2024’s Best Small Dive Watches For Women and Men

Are you in need of a smaller dive watch, either due to small wrists or just preference? Prefer brighter colors? My updated guide for 2024 to the best small dive watches is not just for women, but for anyone who doesn’t want to wear the large, >40 mm divers that tend to be produced for men these days.

This article contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn commission from qualifying purchases.

Most of my articles on this site aren’t sorted by gender, but I’ve realized that the majority of watches I talk about and recommend on this site are quite large, usually over 42 mm or so. These are simply too big for the majority of women to wear comfortably, and even a large percentage of men with smaller wrists do not like the trend of ever larger watches. Personally, I like a watch that’s closer to 38mm in diameter.

However, I also believe that a dive watch needs to be highly functional and large enough to be read with a quick glance. So you won’t find any recommendations for tiny, high-fashion, bejeweled ‘dive watches’ here.

Now, on to the watches! I’ve organized this list into some general price ranges, so feel free to skip around.

Jump to Price Section

Luxury | High-end | Mid-range | Budget

Best Luxury Small Dive Watches

---

— A quick note about buying luxury watches online —

The vast majority of people buying watches in this price range prefer to do it in person, especially when buying new. You have to be wary of fakes when buying any of these watches.

There are some trustworthy online sources though. For new luxury watches, I recommend AuthenticWatches.com. They are extremely well reviewed, guaranteed to be real, and have great pricing on all the luxury Swiss brands.

For used luxury watches, I recommend heading over to Chrono24.com and checking out the listings there.

---

#1 – Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe 5100 Series

In many ways, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms is the original modern dive watch. First released in 1953, it pioneered many of the features we now take for granted (external rotating timing bezel, screw in case back).

The Bathyscaphe model here is a tribute to one of the earliest Fifty Fathoms models, released in the late 1950’s.

Luckily for those needing a smaller diver, Blancpain saw fit to release a version with a 38 mm diameter case.

The Blancpain Fifty Fathoms Bathyscaphe comes with either a blue, black, or all white bezel and dial. I’m personally partial to the blue, but the ‘White Lady’ is definitely stunning.

#2 – Rolex Yachtmaster 37mm

The famous Rolex Submariner is, unfortunately, only available with a 41 mm case. Luckily, the Yachtmaster has a very similar design and is available with a 37 mm case.

The only downside to getting a Yachtmaster instead of a Submariner? The Yachmaster has only 100 meters of water resistance, vs. the Submariners 300 meters. I think that’ll do just fine for the vast majority of people though.

I don’t think I need to talk up Rolex here. Their quality is legendary, and if you want a Rolex, you tend to already know it.

Best High End Small Dive Watches

#1 – Oris Aquis Date

For as long as I’ve been writing about dive watches I’ve wanted to pick up an Oris Aquis. Oris makes very high quality and good looking divers for a very reasonable price.

The Oris Aquis Date is available in several case sizes, with the smallest being 36.5mm. With a 36.5 mm case diameter they’ll wear well on more slender wrists without sacrificing any functionality.

There’s quite a few varieties available, from the more tool diver looking ref. 01 733 7792 4154-07 4 19 64FC to the Oris Aquis Date Upcycle, which has a dial made out of pretty cool looking recycled PET plastic.

Why is the Oris Aquis Date one of the best women’s dive watches available?

Oris has managed to produce a watch that both looks high fashion and keeps it’s tool watch roots. The small but not too small size of the Aquis Ladies will fit many women perfectly.

The Oris Aquis also has a display case back to show off their signature red automatic rotor. If you like to watch tiny, intricate machines at work then that would make this the perfect watch for you.

And your friends will be quite surprised when you take such a beautiful watch underwater with you.

Search Amazon for the Oris Aquis Date

#2 – Longines Legend Diver

The Longines Legend Diver is a really cool and unique dive watch with a long history. The internal rotating dive bezel was invented by Longines to protect it from accidental manipulation. The two separate screw-down crowns, one for setting time and one for setting the timing bezel, give it it’s unique look.

It consistently gets recommended by many watch enthusiasts, especially when asking about smaller divers.

Longines produces the Legend Diver in three case sizes, 36mm, 39mm, and 42mm — perfect for nearly anybody’s wrist size and preferences.

While the 36mm case is only made in stainless steel, the 42mm version comes with both bronze and PVD case options.

These are gorgeous divers watches that would also be at home worn as a dress watch.

View Collection on Longines.com

#3 – Tag Heuer Aquaracer Professional 200

Tag Heuer is an old Swiss luxury watch company, founded way back in 1860. The Aquaracer series was first released in 2003 as Tag Heuer’s professional, but visually attractive dive watch line.

Tag Heuer makes the Aquaracer line available with both quartz and automatic movements.

