Diving watches

[Doctorfish]

I own a Rolex Submariner and a Seiko SKX007.

Guess which watch regularly goes underwater with me.
I once wore the Rolex for a dive by mistake and I spent the entire time worrying whether it was going to flood and cost me thousands to repair. Ruined the whole damned dive. If the Seiko floods it can be replaced for $300 vs $10,000 for the Rolex.

To dive a Rolex safely it should to be serviced regularly so the o-rings in the stem don't dry out. Expensive proposition.

In retrospect, the Rolex was a dumb vanity purchase many years ago. Incidentally, the Seiko keeps better time.

 

[scubadada]

I bought 2 of these Citizen watches with depth gauge/max depth 20 some years ago for my son and me. We quit diving with them when we switched over to dive computers in 2002. They both continue to work perfectly, wear mine every once in a while. It is on the big and heavy side

 

[M-Cameron]

Hi
Casio MDV is really unbeatable in term of price and quality.
For my local single tank and oxy rebreather dives:

View attachment 637642

oooh i really like that setup.....im thinking i may need to copy that!

 

[lexvil]

Most watches disposed of, Apple Watch does what I need, Teric for travel but still a few of the old beaters around, never worn.

 

[Dody]

Thank you all for your comments. Please bear with me and let me summarize what I have understood. A Rolex Submariner is not a must as a dive watch. Not really useless as it can be used to time the dive (like any dive watch) in addition to the dive computer but spending that much money is not worth it when it comes to diving. If that’s about about the « look » it is different.
However, as I stated in my OP, I am a watch collector and I do take the look into consideration. If one wears nice watch on a daily basis, why would he/ she pay x thousands or x hundreds instead of x dozens?
I think this is just a personal choice.
But there is one thing where I disagree with some of the comments. With a Rolex Submariner, unless you don’t know what you got, you don’t have to worry about flooding, shocks or scratches. And the maintenance is not annual but every 5 to 10 years.
Summary: do you need it to dive? NO.
You have the money and you like the style. Why not?

 

[tridacna]

But there is one thing where I disagree with some of the comments. With a Rolex Submariner, unless you don’t know what you got, you don’t have to worry about flooding, shocks or scratches. And the maintenance is not annual but every 5 to 10 years.
Summary: do you need it to dive? NO.
You have the money and you like the style. Why not?

Try diving the Submariner with the crown just a little loose. I have three Rolexes. (Submariner, Yachtmaster and Daytona). None go underwater with me. Ever. May as well drop a few Kruger Rands in your weight pockets as ballast and hope they don't fall out. Buy one if you want but leave diving out of the reckoning. I doubt that too many people take their watches in for "maintenance either. It's obscenely expensive.

 

[Doc]

Thank you all for your comments. Please bear with me and let me summarize what I have understood.

You have the money and you like the style. Why not?

if you own the car in your avatar, you likely are immune to advice.

buy any watch you want, have fun...but, you already had decided that.

 

[lowwall]

But there is one thing where I disagree with some of the comments. With a Rolex Submariner, unless you don’t know what you got, you don’t have to worry about flooding, shocks or scratches. And the maintenance is not annual but every 5 to 10 years.

Rolex recommends an annual pressure test if you use the watch for diving. If it fails, you'll need new gaskets at minimum.

 

[Erich S]

I have a Seiko mini tuna PADI solar. A great all around watch!

 

[M-Cameron]

Try diving the Submariner with the crown just a little loose. I have three Rolexes. (Submariner, Yachtmaster and Daytona). None go underwater with me. Ever. May as well drop a few Kruger Rands in your weight pockets as ballast and hope they don't fall out. Buy one if you want but leave diving out of the reckoning. I doubt that too many people take their watches in for "maintenance either. It's obscenely expensive.

...eh, not really...

service is around $800-1000....and you really only need it serviced every 10yrs....thats $80 a yr to protect a $8,000-15,000+ investment.