Why use a watch?

[rquasar]

There are some people that enjoy having watches. I dive so why not own a dive watch also.
mine is a citizen eco drive. & it does just about everything except algorithms.
Citizen 20th Anniversary Aqualand Eco-Drive Offset Dive Watch
# 180-Day Power Reserve, 200-Meter Water-Resistant
# Current Depth Display in Digital
# Depth Display to 300 Feet
# Measures Depth and Time of Dive
# Measures Maximum Depth and Duration of Dive
# Dive Log Memory for up to 20 Dives
# Auto-Start Dive Mode
# Water Temperature Display & Memory (Curr & Lowest)
# Measures Surface Interval
# Calendar, 3 Alarms
# Travel Time (42 Cities and UTC, 29 time zones)
# 12/24 Hour Time
# 2 Time Zones
# Electro Luminescence Backlighting
# Battery Charge Level Indicator

 

[Thalassamania]

"Various kinds of regulators had proven inadequate during the previous dives until I was left with only one type of regulator that I could hope would deliver the vast volumes of gas required at 800 feet: the Poseidon Odin. Likewise, only one backup light had resisted implosion below 400 feet - the Pelican light. The nearly 400 pounds per square inch of pressure that I would experience on the dive would literally crush the fancy, expensive diver's watches that the jet set liked to show off at plush dive resorts. My three $29.95 Casio watches would be OK." Sheck Exley, Caverns Measureless to Man.

 

[tomboyy]

Everyone knows that a watch is only really useful as a disguise ... its real use is as a transmitter / receiver to contact the mother ship.

 

[fnfalman]

"The nearly 400 pounds per square inch of pressure that I would experience on the dive would literally crush the fancy, expensive diver's watches that the jet set liked to show off at plush dive resorts. My three $29.95 Casio watches would be OK." Sheck Exley, Caverns Measureless to Man.

I guess the COMEX people didn't know what they were doing when they issued their divers Rolexes.

 

[Thalassamania]

I don't think Exley was not referring to the real dive watches (Rolex, Omega, Doxa, etc.) but rather the more jewelry like watches that were often only good to 100m.

But he had a good point, when I used to look for a watch that accurate enough to navigate with it was my Casio not any of my Sunday-go-to-meetin' watches.

 

[ToPpS]

I'm relatively new to diving.
I completed my diving courses on the island of Koh Tao, Thailand with Crystal Dive Resort.

We trained with SPGs and everything that the "old school" guys out there use. But during a course you tend to just follow the instructor so you rarely have to think too hard about depth and time under water and they're always checking your air. Plus when we did our "deep dive" down to 30meters, my pressure gauge told me i was at 42meters.... the instructors DC told us we were at 29meters.... strange.

I did notice that every single dive master or instructor that I have dived with owns and uses a dive computer..... Surely there must be something to that??

I did a lot of research on-line (as you do), and bought the Oceanic VT3 with the wireless transmitter option. The reason i chose the VT3 was because i covered most if not all of my requirements that i wanted in a dive computer.
Granted dive computers are a bit more than you'd expect to pay for an SPG but I justified it with the notion that one day i'd end up getting one anyway, so i might as well buy it now and save the money in the long run....

After my first dive with the VT3, I was was very impressed with it.

The amount of information that is available to my right on your wrist is amazing. With the Air integration, you can actually see your air consumption and monitor it in real time which helps with your breathing. Doing your safety stops is "easy as pie". But the really nice thing is that you can set all your safety tolerances, for example: I've set it so that I want 40bar left at the end of the dive. The VT3 takes that and calculates the amount of air in my tank, the rate of my breathing and the time taken for safety stops. So when i reach the surface i have 40bar left in my tank.

Plus I absolutely hated trying to look down and try read a normal gauge when it's tucked into your BCD. And it's great the way you can go home, log and view the profile of your dive on the computer.

For me i love having an AI dive computer and having everything on my wrist. For some it raises safety concerns and everything. So what I've done is add an "Apeks Pony" pressure gauge to my first stage so that if the transmitter goes down i can still (or should i say my dive buddy) check my air pressure.

 

[fnfalman]

I did notice that every single dive master or instructor that I have dived with owns and uses a dive computer..... Surely there must be something to that??

Because dive computers simplify a lot of things for the divers.

I did a lot of research on-line (as you do), and bought the Oceanic VT3 with the wireless transmitter option. The reason i chose the VT3 was because i covered most if not all of my requirements that i wanted in a dive computer.

I have the Aeris Elite T3 which is the same thing but different brand (think of Chevrolet and Pontiac). Good computer, easy to use, and with all pertinent information displayed right in front of you.

For me i love having an AI dive computer and having everything on my wrist. For some it raises safety concerns and everything. So what I've done is add an "Apeks Pony" pressure gauge to my first stage so that if the transmitter goes down i can still (or should i say my dive buddy) check my air pressure.

Every piece of equipment has a chance for failure. Don't let anybody else tells you otherwise. Even the hard core "tech" divers use dive computers otherwise there wouldn't be a market for Liquidvision, Shearwater, Nitek X and a host of other tech oriented dive computers.

But the dive computer is not something that you should follow blindly and that's why you should always plan your dive and dive your plan. As a recreational diver, you tend to change your depth often because something may catch your eyes. The dive computer calculates all of these changes in your profiles and helps maximize your bottom time. You should always know what your max depth and max bottom time are. Usually the boat captain would announce what their anchor depth is and you can use that for your max depth. Look at your dive table before you go into the water and see what's your max bottom time is before you go into decompression dive.

 

[DiverBAS]

I use my watch to meet ladies.

You must be a Naval Aviator.

 

[fnfalman]

You must be a Naval Aviator.

Also need Ray-Bans, Kawasaki GPZ900 Ninja and Dress White.

 

[din7]

Also need Ray-Bans, Kawasaki GPZ900 Ninja and Dress White.