Water resistance ratings for watches

[TerryC]

While I was doing my DM and Instructor training, I bought a simple but expensive Diver watch. (300m and suitable for scuba diving) This was to give me a seconds counter etc for timed skills. (My computer needs too many button presses)
During my instructor exam, I was being assessed during a safety stop with students and the watch failed. Thankfully, I was not penalised for the longest 3 minute safety stop on record!. however the other students (trainee instructors) thought I was narked!
After this for the same purpose I bought a $40 unbranded Scuba Divers watch, this is still going strong after many years of use.
The expensive watch, well my dive buddy retreived it from the rinse tank where I had thrown it in disgust. It was returned to Sieko who replaced it without charge. I have never taken it into the water since, finally gave it away to a student.

 

[NudeDiver]

Just a piece of advice. If you have an expensive diver's watch, get a personal articles policy for it. That way, if it goes **** up on a dive, you can get it replaced for free - no matter what the warranty situation. PAP policies are dirt cheap too (and do not require you to make a claim on home owner's insurance).

 

[CycloneFever]

Actually I believe the ISO specification only calls for minute indication on the dial. The bezel needs only be marked in five minute increments. Some watches do have minute indication on the bezel (Omega Seamaster, Marathon SAR) although you're correct, the Submariner doesn't. I couldn't name for you a watch that I was sure was ISO compliant (maybe a Doxa). There are plenty that are dove worthy though (I'll go back to the Seamaster, SAR, and Submariner).

Marking on the first 15minutes on many watches (or first 20) does seem a little odd, but stems from the original use of the bezel and is confused by the fact that it is a count up bezel rather than a count down. This comes I think from an old Rolex design. From what I understand, the bezel would be set so that the planned bottom time was set using 60-BT. So if your dive planned 40 minutes of BT, you would set it at 20. When it reached the pip on the bezel, it was time to surface. Without adjusting the bezel, the first fifteen or twenty minutes could then be used to time a safety stop with more precision.

To me, a more useful design would be a count down bezel where you could set your BT directly. I think there are a few designs with 40-45 minutes of count down and 15-20 minutes of count up in minute increments. Again not sure off the top of my head which ones but I'm sure I've seen some.

 

[Tortuga68]

The bezel needs only be marked in five minute increments

You're right; I misread the standard the first time