My old favorite and my new one!

[Doctorsti]

My watch purchases escalated as I'm sure all of ours do in time and I stopped on the Seiko Marinemaster 300 as I felt it was pretty much all I could want in a nice durable daily wear diver. It's got a wonderful movement, monocoque case design, beautiful finishing, solid feel on the wrist, on the fly adjustable clasp, clear dial with INSANE lume, and great bezel action. It looks just as good on the supplied rubber strap and really is a do-it-all despite being 44mm wide and 15mm thick. The case has this great ergonomic taper to it to allow unimpeded wrist motion and also to give it a "on the wrist" look of less then 44mm.

Only downsides I see with the MM300 is height, easily scratched bezel (not an insert, must replace the whole thing) and mineral crystal.

I wasn't prepared for how I would feel about the Sub-C when it arrived and my short comparison is this:
The Sub is more manageable from a height and weight perspective, still looks great on my 6.5 inch wrist, more durable, better finishing, tighter tolerances on the SEL's and bracelet as a whole. Easily as comfortable but I do wear it very slightly higher on my wrist due to the 3 O'Clock crown as opposed to the MM300's 4 O'Clock placement. Bezel action easily surpasses the MM300 smoother feel, IMO. I absolutely love the Sub-C and the poor MM300 will likely see a whole lot more of the safe now. I have a feeling the MM300 will go on rubber strap more often and be a "under the radar" watch for casual trips, vacation, or just to switch it up once in a while.

The breakdown:

MM300 Wins:
-Overall uniqueness of case design
-lume
-hand legibility
-on the fly adjustment without it coming off the wrist
-contemporary size
-look and feel on rubber designed specifically for this model
-bracelet brushed and polished elements (will fade with time and use)
-crown placement (no guards and inset into case slightly looks cleaner to me)
-pearl/pip inset into the bezel
-winding action (just feels more positive/mechanical to me)
-drilled lugs

Sub-C Wins:
-lume color and uniformity
-durability of crystal and bezel
-weight
-height
-pure social status (superficial I know)
-glidelock looks better when adjusted while MM300 clasp adjusts easy but looks bad when extended a notch or two.
-bezel grip
-service center in USA with extension of warranty after service
-accuracy (less then 1 second in 7 days so far, MM300 is 8-9sec fast/24hrs)
-crown action/stability/sealing ability
-Sound - that ticking sound is great, MM300 barely has much audible movement sounds and the rotor is really loud on the MM300 compared to the Sub.

Winner in my book is clearly the Sub-C although the MM300 has quite a lot going for it. If I got a sapphire crystal installed and had it regulated it would catch up on a few of the discrepancies. Versatility is sort of a toss up at this point as I don't really know what the Sub looks/feels like on nato and rubber as I'll try it on both Isofrane black and a couple natos in the coming weeks.

Pardon the pics taken with my cell phone. I'll take more from different angles with the DSLR one day soon and swap them out.






I will update the thread with a follow up review after I get a few more weeks with the Sub-C.