There’s a huge variety of styles available in the women’s Aquaracer line – from tool diver looking black bezel and dialed watches, to diamond studded dials and/or bezels.

A big advantage of Tag Heuer’s line-up is the range of case sizes available. The Aquaracer Professional 200 can be had in a range from 30mm on up to 40mm case diameter. No matter the size of your wrist, you should be able to find one that fits you perfectly.

Buy From Tag Heuer
Search Amazon

Best Mid Range Small Dive Watches

#1 – Seiko SNE5 Solar Diver

Seiko is seriously lacking when it comes to smaller dive watches. This is a problem, because there’s lots of people out there with smaller wrists who love Seiko watches (myself included).

There are currently only a couple of dive models (with at least 200m WR) still being produced that are less than 40mm – the SNE5 Solar watch here, and the new SUT4 Ladies Street Series, which is a ‘mini tuna’ style dive watch available in some fun colors. Here’s one example for sale on Amazon.com.

In the Seiko 5 Sports series are a few smaller divers, but these only have a 100m water resistance rating. You can find some examples on Amazon.com by clicking here.

Seiko’s solar watches are pretty cool. When fully charged they’ll keep ticking for 10 months, and all that’s needed is to let the watch dial see the sun every once in a while to charge back up.

Otherwise, this series has a great, classic Seiko diver look, in a much better case size for a lot of men and women. Most people seem to prefer the rubber strap over the steel bracelet.

#2 – Christopher Ward C60 TRIDENT Pro 300

Christopher Ward makes absolutely fantastic dive watches at a very reasonable price point. The quality of their entire catalog is quite amazing. You won’t find many other divers for around $1000 that can compete with their professional line watches.

The C60 Trident Pro isn’t specifically a woman’s watch, but at a 38mm diameter it should wear very comfortably on most women, and watches of this size have been very much in style among women these days. They offer several strap sizes at checkout, so be sure to select the small if buying for someone with a slight wrist.

Besides the 38mm case, the Trident Pro 300 is also available in either 40mm or 42mm case sizes.

Where to buy the Christopher Ward C60 Pro Trident 300?

Chris Ward sells directly from their own website which helps them keep costs down. For used watches I again recommend checking eBay and see if there’s any decent copies available.

#3 – Certina DS Action 34.5mm

Certina is a Swiss sport watch company with a long history, stretching back to 1888. The DS line, which focuses on extremely shock and water proof watches, was first introduced in 1959. In 1965 the Certina DS was put to the test during the US Navy’s Sealab II experiment.

At 34.5mm case diameter, this is one of the smallest diver’s on this list. In my opinion, this is about as small as you want to go and still have a functional tool watch. For a slightly larger version, the CS Action Diver is available in a 38mm case.

On the caseback is Certina’s turtle shell logo, which they say symbolizes robustness and longevity.

I think the Certina DS Action is a beautiful watch, with a classic dive watch look. At the time I’m writing this article in 2024, there’s five varieties to choose from, including two with Mother of Pearl dials.

Best Budget Small Dive Watches

#1 – Dan Henry 1975 Skin Diver 37mm

Dan Henry is a smaller watch brand that specializes in new, yet vintage looking watches. Their different watch collections are broken up into the years that inspired them, starting in 1900 and ending with this 1975 Skin Diver.

They have two dive watch series, the one I’ve picked here and the 1970 Automatic Diver. The 1970 is a super compressor style, like the Longines Legend Diver above, with an internal rotating bezel. It is only available with either a 40mm or 44mm case diameter.

The Dan Henry 1975 Skin Diver is available with either a 39mm or 37mm case diameter. If the 39mm diver is more your size, it is available with either a quartz or automatic movement. The 37mm version can only be had with a quality Seiko quartz movement.

I’m honestly really in love with the vintage styling of these dive watches. They’re simple, no-nonsense design just looks timeless to me. And for only around $300, you don’t have to pay much for a quality, vintage inspired watch.

I especially love the case back on these, with the octopus coming out of a classic diving helmet. But I’ve always been fascinated by octopus.

The 1975 Skin Diver is on my short list of next watch to get in for a review, I’ll update this article if that happens!

#2 – Momentum M1 Splash 38

Momentum Watch is a sports watch brand owned by St. Moritz Watch Corp. The brand has been around since 1980, so they’ve got a good few years under their belt. And being based in Vancouver, Canada, Momentum has plenty of opportunity to test their watches.

The Momentum Splash series is a collection of smaller dive watches offered in a whole range of bright colors. You can get them with white dials, black dials, colorful bezel inserts, and rubber bands or stainless steel bracelets.

The Momentum dive watches are very well reviewed for what they are, inexpensive tool watches with reliable and no maintenance quartz movements. If you like lots of colors, be sure to take a look at these.