Dive Watch Failure?

[rx7diver]

All,

*** NOTE: This thread pertains to dive watches (NOT to bottom timers and PDC's). ***

A recent SB post (Post #53 in the thread Diving without computers) prompted this.

I did a quick search just now (using both Google and the SB search feature) and was unable to turn up an incidence of a dive watch failure.

So, have you ever had a dive watch fail during a dive? If so, please describe the type of watch (mechanical, quartz, etc.) and its age, the type of failure, and the dive you were on when the dive watch failed.

Thanks in advance for any detail you can supply.

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

 

[Doc]

I've seen bunches of them "fail", if you mean flood, yes.

Never caused much kerfuffle as the watch was always being worn, just because...not as a bottom timer. We divers like bright shiny objects. If they have serial numbers, so much the better.

The thing I focus on is "the why". None of them were "new", all had been through a battery replacement, obviously done incorrectly without proper attention to o-ring inspection, replacement and lubrication. More than a few o-ring failures were caused by gorilla torque applied to the case wrench. Some even had rings that bulged out and not noticed.

Chose your watch technician with care, make sure it gets pressure tested. Skip the kiosk at MallWart. This is not a Doctorate level skill set, anyone can learn to do it, but you will need a variety of o-rings (on line) and a case wrench (which are sold at Harbor Freight). If you want to go semi-pro, get the 30 pack of each of the common sizes of watch band pins.

On automatic watches (no battery), the only ones I've seen fail are those which were two or more years past annual service. Amazing, you go out and buy a Rolex or Ball and are too cheap for an annual service.

 

[packrat12]

I had a G-Shock Digital fail while diving. 60 - 80' ish. Came up and the piezoelectric speaker was just screaming. Watch died minutes after that. This was before PDC so it worked until I left the bottom. Rated for 330' I believe. I think I had another one go like this also but cannot remember.

I had a Tag Heuer analog watch drown after a dive. again 60 - 80' ish. It still worked but the crystal fogged up. Needed repair. Rated 330'

I recently had a dive shop owner's watch flood full of water. No idea if it worked or not while down. Did not work when I saw it as it was literally full of water. Rated 330'.

I doubt you will get a whole lot more incidents now. Before PDCs, we depended on our watch for BT and SI. I carried 2 of them myself. Everyone had watches while diving back then. My most reliable, with 100s of dives was a $5.00 watch bought at a drugstore. It was not rated for water resistance at all. Finally drowned but I do not count this one and it really was worth the money! With PDCs, watches generally are for fashion and not much more. I have not dove with one in a few years and even then it was to hold out until I got a BT. In BT mode, a PDC will automatically time BT and SI while a watch had to be set. We often would forget until well into the dive. Or we would forget to time the SI and take guesses. So why use a watch today rather than a dedicated BT in this case?

 

[rx7diver]

packrat12,

My first dive watch was a Casio G-Shock, a gift in 1987 for my open water practicum. It *never* suffered a failure--even when I moved from Missouri diving to Michigan diving. Made some really deep and cold dives with it, too. It was replaced c. 1994 with a Uwatec digital bottom timer and a Cochran Nemesis NItrox PDC when I was tech diving (extended range diving) in the Great Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron. Both the Uwatec and the Cochran still work, BTW (although Cochran ceased supporting this PDC a long time ago), and the Casio probably still works, too, but it got packed away in some long-unopened box years ago during a relocation.

A couple of years ago when I was returning fully to "classic" diving, I began a search for a "serious" dive watch--you know, something mechanical with a tried-and-proven movement and a sapphire crystal and built like a tank, more "tool-like" than "jewelry-like." I found a lot of helpful info here on SB. I have owned my watch for several years now, without issue. It hasn't been severely tested, though. Never in salt water, never really deep, never in very cold water. I am hoping this will be my last dive watch purchase ever--unless something in this thread causes me to reconsider this.

