The Seiko Marinemaster is a high price point watch made by the Japanese watchmaker. Not quite the Grand Seiko, the Marinemaster is still a relatively high specification watch and will set you back well over $1000 brand new. Due to its water resistance and professional specifications, the Marinemaster costs a lot of money to create. When compared to a Seiko 5, or even a Seiko Presage – the difference in movement and build quality is night and day.
It should surprise you then when browsing online, a Seiko Marinemaster is available for just a couple of hundred dollars. There are a variety of reasons for this – none of which are legitimate. As a first line of defense, overly cheap Marinemasters should be avoided.
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The Modding Community
Seiko is unlike any other watch brand in that it has a huge modding community. There are scores of fans dedicated to altering dials, hands, movements, and cases of Seiko. One main reason for this is that Seiko watches are so well made and use similar case sizes. Due to this fact, it is easy to change parts around – which is both positive and negative depending on why this has been done.
On the surface, this is completely harmless. Seiko fanatics are able to get their hands on a custom made dial for a couple of hundred dollars. They then have a one-of-a-kind watch that they will likely keep forever.
When Modding Goes Wrong
However, the dark side of the modding community is a little more underground and unscrupulous. Aftermarket dials of Marinemaster are relatively easy to obtain and hands and bezels can be taken from slightly less expensive Seiko models.
This may not sound too bad on its own, but it gets worse when a “fake” movement is installed. Unscrupulous modders will still use a Seiko movement, but it is often an entry level NH35, which can be picked up for well under $50 brand new. This movement is not terrible, but nowhere near the quality of 8L35 which has a 50 hour power reserve and is easily equal to Swiss chronometer standards.
The Main Giveaway
Seiko Marinemasters are monobloc watches. This is not true for early variations of the Marinemaster made before 2005. However, modern day Marinemaster watches do not have screw down case backs. The entire case is made as a single unit to give further protection and pressure resistance to the movement.
Note that in the images shown above there is a distinct difference between the two casebacks. Whilst this comparison cannot be made for watches from different eras, it is quite obvious on modern timepieces.
Some fake Marinemaster watches actually have visible movements through an exhibition caseback. This should be a further giveaway since the movement will likely be something such as a cheap NH35 rather than an 8L35.
Summary
Overall, the Seiko Marinemaster is a very well constructed watch made to professional diving specifications. Not just this, but inside its monobloc case, the movement used is extremely high specification too. Therefore there is no real excuse for a Marinemaster to be running fast or slow if it has been bought brand new.
