Ever since it was first introduced in the 1950s, the Rolex Submariner has been an industry defining wristwatch. Its hyper legible display helped to define the dive watch archetype while at the same time bringing the concept of the sports watch to the fore. However, as the Submariner increases in prestige, its price has also increased – as seen in Rolex’s price rises for 2024 where it crested the £8,000 mark for the first time. As such, it’s understandable that many collectors ask the question, what are the best, affordable Rolex Submariner alternatives?
Tissot Seastar 1000 Powermatic, £685
Putting the Powermatic 80 front and centre again and proving that it really is a powerhouse of the accessible mechanical watch market is the Tissot Seastar 1000 Powermatic. One of my favourite details of the watch though is the dial, which features a vertical striated pattern. It adds a lot of visual interest to the watch in light conditions while still being perfectly legible underwater or in the dark, carefully treading the line of what’s acceptable in the dive watch space.
Price and Specs:
More details at Tissot.
Citizen Promaster Diver, £695
The Citizen Promaster Diver has a cool story attached to its design, inspired by a watch model from 1977 called the Challenge Diver. An example of the Challenge Diver was found washed up on an Australian beach covered in barnacles after being lost in the Pacific Ocean and it was still in functional, working order. The lugs have a slightly sharper angle than the Submariner and the complete array of rectangle hour markers help it stand out from the Rolex, but the similarities are still evident – especially as it has a Mercedes hour hand.
Price and Specs:
More details at Citizen.
Hamilton Khaki Navy Scuba Auto, £790
Admittedly the 2024 edition of the Hamilton Khaki Navy Auto deviates from the monochromatic design of the Submariner. However, I think a single coloured ring around the perimeter of the dial isn’t reason enough not to consider the watch. Especially as it’s in classic dive watch colours of orange, yellow or red, which are often found on maritime equipment. It also offers great value again with the H-10 movement with 80-hour power reserve and a 40mm steel case.
Price and Specs:
More details at Hamilton.
Certina DS Action Diver, £895
When it comes to practical dive watches, I think Certina should be one of your first ports of call. They have a huge range of accessible, adventurous timepieces, including this classic design the Certina DS Action Diver. It’s 43mm in diameter, making it a bit larger than the Submariner, with 300m water resistance. Inside the large steel case is the Powermatic 80 movement by ETA, which provides an awesome 80-hour power reserve, more than weekend proof by some margin. The wedge-shaped hour markers give it a distinct appearance from the Submariner too while adhering to all the same concepts.
Price and Specs:
More details at Certina.
Oceaneva Deep Marine Explorer III, £942
Oceaneva’s designs are more in line with what the watch collecting community would describe as homage watches. Which means their designs are very, very heavily influenced by those of Rolex – especially models like the Marine Explorer II, which is an extremely close homage. However, we’re highlighting the Marine Explorer III because there’s an area where this watch actually out performs the Submariner by a large margin. It has a 3,000m water resistance rating. Meaning that there’s a realistic prospect that if you’re buying a dive watch based on its professional specs as opposed to brand recognition, you might actually consider the Oceaneva over the Submariner and save yourself seven grand to boot. The 42mm steel case houses the Sellita SW-200 movement.
Price and Specs:
More details at Oceaneva.
Seiko 1965 Heritage Diver 3-Day, £1,200
The Seiko 1965 Revival Diver features all the core elements that make the Submariner iconic without being a direct homage to the Rolex. Specifically, it has a very clear and clean dial with virtually no extraneous embellishment that makes it easy to read in low light conditions or underwater. Plus, it has a unidirectional rotating bezel with dive timer scale. On top of that, what makes this watch the best alternative to the Rolex Submariner from Seiko is the fact it has an improved 300m water resistance, matching the rating of the Sub. It’s powered by the calibre 6R55 with 72-hour power reserve.
Price and Specs:
More details at Seiko.
