Rolex Submariner
- Thread starter iyakonboats
- Start date
Please register or login
Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.
Benefits of registering include
- Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
- A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
- You can make this box go away
Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
At one time Rolex was one of the very few options for a timing device that was water proof and could handle extreme depths (considered extreme in those days), so it was actually a legitimate and necessary piece of diving equipment. Then the Japanese began making dive watches that were actually affordable and probably kept better time.
Now days using a dive watch is a bit archaic since you still need a depth gauge and a table of some sort. If you want to run a table, great! use a bottom timer that will track your depth and time, or use any wrist computer in gauge mode, or just join the modern world and get a Shearwater.
Rolex is simply a luxury item now and pretty much obsolete as an underwater timing device.
There’s no way I would take something worth that much money into an environment as hostile as the ocean.
Just speaking for me personally, it would be quite financially irresponsible for me to drop that much money on something that’s only good for keeping time.
I don’t need expensive jewelry.
Now days using a dive watch is a bit archaic since you still need a depth gauge and a table of some sort. If you want to run a table, great! use a bottom timer that will track your depth and time, or use any wrist computer in gauge mode, or just join the modern world and get a Shearwater.
Rolex is simply a luxury item now and pretty much obsolete as an underwater timing device.
There’s no way I would take something worth that much money into an environment as hostile as the ocean.
Just speaking for me personally, it would be quite financially irresponsible for me to drop that much money on something that’s only good for keeping time.
I don’t need expensive jewelry.
Ministryofgiraffes
Contributor
It helps if you get boarded by pirates though....
IMO, Rolex dive watches are objects of desire far more than useful tools in modern recreational diving. My Sea Dweller was rarely worn in the water, and never on saturation lockouts that it is designed for. I wore it in the chamber and when I was the bellman, but never when locked out. Long before dive computers, I switched to cheap casio watches in stopwatch mode on Scuba.
Bob DBF
Contributor
I go with the advice of a mentor long ago, "Don't take anything with you that you won't ditch or can't lose, it could cost you your life".
A little melodramatic until you see a diver looking for a dive knife, using air and going into deco, ignoring the dive plan that was made to keep him safe.
Back when there were few watches that could do the job, it may have had its place, today not so much. On the other hand it's cool, and most dives being made now have no dangerous side other than ones own ability.
Bob
A little melodramatic until you see a diver looking for a dive knife, using air and going into deco, ignoring the dive plan that was made to keep him safe.
Back when there were few watches that could do the job, it may have had its place, today not so much. On the other hand it's cool, and most dives being made now have no dangerous side other than ones own ability.
Bob
I notice you didn't say "dive watch." It's certainly a functional watch, and to many watch junkies it's probably worth the money as a functional watch. That is, a watch to be worn topside, while sipping a G&T in the dive resort's bar, not as a dive watch to be worn on a dive. On a dive, all the functionality you need--timing plus a myriad of other functions--is provided by a dive computer. If you're doing the kind of challenging diving that merits a backup timing device, then it probably merits a backup dive computer, not a watch. There's just no real need for having a dive watch on a dive these days.
Be very careful with a used one. I had a stainless steel one that I made the mistake of using in a pool to check out some equipment. Turns out the seal around the stem was bad and it got ruined. I had had it for about 20 years and really miss it. Even a good watch repair shop won`t guarantee it to be waterproof on an older Rolex. I "only" paid $1200 for it when I got it used so I think I got my money`s worth out of it, but damn, was I stupid!
runsongas
Contributor
orient or seiko have reasonably priced iso diver's in the 150 to 200 range. while a rolex sub would certainly work, it is priced for the boardroom not the dive deck.
watches are pretty much jewelry for dudes at this point.
watches are pretty much jewelry for dudes at this point.
I purchased a Tag Aquaracer Black Phantom edition to pat myself on the back for passing certain certifications for my job. Now those certifications allow me the time and money to scuba dive at and abroad so I bought a Shearwater Teric. When I am out of the water one of my Tags are being worn, when I am in the water they sit in my watch winder. Losing my shearwater would suck! Losing something that cost 6 times more would not be taken so lightly.
But a Rolex will maybe be on the short list for my next round of certifications.
But a Rolex will maybe be on the short list for my next round of certifications.
I'm not sure what you mean by "better". I actually have a Rolex Submariner, it was an engagement present, it's the only watch I own, and it means a lot to me because of what it represents.
It's awesome that decades ago, amazingly talented engineers could produce something watch sized that would keep fairly good time, be self winding, and be waterproof to significant depths. So yes, it's a pretty cool artifact, if you are into that. I think that real watch freaks don't consider Rolex to be head and shoulders above the competition, anyway... but they still admire them as "horologically significant"...
Today, for less that a tenth the price of a Rolex you can get a dive watch that keeps more accurate time.
As far as diving with a watch goes, I'm sure that there will be people here who claim to dive with one and carry tables, etc... but I can't imagine many people using a watch instead of a dive computer. Or two dive computers. Or a bottom timer if you want to be a techy purist who does square profiles and won't use a computer.
Seriously, in what scenario would any dive watch be the best option in 2019? Let alone one with early 20th century accuracy that costs as much as a rebreather? What are you getting, in terms of dive functionality, for all that money? Even Halcyon wouldn't charge ten grand for a backplate....
Similar threads
