A Trio of Seiko Prospex ‘Great Blue’ Scuba PADI Divers Expand the Conservation Collection

For years now Seiko has contributed to global ocean conservation projects through the Save the Ocean collections and their collaborations with PADI, the Professional Association of Diving Instructors. Proceeds from the PADI collaboration watches go towards the PADI Ocean Cleanup Campaign and for 2023, Seiko’s range of PADI watches is expanding with the new Prospex ‘Great Blue’ Scuba PADI Divers collection.

The new collection is formed of a trio of Seiko diving watches with aquatic themed dials. They’re the ‘Great Blue’ Turtle Scuba, Sumo Scuba and Samurai Scuba and each has the signature case associated with their names. Meaning the Turtle has a 45mm case with smooth, curved edges, while the Sumo is 45mm with a facetted, round shape and the Samurai has a 43.8mm, sword-sharp, angular case.

But we’ve seen these cases before. What makes the ‘Great Blue’ Scuba PADI watches stand out are the dials. Each of them is a vertical gradient from dark blue to light, creating the impression of oceanic depth, which isn’t uncommon for dive watches. However, what makes these next-level is the addition of asymmetrical wave patterns across the top half of the dials that imitate the view of scuba divers looking up at the surface of the water with the sun beating down. It looks fantastic. The wave pattern is technically identical on all three watches but slight deviations in colour make them each look unique.

As there are three different models on display here, there are three different calibres too. It’s the 4R36 for the Turtle, 4R35 for the Samurai and 6R35 for the Sumo. The Samurai has the lowest power reserve at 40-hours while the Sumo has the highest specs at 70-hours. That’s quite a big difference in mechanical performance, which is reflected in the prices.

The ‘Great Blue’ Samurai Scuba is £550, the Great Blue Turtle Scuba is £570 and the Great Blue Sumo Scuba is £1,100. Of the trio, my favourite is the Turtle, although that’s likely because I was already a Turtle fan, and this launch hasn’t changed that. It’s simply another cool variant, and one that helps to fund positive global change, which is always a bonus.