This Seiko-Run GMT Dive Watch Punches Well Above Its Price

It’s assembled in Los Angeles, runs on a Seiko movement and clocks in well under a grand.

close up of a steel dive watch with a blue bezel

By Brad Lanphear

Published February 18, 2025

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Updated February 18, 2025

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Nodus has raised the bar for what a sub-$1,000 dive watch looks like.

The Los Angeles-based watchmaker revamped its Sector Dive watch with a slimmed-down case and a GMT complication. It runs on a Seiko-made TMI NH34 automatic that gives the Seiko 5 Sport GMT a run for its money.

a steel dive watch with a blue dial on a man's wrist — The Sector II Dive GMT has a sunken-in inner circular “sector.”

Nodus’s signature Sector dial, defined by a sunken inner circle at the center, comes in three color options. Each of these is available with two bezel options, creating a somewhat customizable experience.

A streamlined design

The Sector II Dive GMT’s most remarkable attribute is its 11.9mm case. Nodus managed to slice 0.6 millimeters off the already impressively slim first-generation design.

the side of a steel dive watch — The most impressive attribute of the Sector II Dive GMT is the 11.9 millimeter case thickness.

A gentle curve to the lugs allows the watch to hug the wrist, slimming the profile even further when wearing it. From a side view, the sapphire crystal is barely visible.

Despite their small size, the unidirectional steel bezel and screw-down crown are easy to operate thanks to a studded texture. The Nodus logo is etched into the crown for its only appearance on the watch.

the dial on an orange steel dive watch — The orange dial had a sunburst texture to it.

This second-generation dive watch has a stainless steel Oyster-style bracelet equipped with Nodus’s NodeX module on the three-piece clasp. The proprietary design allows for easy micro-adjustments to the bracelet size by squeezing the mechanism on both sides and sliding it to the desired fit.

Dialing it in

Nodu’s second-generation Sector dive watch might be thinner, but the dial has noticeably stronger visibility. Gone are the three, six and nine numerals of the first generation, and the tapered baton-shaped hour markings are wider and thicker.

a steel dive watch with a green dial on a man's wrist — The sea foam green dial color is the only holdover from the first generation Sector dive watch.

With the addition of a GMT hand, a 24-hour inner fixed bezel was added to the dial. The bezel is angled upwards, making the relatively smaller number and dash indices a little easier to see.

The hands, hour markers and 12 o’clock marker on the bezel are all coated in Super-LumiNova for exceptional visibility in limited light. Even when the watch is angled on the wrist, the dial markings and hands are still visible under the flat glass.

a steel dive watch with a blue dial — Even with an impressively thin case, the dial is exceptionally visible.

The Sector II has the same sunburst texture on the dial as the first generation in the green and orange options, but the navy blue dial features two slightly different shades on the inner and outer sections. The major update is that the inner circle is now slightly sunken in.

Availability and pricing

The Nodus Sector II Dive GMT looks and performs like it should cost well over $1,000. In general, the slimmer an automatic watch case is, the more expensive it is. But that is not the case here.

two steel dive watches next to each other on a wood table — Each dial color can come with a black or stainless steel bezel.

Despite being assembled in Los Angeles, having a 100-meter dive rating and featuring a steel bracelet with an ingenious adjustment mechanism, it still falls into the affordable category.

Best of all, this impressive tool watch comes with a blue, sea foam green or orange dial option. Each one can be combined with a brushed stainless steel bezel with black markings or a matte black steel bezel with white markings.

Preorder for Nodus’s newest dive watch starts on February 21 at 9:00 a.m., with a general release coming February 26. The stainless steel bezel costs $525 and the black bezel $550.