Let’s kick this article off by getting a little philosophical. In the debate of what is the most significant horological development of the year, which is more impactful: an immediate, practical change that is wide spread or a cutting-edge, future development that will take years to implement? An example of the latter is Horage’s Revolution 3 MicroReg, a watch that completely changes the game when it comes to how we regulate watches, but that is highly exclusive and won’t reach people’s wrists until 2026. As for the former, you have the Seiko Prospex watches that went from 200m water resistance to 300m such as the new Prospex 1968 Diver’s Reinterpretation.
The Prospex 1968 Diver’s Reinterpretation is actually the second of Seiko’s models to make the jump from 200m to 300m water resistance this year. The first was the 1965 Revival Diver’s 3-Day 300m back in March. This improvement in water resistance is a big deal because it pushes the Prospex up to what is known as professional dive watch level. Essentially meaning it can reliably spend extended periods of time underwater and you can actually wear it while scuba diving.
As reminder, water resistance ratings do not correspond to the actual depth that a watch can operate at. Instead, they denote the equivalent pressure that they can withstand, which is why water resistance is often given in units of pressure such as bar or atm. Most aren’t even tested in water. 300m water resistance means it would be fine at a real depth of 300m but only if it was completely still – as soon as it moves and the water exerts more pressure on the watch due to that movement it might fail. Therefore, 300m water resistance means that the watch is practical for use at conventional scuba diving depths such as 40m.
This improvement is huge for people who actually want to take their Seikos into the water and while that won’t be everyone, it’s going to be a lot more people than those who get their hands on a horological innovation like the Horage. Hence my argument that Seiko’s improvement of the Prospex line is one of the biggest watch developments of the year.
Getting into the specifics of the Prospex 1968 Diver’s Reinterpretation’s design, it’s broadly the same as the 2023 limited edition ‘Cave Diver’ of the same name. Except of course it has that improved water resistance and doesn’t have a textured dial. It measures 42.6mm diameter x 13.4mm thickness in stainless steel with a broad unidirectional rotating bezel and a crown located at 4 o’clock.
The display is hyper legible with oversize hour markers and plenty of lume for low light conditions. The same is true of the central hands as well, which are in pencil shapes. As for dial colours, there are two versions. One of the options is white while the second is black, both very common in professional dive watches because they provide a clean backdrop that don’t distract from the markings and readability of the watch.
Powering the Prospex 1968 Diver’s Reinterpretation is the same movement as used in the ‘Cave Diver’ variant, the 8L353 automatic. It operates at a high frequency of 4 Hz (although that is much more common these days than it once was) and has a power reserve of 50-hours with an accuracy of -10/+15 seconds per day.
In terms of price, the new watch is £2,580, which is £20 less than the ‘Cave Diver’ despite the increase in water resistance. That’s likely due to the fact that the 2023 limited edition was both a limited edition and had a really intricate dial, whereas the 2024 edition is much more of a staple, core collection type of watch. Although at this price for a standard edition watch, Seiko really is knocking on the door of luxury brands.
Price and Specs:
More details at Seiko Boutique.
