Watch Review: Seiko Prospex Diver SSC786P1 Solar Chronograph

The Seiko Prospex Solar Chronograph SSC789P1 is probably the perfect definition of elegant sportiness, with a bold, striking and sporty design—and a properly utilitarian one too-blended with a dressy and elegant hue of rose-gold.

If you can’t already tell, I’m a huge sucker for rose-gold divers. I loved them from the very first time I saw the Rolex Yachtmaster 40 in Everose gold many years back, and I still love it to this day. In fact, has a home in my collection, and it was pretty much love at first sight too. Hey, if I can’t afford that Rolex (and who really can these days?) then that will have to do. But I digress.

With a similar sporty vein (both of them are divers after all), and an almost casual yet refined elegance in the choice of colour, how does the SSC786P1 stack up? Well, that’s what we’re here to find out.

There’s just something about a rose-gold diver that really appeals to our senses. It is, as I’ve mentioned countless times, just the perfect blend of dressy sophistication meeting casual sportiness. It shouldn’t work, yet it does so immensely and that refined sportiness brings us back to the SSC786P1. Which is as you would expect from any of , a proper ISO rated diver. Don’t mistake this watch for what it is; it may almost look the part of a dress watch (sacrilege I know), but its big; like, properly big.

The case comes in at a stout 43.5mm with a thickness of 13.5mm, not the largest, but you’ll find yourself hard pressed to find a cuff it can slip under. Offering a 200m water resistance, you can easily take it swimming, snorkelling or scuba diving and it wouldn’t break a sweat. The top of the case is satin brushed, with polished sides, adding to that refined nature that makes this timepiece so lovely.

As is with any dive watch, or dive chronograph for that matter, the crown and pushers are threaded to ensure its water resistance. It comes with the usual uni-directional rotating bezel with a lume pip at 12 O’clock and with brightly lumed hands and indexes as well.

The dial is nicely layered too, featuring a stepped section along the outer edge where the indexes are sitting nicely around and above the central dial where the sub-counters are. It’s not the most ground-breaking or eye-catching design, but it’s a detail that’ll definitely put a smile on your face when you notice it. It is an otherwise very symmetrical and tidy dial, with the sub-dials located at 3, 6, and 9.

Seiko also managed to sneak a date-window in, tucking it nicely in between 4 and 5. Now, I know date windows tend to be a controversial addition sometimes, throwing off the symmetry of the dial, but I personally think it’s rather well executed and blends in nicely with the rest of the dial.

It’s a proper dive watch, this, though I’d say it would sit more comfortably against a cuff in a boardroom than being strapped against a diving suit 600 feet below the waves, though it can easily survive both.

The rose-gold colourway gives the watch a much softer tone, almost dressy I would say, it still has all the design elements and boldness of a true tool watch but is toned down for a more different appeal. If you, like me, are a fan of divers and are looking for something that you can wear easily every day whether you’re in a sports jacket or an evening suit, then the SSC618P1 is certainly the watch for you.