Article: Is the Dive Watch Dead?

[agadiver78]

I've always dove a watch, tables and a dive plan. I'm glad I still can.

 

[tep]

For me the dive watch is very much alive. I've never gone without one and I've never had one leak.
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The depth ratings for watches are different than dive computers. My Scubapro Meridian computer is rated for 120 meters but a watch rated for 120 meters should never be used to dive. Common knowledge in the watch industry is it must be rated 200 meters or more to dive with. 100 meters is for swimming only.
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As far as accuracy. Yes any cheap quartz watch will be more accurate than an automatic of any price. But for some of us it's not about ultimate accuracy. It's about style, and class, and the mechanical marvel on your wrist. Some watches can have hundreds of tiny gears, springs, wheels, etc in that little case all smoothly humming away. That's impressive craftsmanship. Three dollars worth of circuits and an LCD screen inside a plastic case isn't exactly craftsmanship. But it is functional.

I've liked dive watches since I was a little kid and my dad and uncles came back from overseas deployments wearing SEIKO dive watches in the 60-70s. Probably the 6125 which was widely sold on bases. Tough, accurate, and affordable then.

There's an ISO standard for dive watches, which I only found out about a few years ago.
Water Resistant mark - Wikipedia

Who knew the one-way bezel is a required international standard, huh.

Agree on the craftsmanship, and more than just a hunk of circuits. Pretty old fashioned for an engineer, I guess. Seiko, Citizen, Hamilton, Orient, Luminox - all have what I would consider affordable, distinctive and practical dive watches. I'll never own a dive watch that costs more than a dive vacation - so no Rolex, etc for me!

Here, have some watch manufacturing pr0n

 

[BoozerWS]

There you go. That's what I'm talking about. I'm not saying that cheap digital watches don't have their place but that Seiko video says it nicely.

 

[BoozerWS]

I can't get the quote thing to work so to answer the 60/60/120 rule. It's a very rough estimate you can use if you forgot your computer or tables. However it only works for the first dive unless your going to have a several hour surface interval putting you back to pressure group A. Basically, subtract your depth from 120 to get your approximate max NDL. I have NOAA and PADI tables and they differ a little. The PADI tables are more conservative. The NOAA table will give you the rule.

 

[BoozerWS]

Exactly. That's why I'm commenting on this thread using my ham radio rig that I built myself in the 1970s.

73 from WB2SQQ..!

How in the world do you comment on the internet using a ham radio? That's cool. I had no idea you could do that.

 

[AfterDark]

My dive watch isn't dead, it works just fine. Battery lasts longer than the one my PDC too.

 

[woodcarver]

Gotta have my Citizen EcoDrive with me. Never have to change the battery and since I can't see the day it shows anyway, I never unscrew the crown. Can see the hands in virtually any light. Wear it to go along with the SPG with depth guage that's still on the reg set. Same purpose as carrying a pony bottle-redundancy. Computer goes, can still continue the dive. The eRDP is in the bag on shore (or in the boat), and the slate has my starting pressure. Pressure groups can be calculated for repetitive dives. Slate doesn't get cleaned until the next day. Yeah, I like the eRDP better than the printed tables. Just hope if I ever have to use it for this, the battery in the eRDP doesn't choose to die right then. I find it quicker to use for dive planning than my D4i. Probably would be a good idea to throw a set of tables in the bag-just in case....

 

[edutravel]

Wow, I'll have to keep a better eye out. The only Rolex's I've seen worn was by a guy who owns a whole string of body shops and another guy who is a big real estate tycoon in Sacramento and owns a yacht that I happen to work on.
But never on a diver. I found divers to be some of the cheapest SOB's I've ever known.

One question, how do I tell if they're real or not?

If it floods, it's not real.

 

[Jamesdclxxv]

New diver here but can I assume that people who use a dive watch as a backup would not switch from a computer to a watch/table/spg mid dive if the computer fails but rather it's a backup only if the computer were to fail before the dive commenced?
Even if you wanted a mid dive backup I don't see how a watch could be any more useful than a cheap gauge mode computer.
I think mechanical watches and analog gauges are really neat but they don't seem all that practical for diving to me.

 

[scrane]

I think mechanical watches and analog gauges are really neat but they don't seem all that practical for diving to me.

I agree with you about the watch, but I think analogue gauges are more reliable than their electronic counterparts and offer vital information.