We go hands-on with the newly released Seiko Prospex Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver’s Watch to see how heritage and tradition meet modern-day needs!
What We Love:
- The textured dial and 3D markers add depth to the watch
- High legibility making time reading easy
- The easy-wearing ergonomic design
What We Don’t:
- The bracelet clasp design is still lacking in finesse
- Crown placement at not quite 4 o’clock seems off-balance
- The closed caseback hides what would be a nice-looking movement inside
Overall Rating: 8.375/10
- Value for Money: 8/10
- Wearability: 9/10
- Design: 8.5/10
- Build Quality: 8/10
Seiko has been on a bit of a walk down memory lane with many of their releases this year, looking back at the old vintage models from the 1960s and ’70s as inspiration and reviving some of these pieces for modern-day customers. It seems that this is a little bit of a trend currently, and has accelerated over the last few years with people looking for different pieces to place on their wrists. Many brands in the watch world have gone down this path, and it does make for some great vintage homage or revival pieces and a slight break away from the norm. Seiko has some great heritage pieces, and with their latest release, Seiko has gone back over 50 years to 1968, just three years after their very first dive watch and re-incarnated it in 2024 in the form of the Prospex Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver, with a black dial and white dial variant to choose from.
First Impressions
We had the luxury of having both the black dial (reference: SLA079J) as well as the white dial (reference: SLA077J) for comparison, and while the watches have exactly the same specs, the only thing that really changes is the dial colour. The black dial is the model that references the original from 1968, so it’s a little truer to the looks of the 1968 Divers watch, whereas the white dial has that fresh and clean look, mixed with the textured dial it’s both vintage, yet modern at the same time.
These are typical Seiko Prospex, and you can see the design cues coming through these models, but saying this, the ancestor of the Prospex is the original dive watch, so this would be expected – no surprises here! The design and look of the watch is clean, easy to read and with a black or white colourway, these won’t be hard to wear as a daily and will suit most occasions.
The Design
It would be remiss of me to talk about the design of the Seiko Prospex Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver without looking back at the original piece that serves as the blueprint for the 2024 models. But before this, the journey started in 1965 with Seiko’s first-ever dive watch, which Seiko revived earlier this year with the release of the Prospex Marinemaster 1965 Heritage pieces. This created a turning point for the Japanese brand entering into the aquatic arena that was now dominated by major Swiss brands, such as Rolex and Blancpain. But this didn’t stop them from developing a sturdy, good-looking tool watch for divers, and the result was the 1965 62MAS. Fast forward a few years, and Seiko improves on this design with the newer, more robust high-beat diver’s watch with 300 meters of water resistance. This piece featured the monoblock case design present in the ’65 model, a knurled bezel and large hands and indices for reading underwater in low-light conditions.
Jumping to the new 2024 models, you can clearly see the DNA of the 1968 watch evident in these. The case construction is both a combination of brushed and polished steel, which done together elevates the piece from a pure tool watch to an everyday wearing piece. Seiko has also kept the dial design clean, with the large hour markers at 3, 6, and 9 o’clock, and the double hour market at the 12 o’clock position. The hands are now more angular and all of which are filled with a lot of Lumibrite for night time viewing.
While the black stays pretty true to the model from 1968, Seiko has given it a fresh look with the addition of a white dial variant. This was actually my preferred piece out of the two, mostly due to the dial, the way it has been finished off and the overall look when combined with the black uni-directional bezel. Normally one of the issues I have with white dial watches, if not done well, is daytime legibility. When you have a white dial with white indices or hour markers, then you lose some of the dial’s legibility, but also some depth to the aesthetic.
This is not the case with the Seiko Prospex Marinemaster as the Lumibrite has a more creamy look to it in the day, so on the black, it still contrasts well, and on the white, stands out against the white dial. This is aided by the fact that Seiko has been clever and done the hour markers and hands in a black outline and coating for the white dial, and on the black dial variant, uncoated steel so each provides even more definition. Added to this, the dial texturing and three-dimensional markers on the watch, especially on the white, really gives the dial added depth, which I like in a watch.
There are two elements of the design however that I’ll mention and feel could be improved slightly. Now these are not criticisms per sè, but more so look-outs if you are a similar person to me with their likes and dislikes when it comes to watches. The first is the crown placement, which like the 1968 version is not at the traditional 3 o’clock position. It is somewhere in between 3 and 4 o’clock which to my eye, looks slightly amiss when you are looking at the overall balance of the piece. The 1968 model had the crown directly at 4 o’clock, which admittedly I still didn’t love, but there was alignment with the crown, the 20-minute marker on the bezel and the 4 o’clock marker on the dial. However, there is a method to Seiko’s madness here as the crown itself is locked into a separate component that is built into the case so it can be more easily replaced. This and if it were down at 4 o’clock directly, you would find it harder to unscrew due to the lugs blending into the side of the case – something I have encountered with this placement before on other brands.
The other design element worth noting is the bracelet. I, along with other people, have always felt that the Seiko bracelet construction and style doesn’t always match up with the watch itself. And this is more pronounced with the clasp often feeling a little too underdone. I feel this is the case with the Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver too. While the bracelet wears well (more on this in the next section), the design and build seem less robust and don’t match up with the case.