Nomadic Marai 401 Prestige, £1,550
The Nomadic Marai is a timepiece inspired by the Titanic, luxury and refinement for the ocean. Although with 200m water resistance let’s hope things don’t end up the same way as the Titanic itself. The design is that of a classic dive watch with a clean, legible dial and large, lumed hourmarkers. Notably, this prestige edition of the Marai comes with a bicolour design featuring gold on the bezel and strap, enhancing the luxurious feel of the piece and leaning more into the desk diver side of the Submariner’s personality.
Price and Specs:
More details at Nomadic.
Yema Superman Slim CMM.20, £1,889
Yema has had a serious glow-up since becoming a fully-fledge manufacture a few years ago. The Yema Superman Slim CMM.20 is the perfect example of that. A really cool 39mm retro inspired diver with a classic Submariner-esque display with rectangle, circle and triangle markers with lume. It’s equipped with the CMM.20 automatic movement with micro-rotor, which looks great through the exhibition caseback.
Price and Specs:
More details at Yema.
Squale Master Titanium, CHF 2,400 (approx. £2,050)
The Squale Master Titanium has some notable aesthetic differences to the Submariner. For starters, it’s made from titanium rather than steel, which means it has a darker grey colour matched the bezel and dial which are not quite full black. Then, the dial is constructed in a sandwich style, meaning there’s two plates with a layer of lume between them and the hour markers are cut out like windows in the top layer. Combined with the beige coloured lume, it gives the watch a neo-vintage vibe. It’s water resistant to 1,200m, exceeding the Submariner by quite a margin.
Price and Specs:
More details at Squale.
Oris Aquis Date, £2,200
In 2024 Oris launched a comprehensive update to their signature dive watch, the Aquis. Everything has been made a little bit sharper and cleaner with thinner hands and a more pronounced taper to the hour markers, which has the result of boosting the piece’s legibility. At the same time, it feels sportier and more versatile, a watch suited to both the ocean and the office. One consideration though in the discussion of it as an alternative to the Rolex Submariner is the fact it’s notably larger at 43.5mm in diameter, although alternative sizes are available.
Price and Specs:
More details at Oris.
Rado Captain Cook High-Tech Ceramic Diver, £3,150
For a change of pace and material, Rado have created a rendition of their signature dive watch in ceramic. Ceramic is an extremely tough, scratch resistant material, which makes it ideal for use in dive watches. In fact, the Submariner and the majority of watches in this article have ceramic bezels exactly for those reasons. So it makes sense to expand that out to the rest of the watch too. The Rado measures 43mm in diameter and is powered by the calibre 03.763.735 with 80-hour power reserve.
Price and Specs:
More details at Rado.
Tudor Black Bay METAS, £3,630
Considering that Tudor used to make their own Submariner it should come as no surprise that Rolex’s sister brand are still one of the foremost place to look for great alternatives to the Rolex Submariner. The 2024 edition of the Black Bay introduced their master chronometer calibre MT5602-U to the core collection in steel. It’s a stunner with a classic dive watch display in black with the signature diamond snowflake hour hand.
Price and Specs:
More details at Tudor.
If these 12 are suitable alternatives of a Rolex submariner why then bother to pay over twice the price of the most expensive.
Why no mention of the Omega seamaster models? Especially when supply of Rolex’s has all but dried up.
All in all not a very balanced article.
Hello Picket,
Thank you for your comment.
There were a few criteria we examined when creating this article. First of all was price. In the watch collecting world budgets vary greatly and so this article is intentionally designed with a lower budget in mind. As such, we set ourselves the figure of less than half the current RRP of the Submariner (which works out to be £4,025) as a limiting factor for inclusion in this article. This immediately disqualifies the Omega Seamaster Diver 300m, which at its lowest price sits at £5,280. If we were to open the article to a broader price range, then I totally agree that the Omega deserves to take part in that discussion.
If you have any other suggests for watches that you think deserve to be mentioned, whether in the price range or otherwise, I’d love to hear them.
All the best,
Michael Sonsino