The Tudor Pelagos, a collection of tool watches, is one of Swiss watch company Tudor’s most popular timepieces. These are traditional mechanical dive watches that are waterproof to 500m.
Tudor was founded by Hans Wilsdorf, the founder of Rolex. To learn more about its history and collections, you can check out our article that talks about the brand in detail.
Tudor Pelagos Features
Some of the most notable features of the Tudor Pelagos are the durable titanium and stainless steel case and a unidirectional rotatable titanium bezel, a power reserve up to 70 hours, luminous markers, and a Helium escape valve positioned at 9 o’clock. It’s also fitted with the powerful Tudor’s Manufacture Calibre MT5612 (COSC) movement.
One of its most unique and attractive features is the snowflake style hands, which is a classic symbol of Tudor’s watches since 1969. The unique detail of having an hour hand with a square tip allows the wearer to distinguish it from the minute hand easily. If you’re interested in watch hands style, you can read our article that talks about different watch hand styles here.
The Pelagos is priced at around $4,400, a price point that is clearly not cheap but is fair for a technical dive watch packed with the features we just mentioned. If you’re looking for an alternative, however, there are many other brands that you can check out. Below, we’ll talk about some of the best Tudor Pelagos alternatives, affordable dive watches that would be good alternatives to the Tudor Pelagos.
Table of Contents
Tudor Pelagos Affordable Alternatives
Invicta Men’s 8926OB Pro Diver Stainless Steel Automatic Watch
The Invicta Pro Diver stainless steel automatic watch is a good low-budget alternative to Tudor if you’re looking for a similar dive watch style. This one has a 40mm stainless steel case and link bracelet, a screw-down crown, luminous hands and markers, and an exhibition caseback. It’s also powered by a Japanese automatic movement and is water-resistant to 200M, or you could upgrade to the Invicta Men’s 9937 Pro Diver with its Swiss Automatic Movement, and you’d still be spending only about 1/10 of what you’d spend on the Pelagos.
If you’re interested to know how Invicta produces such affordable Swiss watches, you can check out this article, which talks about the brand’s history and production style.
Invicta is a Swiss watch company that has been around since 1837, founded by Raphael Picard in La Chaux de Fonds, Switzerland. Considered as a fashion brand, they produce good quality timepieces for a lower price, using materials that are only found inexpensive brands.
Read more about the company’s history here.
SEIKO PROSPEX Men’s Watch Diver Mechanical Self-winding
Read Amazon Reviews | See on eBay
Also known as the Seiko Sumo, the Seiko Prospex men’s diver mechanical watch with a stainless steel case and band and the same style as the Pelagos.
Seiko, a Japanese watch company that has been around since 1881, and continues to be popular today. The company produces both affordable and expensive watches, both having reliable Japanese watch technology.
This model is water-resistant to 200m, has a unidirectional bezel, and has a screw-down crown. It has a 50-hour power reserve, and luminous hands and markers with Lumibrite technology, making it good for low light settings.
This watch is priced at around $800 on some online sellers, but you can sometimes find more affordable ones on Amazon and other online retailers.
Mido Ocean Star Captain V Silver Titanium Watch
Read Amazon Reviews | See on eBay
Mido is a Swiss watch company founded in 1918. It’s currently part of the Swatch Group and has an office in Shanghai, China.
The 42.5mm Mido Ocean Star Caliber 80 has a dial is a diver’s watch that’s water-resistant to 200m, has a screw-down crown, and indexes filled with Superluminova. The case and bracelet material are made of titanium, which means it’s lightweight (however, titanium is also more prone to scratches as compared to the heavier stainless steel). Mido also boasts of its Caliber 80, a watch movement that offers up to 80 hours of power reserve.
This watch has received a lot of excellent reviews. One customer pointed out in a review that the watch is impressive, having a good size and an accurate movement. Another praised the lightness and comfort. Like the Pelagos, this has a vintage look, as well as legible numbers and markers.
This also has a chronometer version, which has been certified by the COSC (Contrôle Officiel Suisse des Chronomètres) for its accuracy.
You can check out the different Ocean Star models here.
Fanmis GMT Master Sapphire Glass Men’s Automatic Watch
If you’re looking for an affordable watch with big, bold indexes and numbers, this is something that you can consider getting.
The Fanmis GMT Master is a 40mm watch with an automatic self-winding movement. It has a polished stainless steel case with a brushed back and ceramic bezel.
This model normally retails for around $100, which makes it an affordable diver style watch. Many user reviews mention that the watch does the job, has decent movement, and has a good design.
One negative factor that many users have noticed, however, is the bracelet. Some users have noticed that it’s prone to scratches (and others decide to replace it with a NATO strap).
Corgeut Sapphire Glass Black Bezel Citizen Miyota Automa
Read Amazon Reviews | See on eBay
A relatively affordable diver-style watch is this Corgeut, which, like The Tudor Pelagos, has snowflake style hands.
This watch is patterned after the Tudor Black Bay model, another popular dive watch by Tudor, which has a similar aesthetic to the Pelagos. Like the Tudor watches, this watch has a black dial with luminous markers, luminous hands, and a date display at 3 o’clock. This one’s slightly smaller at 41mm and has a stainless steel case with an aluminum bezel.
If you want the look but not the hefty price tag, this model will deliver. You can read this discussion about the watch here to see what other watch enthusiasts have to say.
Sinn U1
Sinn is a German watch company that was founded in 1961. The brand is marketed as a “diving watch made of German Submarine Steel,” boasting of excellent readability. See the Sinn U1 on eBay here.
The U1 collection has a number of models (you can check them out here), but we’ll focus on the U1 Camouflage, a limited edition model. This one passed the European diving equipment standards and has pressure resistance to 1000m diving depth (which could be one of its main advantages over the Tudor Pelagos).
Other features include a camouflage design, bead-blasted German Submarine Steel, sapphire crystal glass, and has hands coated with luminescent color…
If you’re looking for a dive watch that can be submerged deep underwater, this is a great Pelagos alternative. They’re just about the same price but has higher water resistance.
Pantor Seahorse 1000m Big Size 45mm Pro Automatic Dive Watch
Read Amazon Reviews | See on eBay
The Pantor Seahorse Big Size dive watch has water resistance to up to 1,000m and sells for roughly the same price point as the Mido Ocean Star.
Pantor is a lesser-known company, but it is dedicated to producing quality dive watches. Some of the main features of this watch included a Japanese automatic movement with a 28.800 beat rate and 40 hours of power reserve. It has an automatic helium valve at 9H, a date window at 4 o’clock, and a screw-down crown. The case (45mm) and bracelet are made of stainless steel and has hands and dials powered by Swiss C3 Superluminova.
Affordable Alternative: Buy a Pre-Owned Tudor Pelagos
If you’ve looked through the previous alternatives and still feel that they don’t match up and really want to get your hands on an authentic Tudor Pelagos, another option would be to buy a pre-owned watch. Many times you can find a watch that is in near-mint condition and really no worse for the wear.
Actually, if you’re lucky, you can sometimes find unworn watches models like this one here available on bobswatches.com. All of their watches are 100% certified authentic (see all available Tudor Pelagos models). They also have payment plans that make it affordable to own.
Get your certified pre-owned Tudor Pelagos 25600TN for as low as $129/mo and 0% APR for… [More]