How It Wears
I mentioned earlier in the article that the Seiko Prospex Marinemaster is actually an easy-wearing watch, and due to the black or white colour variants, is highly versatile. The design of the watch as well as the brushed and polished surfaces make it that little more elegant should you want to wear it in situations that are less casual. And whichever colourway you choose, both will work. For me, the white variant was my go-to, mostly for the fact that I loved the way the dial showcases the texture and the light bouncing off it. It also is slightly different from the darker colour dials I have and would normally wear, so this was a tick for me.
The ergonomics of the case and the way Seiko has designed the lugs means that the watch sits relatively well on my wrist, and allows for the bracelet to drop away and conform to the contours of my wrist. Funnily enough, Sam and I were having a conversation a few days ago about wrist sizes and shapes. While he has a more rounded wrist and is smaller, mine is more oval and flatter on top, plus it’s about 1cm more in circumference – all of which affects the way a watch will sit and wear. The benefit of having a more oval wrist is that watches tend to sit a little better on top of the wrist and with tapered lugs usually wears better without having to wear the watch too snugly. This is exactly the case with the Seiko Prospex Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver.
The other aspect that helps this piece wear nicely is the design of the watch and the proportions. At 42.6mm in diameter, it’s not a large piece, but it’s not small either. However, the 13.4mm thickness doesn’t seem too thick for a watch of this style, and the lug-to-lug being 49.3mm means that is appears smaller on the wrist than the specs would suggest. When you look at this from a third-person perspective such as the image below, you can see just what I mean.
The bracelet is comfortable, and as mentioned earlier, the brushed and polished finishes do look good. It is slightly reminiscent of an Omega Speedmaster bracelet in the way it looks and feels for the most part, and allows the watch to feel secure and when sized correctly, won’t let it move around too much. While the clasp feels not as sturdy as I’ve already covered, it does have a security locking mechanism so it won’t accidentally open, a good thing for divers especially not to mention just wearing it on a daily basis.
The Movement
Inside the Seiko Prospex Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver is the Calibre 8L35 automatic winding movement. This is one of Seiko’s leading movements and one point of contention I have with it is the movement isn’t visible! Seiko crafts this movement to both be reliable and robust, but also to look good, so it is a shame that the Prospex has a closed caseback and not a display caseback. Now there are pros and cons to either, and Seiko has opted to reduce the thickness of the case and ensure its water resistance of 300m by having a solid, screwed-down caseback. So again, this is Seiko prioritising what the watch is designed for, rather than just looking good. So I can’t really complain about this too much!
Whilst we can’t open the caseback up to see it, from the images Seiko provides and tells us, the back plate, bridge, and rotor are plated with rhodium and the rotor and bridge are finished with a gentle wave pattern that has a similar vibe to what you would find on a Swiss movement with Côtes de Genéve. The movement has a few technical elements to it as well, such as SPRON, which is a Seiko original alloy used in the mainspring and is corrosion resistant, and to help with bumps and shocks, Diashock is used to alleviate the effects of these.
The Calibre 8L35 beats away at 28,800 VpH or 4Hz, and has a 50-hour power reserve. Seiko claims that this movement is accurate to +15 to -10 seconds per day, which is probably a little outside of my comfort zone personally for a watch that is edging close to A$5,000, however, this is stated tolerances, and in real life, will be much less in my experience with Seiko watches.
Final Thoughts
Having spent considerable time with the new Seiko Prospex Marinemaster 1968 Heritage Diver, I can honestly say this is a good solid watch that will tick most people’s boxes who are looking for a mid-range sports watch that is durable and looks good. I would love however for Seiko to work on their bracelets and clasps, but this is me being picky and to be totally honest, I’ve seen and worn watches that are over 4x and 5x the price of the Marinemaster that have worse feeling bracelets and clasps, so this is something that shouldn’t worry you all that much.
The Prospex Heritage Diver is a pure tool watch through and through, and Seiko has given it a few embellishments to make it a little more than this, and more of a piece you can wear each and every day and pair with most attires. The white dial is my personal pick, but if you want to go more classic, and a watch close to the original from 1968, then the black dial is the way to go. While the investment will be at the higher end of the Seiko spectrum, before getting into Grand Seiko that is, the 1968 Heritage Diver provides good value for money when you start to compare to others in the price range, both from Japanese watch brands as well as Swiss. Again, like all watches, you need to try this one and get it in your hands to get a real feel for it, and if it is for you, the only choice you need to decide on is – black or white?
References: SLA077J (White) & SLA 079J (Black)
Specifications:
- Case Dimensions: 42.6mm, lug-to-lug of 49.3mm and 13.4mm thick
- Case Material: Brushed and polished stainless steel
- Dial: Textured black or white dial with 3D hour markers filled with Lumibrite
- Movement: Automatic winding Calibre 8L35. Beating at 28,800 Vph / 4Hz and pivoting on 26 jewels
- Power Reserve: Approx. 50 hours
- Water Resistance: 300m (30 bar)
- Case back: Steel screwed case back
- Crystal: Dual-curved sapphire crystal with anti-reflective coating on the inner surface.
- Bracelet: Multi-link stainless steel bracelet with polished and brushed finishes.
