There are many vintage Seiko divers popular with Seiko enthusiasts, and for good reason - Seiko found an original, great looking formula for its divers, and stuck with it.  And this 1981 Seiko 3421-0120 SilverWave womens diver is a great example of this successful formula.
 
The dial design is superb, with embossed hour markers and beautiful hands, reminiscent of the Seiko's legendary 6159 divers of the 1960’s and to a lesser extent of the dials on its 6105 dive watches.
 
As for the Seiko SilverWave line?  Per Fratello’s resident Seiko guru Michael Stockton, “...the mid 1960’s [the era of Seiko's original SilverWave watch, the J12082] were a time of tremendous transition.  It seemed to be a period of transition away from the feel good, somewhat old-fashioned 1950’s into a more modern, but realistic period."
 
"Literature, music, art, and technology were all undergoing these same patterns of metamorphoses…California and its surfing culture went mainstream and people became highly interested in all things water or ocean related.”
 
Seiko’s “sport divers” would become a long-running theme in their watch design that continues to this day. Clearly its SilverWave line were not designed for deep sea / Jacque Cousteau-like dives.  At the time, the only really hardcore dive watches were Rolex, Omega, Blancpain, and some limited others.  But as noted, water sports during this era became mainstream, and the SilverWave line was designed for snorkeling, swimming, surfing, and other light water sports.
 
The Seiko quartz diver here, like the automatic designs that preceded it, is classic and simple, borrowing heavily from the instantly recognizable earlier Seiko 7002 automatic diver before it and the SKX after.
 
Women's divers produced by Seiko in the 1970’s and 80’s are beautiful watches with some exquisite details - and less expensive than their larger counterparts for men - but new crystals and bezel inserts can be difficult to find (thankfully not a problem here!)
 
The quartz movements Seiko designed are tough and reliable – during its heyday, these were popular with armed forces for this same reason. It is a widely held assumption that military personnel wear only military watches.
 
This vintage Seiko diver comes with two nylon straps, rugged travel case, and springbar tool.