Best Dive Watch Ever...

[Gary D.]

I dive the Citizen Hyper Aqualand and love it. I have abused that watch very bad and haven't killed it. Even the welding slag melts in the lens are OK.

It has been through 5 battery changes and I just did a rebuild for under $100.00. It came back like a brand new watch.

What the best watch boils down to is one you can read and operate. Having some high tech thing you can't read or operate is useless.

My back-up watch is a simple Timex Expo. Rated at 100 meters and it cost a whopping $15.00 when I bought it in 1999.

Depth ratings are not exactly what they say. Because a watch is rated at 1000 meters doesn't mean it is good for that depth. There is a formula that is used that doesn't equate to depth. It has do with the pressure of moving water over the unit and not just depth. Who cares we won't be testing them at those depths anyway.

The band on any dive watch should be a single band. So if a pin brakes you don't lose the watch.

Gary D.

 

[tjmills]

What the best watch boils down to is one you can read and operate. Having some high tech thing you can't read or operate is useless.


Gary D.

Gary, Sometimes you just have to read the manual.

 

[Cacia]

Suunto Stinger, stainless or titanium, with the metal band.

 

[melle]

I have several. Amongst: Citizen Hyper Aqualand (all stell... very classy); Mares Nemo Titanium... and today I ordered a Immersion H2O. Kewl!

I am a watch lover... some dig shoes or ties, I dig watches.

Melle

 

[tlawler]

Question for everybody with a Hyper Aqualand. Do you send it back to Citizen for battery changes, or do you take it to your local watch shop? I've taken mine to a local guy that just retired for the last 3 changes ($8.00 last time) over the past 9 years with no problems. Also after my third ($75.00 Citizen ) band broke, I just started using a fabric and velcro band that I picked up at my LDS for less than ten bucks. I found that Walmart has a real close knockoff of the original band (less the NDL chart) for around 12 bucks.

 

[halocline]

My favorite was an old russian dive watch that a friend picked up for me pretty cheap in Switzerland, where I imagine they're fairly suspicious of foreign watches....it had a little diver on the face. It really looked cool; worked great until I got it wet! Now I use a seiko. To me the watch/computer combos are not really good at being either; take a computer for your depth/ascent rate/dive time/NDL info and a watch as back up time and to wear on land, you know, with clothes.

 

[gsxr1997]

citizen hyper-aqualand with factory adjustable stainless steel band
diversolo- i send it back to citizen -they will pressure test and certify it
if you ask.

 

[Wet Willy]

Citizen aqualand cyber nx is my normal watch of choice when diving and on vacation. Can be used for all aspects of diving and double as a "macho" looking day watch. I still have the original citizen aqualand and it does a good job , but does not allow Nitrox calculations. Since I have about sixty five watches I quess my wife does look at my collecting as a little weird. funny they never seem to notice this when they are shopping for jewelery. Go figure! ;{o

 

[tlawler]

Citizen aqualand cyber nx is my normal watch of choice when diving and on vacation. Can be used for all aspects of diving and double as a "macho" looking day watch. I still have the original citizen aqualand and it does a good job , but does not allow Nitrox calculations. Since I have about sixty five watches I quess my wife does look at my collecting as a little weird. funny they never seem to notice this when they are shopping for jewelery. Go figure! ;{o

Damn! you're the Imelda Marcos of watch collectors.

 

[tlawler]

citizen hyper-aqualand with factory adjustable stainless steel band
diversolo- i send it back to citizen -they will pressure test and certify it
if you ask.

But for how much? The point I'm making is that you don't have to pay their exorbitant fees for service. If it was newer and I had recently paid a handsome sum for it, I would probably be more willing to lay out the extra money as insurance. But for my beat up aqualand, I'm too cheap to keep putting money into it. It is damn near bullet proof and I don't depend solely on it if it were to s**t the bed on me during a dive.