Five Automatic Dive Watches For Women

The choice of diving watches has exploded in recent years, with a vast majority of watch brands offering at least one diver collection in their catalogs. Of course, this has nothing to do with increased interest in the sport or the need to wear a tool watch to partake in SCUBA diving. We have dive computers for that. Rather, diving watches have been adopted as a popular sports watch style for all sorts of occasions; if we’re honest, they’re very rarely worn for their intended sub-aquatic purposes. Thankfully, it’s not just men’s dive watches that are being released – there are plenty of them made for women too. And we’re not talking quartz models either but automatic versions as well. With that in mind, here are five automatic dive watches for women that offer excellent designs and performance. 

Oris Aquis Date Mother-of-Pearl

Retail prices: $2,350 with strap, $2,400 with bracelet

Image Source: oris.ch

Sporting compact steel cases and available in a trio of colorways, the Oris Aquis Date Mother-of-Pearl watches illustrate that dive watches can have a softer side too. The mother-of-pearl dials are available in Blush Pink, Aegean Blue, and Seafoam Green and each variant is fitted with a rubber strap in a matching hue. Oris also offers the same watches with stainless steel bracelets. The shimmering nature of mother-of-pearl coupled with the natural striated pattern and vibrant colors come together with great effect. 

Image Source: oris.ch

The stainless steel cases measure 35.6mm in diameter, 12.5mm thick, and have a lug width of 18mm. These aren’t slim watches by any means, but they are water-resistant to an impressive 300 meters. On top of those cases, we have the customary unidirectional rotating bezel with raised markings while the applied indexes and hands are generously filled with Super-LumiNova for easy reading in the dark. There’s also a date window at 6 o’clock and the Oris Aquis Date Mother-of-Pearl dive watches for women run on the Oris Caliber 733 automatic movement with 41 hours of power reserve.  

Longines Legend Diver

Retail prices: $2,400 to $2,500

Image Source: longines.com

If vintage-looking dive watches for women are more your speed, then meet the Longines Legend Diver, inspired by one of the brand's first diving watches from 1959 called the SuperCompressor. The watch features a 36mm stainless steel case, which is 11.9mm thick and water-resistant to 300 meters deep. Furthermore, there’s a box-shaped sapphire crystal, in addition to a screw-down caseback and a pair of screw-down crowns (one operates the internal rotating diving bezel). 

Longines offers the ladies’ Legend Diver in a multitude of colors including sand beige, royal blue, and vivid burgundy, all of which are paired with coordinating synthetic straps. There are also black lacquered and white mother-of-pearl dials available, both offered with a choice of leather straps or steel mesh bracelets. 

TAG Heuer Aquaracer Professional 300

Retail prices: $3,300, $3,800 with diamonds 

Image Source: tagheuer.com

Arguably the best divers to come out of TAG Heuer in recent memory, the Aquaracer Professional 300 watches retain much of what makes the Aquaracer recognizable while also benefitting from a slew of updates. For instance, there’s the customary 12-sided bezel, which is now crafted from scratch-resistant ceramic. Additionally, there’s the more polished dial with smaller hour markers, a new handset design, and a magnified date window. Finally, the case silhouette has been redesigned to be both thinner and lighter, all while maintaining 300-meter water resistance. 

Image Source: tagheuer.com

One of the best parts of the lineup (at least for me) is the inclusion of Aquaracer Professional 300 dive watches for women, all powered by Caliber 5 automatic movements. These variants come with 36mm steel cases and are available with white, black, blue, or turquoise wave-patterned dials. The white and black versions include lume-filled octagonal hour markers whereas the blue and turquoise ones swap those eight indices out for diamonds. I know it’s fashionable in some watch enthusiast circles to look down on diamond embellishments (particularly on women’s watches) but I happen to appreciate that it’s an option for those who enjoy a touch of sparkle. The watches are furnished with tapered stainless steel bracelets, complete safety push buttons on the buckle with a fine adjustment system. 

Tudor Black Bay 54

Retail prices: $3,700 with strap, $3,900 with bracelet

Image Source: tudorwatch.com

The Tudor Black Bay 54 is a diving watch that both men and women can claim as their own, furnished with a super wearable 37mm case (11.24mm-thick) and designed as a contemporary take on Tudor’s first diver, the reference 7922, from 1954. 

With its stark bezel, black domed dial, steel case, and a water resistance rating of 200 meters, this is a diving watch that plays up the tool watch vibes. Plus, the gilt accents on the dial add an old-school touch. Although there are no dial colors other than black for now, Tudor does offer the choice between a steel bracelet and a black rubber strap. The BB54 runs on the in-house Caliber MT5400 automatic movement with 70 hours of power reserve. 

Breitling Superocean 

Retail prices: $4,950 with strap, $5,150 with bracelet

Image Source: breitling.com

The Superocean has long been a mainstay of Breitling’s catalog – as far back as 1957, in fact. Over the decades, Breitling has made various editions of the Superocean, ranging from modern to vintage-inspired. The newest Superocean watches are proudly retro in design, diving into the company’s archives and borrowing elements from 1960s and 1970s “Slow Motion” models. 

Image Source: breitling.com

As is often the case with Breitling collections, there are women’s versions of the newest-generation Superocean watches too, featuring 36mm stainless steel cases water resistant to 300 meters, ceramic bezels, and automatic Breitling Caliber 17 movements. Dial options included understated white, bright orange, or beach-ready turquoise. And in true Breitling form, all watches are available with either matching rubber straps or steel bracelets. 

Women’s Automatic Diving Watches

From dressier numbers to colorful specimens to robust models that lean into the tool watch aesthetic, it’s clear that the automatic dive watches for women segment is a diverse one. Although it goes without saying that women can wear whatever watches they want, even if they’re labeled for men, there’s still something to be said about divers purposely built with women in mind. This is a segment of the watch market that’s still largely catered to the male audience, so adding versions explicitly for female watch wearers is a win in my book. 

Despite the growing trend to dub all watches as genderless and to erase any categorization of “men’s watches” or “women’s watches,” I remain a proponent of celebrating, highlighting, and giving space to watches labeled as those made for women.