@@Meatbeerboss Sure, this was the first steel dive I purchased and I did not know what level of quality it would be. If it turned out to be cheap I did not want to advertise for them, weird I know but that is how I think. However, the quality of this watch is great for what you pay or even if you paid twice as much (I paid $88 US).
Wear mine on a waffle strap normally but just tried the elastic French Marine strap. Is perfect! I love the case design. It bends round, curves away from and floats on the wrist at the same time. Damn fine watch
I have mine a year now & have to say it’s outstanding bang for your buck , ditch the strap put a nato .. work at landscaping & wore it every day. Liked it that much I got a seiko Turtle 🐢… but getting back to the steeldive absolutely class bit of kit.. better than my pro master…
@@EscapeWheel Yeah, if you even remotely like the black one, the blue dial will blow you away. Glad you liked the video! I’ll keep an eye out for your other brand incoming blue...one of my favorite dial colors.
I have had mine for about 6 months. I got one of the older ones before they ruined the lume. Mine lasts all night and being out and about during the day is sufficient to charge it. It is my favorite thing about the watch and I have many things I like about it.
I have a Steel Dive 1970 and the lume lasts all night. I must have got one before they changed the lume. In fact the lume is my favorite thing on this watch.
Good review! Recently developed a crush on the retro cool of the Willard model - studied Joseph Conrad back in school and feel an affinity for that movie, I guess - and was glad to discover this quality homage, since I can't swing the cost of Seiko's beautiful re-issue. Apparently Steeldive's got a US warehouse and that version is a whole separate SKU/Product on the site. I spotted it as I was getting ready to pull the trigger, same price and my wait is supposedly 2-4 days instead of 3-6wks, w00t!
Seiko's beautiful re-issue? Wouldn't touch it with yours let alone mine. I'm in no way a Seiko hater or Fanboy, I own a Samurai and a Tuna and love them (after putting decent quality bracelets on them) Unfortunately Seiko have gone down the Omega road, endless limited edition watches at vastly inflated prices and meh quality. The Captain Willard re-issue is at best a £200 watch. For example you can buy a Swiss Made automatic Willard homage with the correct dimensions for £600 or a Chinese homage (significant improvement over the bargain SD1970) also with a Swiss Made automatic movement for £250 (ETA 2824-2) I've seen both side by side with Seiko's overpriced Prospex effort and both make it look and feel like something out of a Christmas cracker.
I liked your review. Only thing that bothers me, and I know it's everyone's personal choice, but wearing a watch on your hand instead of where it is supposed to be just doesn't look right. But that's just me, I really like that you showed it outside and on different straps. I now ordered one and can't wait to get it.
Is there a right and wrong position? It's above my wrist bone, I thought that was the proper spot? I started wearing watches below the bone, and was told that's wrong, so I moved it up ON the wrist bone, and was told that was wrong, and now it's above and it's still wrong 😜😂🤷. I can't win...lol Thanks for the compliments though, you will love it!
@@EscapeWheel Above the wrist bone on your left hand would mean to the left of the wrist bone, so that the crown don't poke the back of your hand when you move around. Still everyone can wear it however they like.
I love my steeldive watched I've the hulk and the fifty fathoms and not had a single problem with them they've got a reliable engine and look real good imo at the moment they are doing Seiko better than Seiko lol.thamks for the review 💯🇬🇧
Definitely doing Seiko better than Seiko. I wish they would concentrate on better bracelets, though. Otherwise I have been very impressed with each SD watch. Probably have a couple more coming in soon, too!
Welcome! Happy to have you here. I just got my Addie's dive in....I just felt empty after sending this back to Chris, so I had to get another. Such awesome watches for the money
@@EscapeWheel I'm looking forward to getting mine,6 more days😂 and a little escapement time dress watch coming in just before the steeldive 😃 happy days 😃👍
I'm lucky enough to own a few Seiko 6105 originals - but I can see having one of these If I didn't. 2 things though - I'd prefer a matt bezel ring and no ar coating.
What's the exact position of the crown? I may need a new case. Never try and take the bezels off, they're pot metal, lol. I wish you could put an SKX007 bezel on them, but they don't fit. Bezel insert is top notch. Great Lume.
Ianaged to get 7 black dial steel bracelet for just under 70usd a unit (tax free) I have worn one and I think they are the best watch for the money. The lime on mine seems much brighter and the bezels are kind of hard, mine have no marking apart from the 200m WR on the bottom of the dial and the sapphire / 200m on the case back everything else is sterile apart from the steel dive clasp but it's a common size or I can change it to milled or to a strap. I only got them all in steel as the resellers price was 9 usd more for steel bracelet lol. I plan on nodding them and making them a little more Vietnam era looking with custom dails. The NH35 is over used but its very suitable for this watch. In my opinion my favorate 3rd party 21600bph movement is the seiko Epson (orient) YN55A and YN56A 55 is day and 56 is day date. Same as jkamasu and made in Japan but different markings. Also more accurate and just better same size and NH30 series and same hand diameter and will work on any NH30 type dial. In my opinion this is the best value for money auto on the market if you find it at the right price. Seiko has realy dropped the ball and if you want anything half decent you have to pay alot. Apart from grand seiko everything apart from the movement is made in China anyway. Orient is the only big name auto Japanese brand with value for money.
Nice but I find this blue AR coating too present for my taste and this misaligned date wheel (the small numbers 1 to 9 on the left side) prevented me to pull the trigger on.
I'm not sure how much I would trust dropping it to 200M....but I've taken this light diving (maybe 3m down) without an issue. just got back from the Bahamas snorkeling and it was on wrist the entire time. never missed a beat!
The lume thing worries me, I was told how great it is, you are the only person who says bad lume. O hope not. The crap lume on my Seiko is one of the reasons I ordered this.
I wouldn't say it's bad, but you can see how it stacks up against San Martins good lume. I was just expecting better because of what everyone else said about it. After sending this watch back to it's rightful owner, I purchased the Addie's Dive version, and I am more impressed with it's lume....so maybe this was just a particularly bad example? 🤷
@@EscapeWheel I think this example might be an older one, or sourced from older stock. Unsigned clasp, and poor lume. I have 9 quite recent Steeldives all with brilliant lume.
@@eberbachl who knows. This one was purchased within the month of my review. Rumors were also floating around about them cutting the price a bit and dial lume was one of the spots they cut costs. There's really no way to know for sure. And like I said, it's not horrible lume, it's actually pretty good still, but I was just expecting better, is all.
I got mine six months ago and the lume is amazing. If you are out for a couple of hours on a sunny day you don't have to charge it before you go to bed and it lasts all night. I watched one other review site that reviewed the 1970 a week ago. He reviewed his buddies about a year ago and called it a lume king in the review. His new one has really disappointed him. The lume is not nearly as good. He is keeping it because even aside from the lume it is an amazing watch. I am just glad I got a good one. It is my favorite thing about my SD 1970. The Lume is so amazing on the SD I am switching off sleeping with my Tritium watch and my 1970.
believe me when I tell you I felt the same way. never really understood the love for the case shape or overall style in general. then I was lucky enough to try it before I bought it....strapping it on for the first time IMMEDIATELY changed my mind. it is one of my favorite watches in the collection. (i got the addies version, see my review). it also helps that it was $80 and a VERY solid value. but the case shape just works really good. super comfortable and the short Lug 2 Lug is a dream for any wrist size.
You learn to love it rapidly after you own and wear one. That dislike just comes from liking what you are used to. I bought it not liking the shape because of the rave reviews and the world-class Lume on the watch. Now I love the shape and the way it wears on my wrist.
