Seiko Celebrates 60 Years of PADI with Limited-Edition Prospex Dive Watch

In 1965, Seiko famously launched the first dedicated diver’s watch made in Japan. One year later, two American dive enthusiasts founded the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, or PADI, now the world’s largest diving organization, with a global network of 6,600 dive centers, 128,000 members, and more than 30 million diving certifications issued. Seiko, which has continued to maintain a strong and historic presence in the arena of dive watches, partnered with PADI in 2016 and has since produced a number of specially branded timepieces across its sporty Prospex line in support of the organization’s initiatives, which include promoting diver safety and ocean conservation. Now, the new Seiko Prospex Diver’s Watch PADI 60th Anniversary Limited Edition HBB002 celebrates the dual anniversary of PADI’s six decades in operation and 10 years of the Seiko/PADI collaboration.

The watch’s official name is a mouthful — Seiko Prospex Diver’s Watch PADI 60th Anniversary Limited Edition — so let’s call it by its reference number, Ref. HBB002. The watch features Seiko’s classic “turtle” case in stainless steel, with the screw-down crown placed at the 4 o’clock position. It’s an unapologetically large timepiece, at 45mm in diameter and 13.2mm thick, with water resistance to 200 meters as well as magnetic resistance to 4,800 A/m. The sapphire crystal over the dial has an inner reflective coating and a magnifying lens at the 3 o’clock position to enhance the legibility of the day/date display on the dial underneath.

Speaking of the dial, it represents the most clear homage to PADI, its mission, and its milestone birthday, with a predominantly blue color accented by red details, including the central seconds hand and the “Diver’s 200M” text at the 6 o’clock position. Underpinning the dial’s background is a globe motif drawn from the PADI 60th anniversary logo, which also inspires the overall color scheme. The same nautical blue is used for the ceramic insert of the unidirectionally rotating dive-scale bezel. Seiko’s proprietary LumiBrite substance coats the hands and the geometric indexes, providing a bright glow in dark or underwater conditions, while the day and date appear in the aforementioned, magnified 3 o’clock window.

The movement inside the HBB002 is Seiko’s in-house automatic Caliber 4R36, a popular and fairly ubiquitous workhorse in Seiko’s mechanical-watch repertoire these days, first introduced in 2011 and offering hand-winding capability as well as hacking seconds. It runs in 24 jewels, ticks at a steady 3Hz frequency (21,600 vph), and delivers a serviceable but not stellar power reserve of around 41 hours. 

The HBB022 comes on a three-link stainless steel bracelet that fastens with a locking, three-fold push-button clasp and diver’s extension. Also included in this special edition is an “accordion design” strap made of high-strength silicone with “Professional Association of Diving Instructors” printed on its length. Limited to 8,000 pieces, the Prospex Diver’s Watch PADI 60th Anniversary model is priced at $750 and available as of July 2026 at Seiko boutiques and via select retail partners. 

For more information, visit the brand's website here.