below_sea_level
Guest
I have a normal Fossil blue watch that says it is good for up to 90 meters. Have any of you guys actually had the same watch at that depth before or any similar watch that is not designed to dive.:wacko:
Fossil Watch
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Uhm, dude... 90m (300 feet) is about twice the recreational dive limit (RDL is 130ft) imposed by most of the certifying agencies. Typically anyone trained to go below this limit (like tech divers, etc.) use the equipment that was designed for this purpose. I would be surprised if anyone had this specific watch down past 90ft except perhaps by accident...
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below_sea_level
Guest
Yea, I know that that is like 300ft but I didn't know it that was bs on the watch because that seems really deep for a regular watch.
Well, my ESQ watch is good to 100 metres, or so it says. n.b.: it is my dress/casual watch, not sport watch!
I don't think it's unreasonable -- the only places water can get in are between the back and the casing and around the adjustment knob.
Worst case, take it to the RDL of 130 ft and see if it still works (and has no water inside) when you come back up!
Generally a watch rated to 50m is good for diving, but not covered for diving by the warranty. This is because while it is rated at 50m pressure, it is static pressure. While diving, you are moving and bumping into things. That does make a difference (in theory). I usually buy watches rated at 50m because, frankly, they are much cheaper and they work well. I've never had one fail while diving and if one does, I'll buy another $20 watch. At one time, watches rated at 50m were recommended for free diving, but not for SCUBA, while watches rated at 100m were recommended for SCUBA. I've noticed recently that 100m watches are no longer rated for SCUBA.
Use it if you'd like, it'll probably be OK, but you'll be voiding the warranty.
Use it if you'd like, it'll probably be OK, but you'll be voiding the warranty.
PurduEE
Guest
For this reason, I have sometimes heard people quote a 1/3 rule for water resistance of watches. That is, if the watch is rated for 100m, it's probably realistic to assume that you can take it to 33m without fear of flooding it...
I've had a Fossil watch that I bought as a backup for $12 USD at their company store and have had it on at least 50 dives. I have a St Moritz which is rated to 100 meters that I've had to 117 feet and on at least 200 dives. I have never had a problem out of either one.
jplacson
Guest
Well, it's not that hard to waterproof a watch... that's why so many watches are rated to 50, 100, even 200M.
Casio G-shocks are some of the toughest you can get at a great price... they even functionas bottom timers!
Most watches are milled out of a solid block of steel or aluminum.. seriously... how deep to you have to go to crush something that's almost a solid block of metal?
Same goes for the ABS plastic watches... most of them are molded (or moulded) solid blocks of ABS. You can't crush that. Even if you wanted to!!!
Considering that water pressure is evenly distributed over the entire object, it won't be too much strain on the watch body.
Casio G-shocks are some of the toughest you can get at a great price... they even functionas bottom timers!
Most watches are milled out of a solid block of steel or aluminum.. seriously... how deep to you have to go to crush something that's almost a solid block of metal?
Same goes for the ABS plastic watches... most of them are molded (or moulded) solid blocks of ABS. You can't crush that. Even if you wanted to!!!
Considering that water pressure is evenly distributed over the entire object, it won't be too much strain on the watch body.
SADivemaster
Registered
I also have a Fossil Blue Titanium watch which is my backup whenever I dive deep, and it has yet to give me trouble. I am not yet a fully fledged "techi" but, the watch has survived a 65m dive.
Depth rating on watches are not what they seem.
I heard that it only needs to stay leak free for some short time, maybe 30 seconds or so at that depth to be rated that depth.
This, along with the difference between static/dynamic pressure, my impression is a watch has to be at least 100 or 10atm water resistant to be considered safe for use in diving.
And as a comment to jplacson's post, it's not the 'crush depth' that we are worried about, but whether water will seep in past the seals, usually around the crown or the back lid.
By the way, Tag Heuer makes a watch that is water resistant to 100atm, or ~1000 meters!! :wacko:
I heard that it only needs to stay leak free for some short time, maybe 30 seconds or so at that depth to be rated that depth.
This, along with the difference between static/dynamic pressure, my impression is a watch has to be at least 100 or 10atm water resistant to be considered safe for use in diving.
And as a comment to jplacson's post, it's not the 'crush depth' that we are worried about, but whether water will seep in past the seals, usually around the crown or the back lid.
By the way, Tag Heuer makes a watch that is water resistant to 100atm, or ~1000 meters!! :wacko:
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