Haigh & Hastings M2 Diver First Impression Video With Review

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The lume was very surprising to me. Not only in its brightness, but also its longevity.  Waking up for a few moments at 3am, and 4 hours after being in complete darkness, the M2 was still glowing pretty well, making it easy to tell the time at a glance, even with my groggy eyes, sans glasses.

One the wrist, the M2 diver is very comfortable. The case dimensions are really what I find to be my personal sweet spot these days, especially when it comes to dive watches.  My wrist is 7.5 inches, and the M2 almost looks like it was made for my wrist.

But, I can’t speak about it on the wrist without talking about the optional (additional charge) strap options that Haigh & Hastings offer. You can order with just the plain 2 piece black rubber strap (all have the brand name at the lugs) or you can order with one of 12 strap options available. Navy blue, Orange, yellow, OD green, just to name a few, and I show some of these strap colors in my photos. But beyond the colors, they also have two styles of straps: 2-piece rubber that uses standard buckles, and a one-piece rubber strap with dive clasp. Both are signed “Australia”. The one piece dive clasp straps need to be cut to fit, and are very large. They should easily fit a 9 inch wrist before cutting.

Strap changing is easy, as the M2 Diver uses standard pushpins, which caused no issues. But, with having so many strap options available to purchase on the site, and obviously being one of their selling points, drilled lugs would make things a lot easier.

The movement is the Seiko NH35 automatic movement. This is a hacking and hand winding movement that most watch enthusiasts are probably familiar with. It has a slower beat, than say a Miyota 9015, and in my experience, always runs about a minute fast a week. But, I do have it in a few watches, and since I am not an accuracy nut, I don’t mind it.

The M2 diver was a surprise to me. Looking at the photos online, the specs and price – as many of us do, I thought, well, its just another dive watch from a new company. And technically it is. But there is something about it. Something that grew on me. It just has a really nice, no nonsense feel about it. The type of watch you can take to the beach wearing one of the colorful straps, rinse it off, put a black or navy rubber on it, and go out to a casual dinner. Could upgrades be made? Sure.  A ceramic bezel would be nice. Drilled lug holes to me would be the biggest upgrade that should be made. A higher beat movement? Possibly.  But as I sat and wrote this review, I realized there is another brand out there, that uses a quartz movement, aluminum bezel, plain case back and comes on a natural rubber strap that sells for $600, and is a very popular dive watch.  Now I won’t compare the two, but it was something that I thought about while thinking about the specs and price.

In conclusion, while on paper the M2 diver might not sound overly appealing, it’s something different in the hand. The Haigh & Hastings M2 Diver a rugged, good looking tool diver, that has great lume, an auto movement, sapphire crystal, looks and feels good on the wrist, and is still relatively affordable.

Thank you to Haigh & Hastings for providing this model for review. I look forward to watching their company grow and see what they have planned for the future.