat) safely keep divers submerged for ever increasing periods of time. For these professional divers, a reliable timekeeping instrument was essential, since a poorly timed decompression stop could easily lead to the Bends, or worse. The constant monitoring of dive time is an obvious necessity for staying alive underwater, and Seiko has been serving divers from the very beginning with a distinct series of timepieces designed for the most serious professionals, consistently focused on incorporating the most innovative design and advanced horological technology.
In 1967, Seiko introduced its first professional dive watch, the 6215-7000. While Seiko had built watches meant for diving before, the 6215-7000 was something altogether different. This watch was not intended for the casual, recreational dive enthusiast, but for divers who made their living with dangerous dives. While early Seiko dive watches had a water resistance rating of 150 meters, the 6215-7000 was capable of withstanding depths to 300 meters. It achieved this (at-the-time eye-popping) water resistance in part through its unique monocoque, or one-piece, case construction, keeping possible points of water ingress to a minimum. The 6215-7000 was also the first Seiko dive watch to feature a crown at 4 o’clock, a signature of Seiko divers to this day, and provides an obvious aesthetic link between these early professional diver watches and the highly advanced Prospex divers of today.
One of the most highly sought after Seiko dive watches in the collectible market, the 6215-7000 was only produced for a year before being replaced by the 6159-7001. This new version was nearly identical in appearance and construction to the 6215-7000, but featured a high-frequency movement operating at 36,000 bph. High-beat movements have come to be something of a specialty for Seiko, offering greater precision and rate stability over time compared to movements that run at more traditional frequencies. Naturally, they are more difficult to produce and to tune correctly than a standard movement, but over the decades, Seiko has become a leader in manufacturing and properly regulating high-frequency movements. The 1968 introduction of the 6159-7001 was a true milestone in watchmaking, and it’s regarded as the world’s first high-beat dive watch.
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