By Harlan Chapman-Green
The past six months have brought us some of the most controversial and popular articles we’ve ever seen here at WristReview. We were genuinely astonished at the sheer amount of people who were willing to add in their thoughts on the first instalment of this series. When we pit watches against each other, we’re not looking for a winner and a loser, we’re looking for a preferred choice, because really and truthfully we haven’t seen any watches that are just bad all the time here. Some are fantastic and the others are the ones we’d recommend, sometimes the hardest part is choosing which one to buy.
The Winners
Rolex Submariner vs Omega Seamaster 300 Master Co-Axial
This one for us was one of the highlights of the entire year, generating over a million visits to the site in a relatively short time frame, but who didn’t see that coming given that the topic up for discussion was the biggest fight in the industry. It’s the watch equivalent of BMW vs Mercedes-Benz or Kentucky Fried Chicken vs McDonald’s. The champion of this first edition was the stunning Omega Seamaster 300 Master Co-Axial, it wasn’t just the new look that got it ahead in the game. The Seamaster Master Co-Axial is a triumph of high-tech mass produced watches that have a solid build, a damn good movement and are genuinely pretty to look at. It’s fair to say that this time Omega caught the break it deserves.
Seiko Prospex Marinermaster SBEX001G vs IWC Aquatimer IW329002
The absolutely mad Seiko Prospex Marinermaster SBEX001G was the winner of the second head to head article we made. For $6800 you’d be getting a large and solid titanium Japanese sports watch with a thousand meters of water resistance. The watch was assembled as Seiko’s Shizuku-ishi Watch studio, whether that really means anything for their watches is a topic for another time. The movement inside the watch is their 8L55 calibre Hi-Beat movement with 55 hours of power reserve and it’s been placed in a huge 48.2mm sports case. 
Oris Aquis Date vs Longines Heritage Diver
The winner of the third instalment in this series and the first of the year 2016 is the Longines Heritage Diver watch. To quote, the main reason the Longines Heritage Diver won was because it “doesn’t advertise your masculinity to people in the next galaxy over”. It can also be switched from the black rubber sports strap to a brown leather strap to create a cool looking dress watch that still keeps the sportiness in case it’s called upon at a moments notice, like some sort of superhero at a fancy ball. The L633 calibre is based on an ETA made movement and has a 38-hour power reserve, modest but enough.
Cartier Calibre De Cartier Diver W7100056 vs Panerai Luminor Submersible Acciaio Pam 00024
The complex design language and the pure attention to detail in the watch put it a level above Panerai’s Luminor Submersible Acciaio offering. It’s one thing to make a really super timepiece with all the right tools for the job, but it’s another to do make that and then add a load of beautiful details such as the sword hands, the triple date window and that gorgeous bezel. Since its launch a couple of years ago the Cartier Calibre De Cartier Diver has been massively popular because if its looks and real practicality.
Breitling Avenger Blackbird 44mm vs Tudor Heritage Black Bay
The March offering of the Clash of the Divers series went dark. We plunged ourselves and our readers into the blackness of the void armed only with a small torch that’s barely adequate for the job. We discovered two black wristwatches that could be perfect for their owners, both the Breitling and the Tudor offer excellent value for money. The Tudor’s in-house made movement is offered on leather or a black PVD steel bracelet and both come with a black NATO strap in the box as well. The Tudor was the winner because of this and the fact that it’s an extremely good value watch, just need to be mindful that the black coating on the Tudor is PVD and it’s not on the Breitling.
Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 5015 vs Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Diver
So this was it. The last edition of our current series, the Clash of the Divers series is over, but it went out with a real bang. We’ve had some of the most amazing wristwatches on the series and we ended with the awesome Royal Oak Offshore Diver from Audemars Piguet and the timelessly beautiful Fifty Fathoms 5015 watch from Blancpain. The Fifty Fathoms came out on top in this head to head thanks to its remarkable build quality, attention to details and its ability to continue the legend of the name Fifty Fathoms. Like DateJust and Reverso, Fifty Fathoms is one of the most special models ever made and deserves to win because of it.
That’s it for Clash of the Divers, thanks for following us over the past six months!
HARLAN CHAPMAN-GREEN – MANAGING EDITOR
A keen bass guitar player, Harlan enjoys all the perks modern watchmaking technologies the industry has to offer. Although you might catch him sampling Omegas or the “odd” Rolex, Harlan loves all things Haute Horology, with his three favourite brands being Breguet, A.Lange & Söhne and Vacheron Constantin. He hopes to study timekeeping more in depth someday and will never be able to thank his father enough for introducing him to the industry. You can follow him on Instagram Read his articles here