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

 

[boulderjohn]

I was certified to dive almost 20 years ago. My first trip after certification was to Cozumel. I rented my gear and wore a dive watch. As the law requires, the dive was led by a DM, and as a new diver, I followed like a puppy. When we got back on the boat, I pulled out my tables and prepared to log the dive. That mutli-level dive was off the charts, and I did not know what to do. The other divers, all of whom were using computers, watched in amusement. One of them pointed to my tables and said, "It makes a pretty good Frisbee." I took my AOW on that trip, and the instructor made me use a computer for the class. As soon as I got home, I bought one for myself.

Now, I can't say that I have been watching every other diver like a hawk over the succeeding two decades, but that dive on which I tried to use tables was the one and only time I have ever seen any recreational diver attempt to use the tables.

So why don't you hear about lots of people having their dives ruined by watch failures? Maybe for the same reason you don't hear about people having carburetor problems in their cars any more--pretty much nobody is using them, so such an event would be rare. The fact that you don't hear about carburetor problems any more does not make them superior to fuel injectors.

 

[rhwestfall]

25 years - Seiko (combo digital/analog) with buttons worked fine until stolen, Telux (battery powered mechanical) worked fine until mechanical guts quit (non-diving related), Citizen EcoDrive has been fine for 5 or 6 years now...

No dive failures.......

 

[rx7diver]

I was certified to dive almost 20 years ago. My first trip after certification was to Cozumel. I rented my gear and wore a dive watch. As the law requires, the dive was led by a DM, and as a new diver, I followed like a puppy. When we got back on the boat, I pulled out my tables and prepared to log the dive. That mutli-level dive was off the charts, and I did not know what to do. The other divers, all of whom were using computers, watched in amusement...

Now, I can't say that I have been watching every other diver like a hawk over the succeeding two decades, but that dive on which I tried to use tables was the one and only time I have ever seen any recreational diver attempt to use the tables.

Yes, I wrote a few years ago about a similar humorous situation I and my then GF had long ago (1992?) during our first dive trip to Gand Cayman Island: Reasonable to limit bottom time to 45 min?.

Still, in this particular thread I hope to learn details behind a dive watch failing during a dive.

Someone in the other thread mentioned a bezel falling off! Yes, this could be a problem if a diver relied on the bezel to time his/her dive without noting the actual time the dive commenced (and had no other way of knowing, or approximating, elapsed time).

Safe Diving,

rx7diver

 

[TMHeimer]

11 years never a failure. First one flooded at 70' because a string from my catch bag wrapped around the knob and opened it...chances of that.... 2nd one fell out the car door somewhere in Delaware. Third/present one was bought July, 2011.

 

[hammet]

I've seen bunches of them "fail", if you mean flood, yes.

Never caused much kerfuffle as the watch was always being worn, just because...not as a bottom timer. We divers like bright shiny objects. If they have serial numbers, so much the better.

The thing I focus on is "the why". None of them were "new", all had been through a battery replacement, obviously done incorrectly without proper attention to o-ring inspection, replacement and lubrication. More than a few o-ring failures were caused by gorilla torque applied to the case wrench. Some even had rings that bulged out and not noticed.

Chose your watch technician with care, make sure it gets pressure tested. Skip the kiosk at MallWart. This is not a Doctorate level skill set, anyone can learn to do it, but you will need a variety of o-rings (on line) and a case wrench (which are sold at Harbor Freight). If you want to go semi-pro, get the 30 pack of each of the common sizes of watch band pins.

On automatic watches (no battery), the only ones I've seen fail are those which were two or more years past annual service. Amazing, you go out and buy a Rolex or Ball and are too cheap for an annual service.

Rolex factory services are recommended every 5 years but the cost often starts at about $600 or more. The will also find things that need replacing that can often add hundreds more. That being said, I used to wear my rolex sub all the time diving when I had my computer on my console. Since I switched to a watch style computer, I don't wear the rolex anymore.

 

[cerich]

I have seen hundreds of "dive" watches flood on customers when I lived in Cayman for 5 years as a instructor. The vast majority were those rated 100m (330 ft) that just flooded and the majority of 200m watches that flooded were with the crown not screwed down, followed by "recent battery change".

200m is the bare min i would recommend as the depth rating for a dive watch, and for expensive ones, get serviced properly with a pressure check. i have a fondness for swiss watches and dive them..but always check the crown is tight and they get pressure tested after service.