Function of a watch / Watch recommendation

[WhiteSands]

Can I clarify that the purpose of a watch for tech diving is for counting down deco stop times? Does it have to serve any other purpose?

Will a watch that has a countdown function and an alarm when it hits 0 be useful for this?

Thanks.

 

[Davidccs]

I'm confused, are you trying to clarify to everyone that that us what a watch us used for in tech diving? It looking for suggestions/clarification?

As far as I know most tech divers have invested on dive computers to do their deco calculations. I'm not a tech diver though so, I'm just guessing

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Dr. Lecter]

Can I clarify that the purpose of a watch for tech diving is for counting down deco stop times? Does it have to serve any other purpose?

Will a watch that has a countdown function and an alarm when it hits 0 be useful for this?

Thanks.

Yes.

No.

You're welcome.

 

[WhiteSands]

Sorry for the confusion, I am seeking clarification.

I'm confused, are you trying to clarify to everyone that that us what a watch us used for in tech diving? It looking for suggestions/clarification?

As far as I know most tech divers have invested on dive computers to do their deco calculations. I'm not a tech diver though so, I'm just guessing

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

 

[Kevrumbo]

Yes, a simple depth/bottom timer watch like the old Suunto D3 (discontinued for several years now) as back-up to a primary Bottom Timer or Computer.

A okay bottom timer watch: Citizen Diver Depth Meter Promaster Cyber Aqualand JV0000-01E (but tough to read if you've got "old eyes").

A good watch style dive computer that has a guage mode with resettable depth averaging: SCUBAPRO - Meridian

 

[Dr. Lecter]

An actual dive watch has one core function: mark the start of the dive and runtime therefrom, without failing (or at least without failing in the 'less time than you were actually down there' direction). Hence dive watches having, at least, a unidirectional ratcheting bezel (e.g., this, this, and my favorite, this) or a locking bezel (this). I certainly don't mean to indicate Omega and Rolex are at the top of the dive watch mountain--far from it, marketing aside--but I'm too lazy to go dig up more apt and less well known examples at this hour.

If you want to use it to count down deco stops you determine from that runtime, that's easy enough, though some watches offer an option to count down separately from the main dial. But such functions are, at best, helpful add-ons and, at worst, extraneous failure points in the timepiece. An alarm is certainly out in left field.

 

[WhiteSands]

An actual dive watch has one core function: mark the start of the dive and runtime therefrom, without failing (or at least without failing in the 'less time than you were actually down there' direction). Hence dive watches having, at least, a unidirectional ratcheting bezel (e.g., this, this, and my favorite, this) or a locking bezel (this). I certainly don't mean to indicate Omega and Rolex are at the top of the dive watch mountain--far from it, marketing aside--but I'm too lazy to go dig up more apt and less well known examples at this hour.

If you want to use it to count down deco stops you determine from that runtime, that's easy enough, though some watches offer an option to count down separately from the main dial. But such functions are, at best, helpful add-ons and, at worst, extraneous failure points in the timepiece. An alarm is certainly out in left field.

Thanks for the reply. I'm actually already using an analog watch with a uni-directional bezel to log dive time. When I use this watch to time safety stops, I have to keep an eye on depth on the depth gauge on my right hand, and second hand on my watch on my left hand.

It's happened more than once that I forgot when I started timing. I resorted to using the bezel to record the starting time of the stops, but then I'll lose the starting dive time.

This is the reason I was thinking of getting a cheap Casio or something similar with a stopwatch or countdown function.

 

[Kevrumbo]

There's a difference between a Bottom Timer Dive Watch and a depth rated basic chronograph watch (like the Rolex, Omega, or the cheap Casio) --are you sure you know what you want?

Why not purchase something that will show your depth --obviously very important when holding a particular MOD for a particular deco gas mix-- as well as a running elapsed time with a zero resettable stopwatch/minute:sec counter?

 

[bap]

For tech diving a watch is used to keep you on schedule during tech dives. You typically bring 2 devices capable of keeping time.

A tech diver would not find the "countdown" feature as useful as a rec diver where computers give you a 3 minute countdown for your safety stop. Tech divers have multiple stops for different amounts of time depending on the depth, bottom time, gases used for deco.

A tech diver primarily wants to know the elapsed time - that is what is used to know when to move to the next stop. Each deco stop can be different times and it would get annoying having to reset the "countdown" feature for each stop. I could see using a stopwatch to time the stop but personally I just use elapsed time.

 

[down4fun]

for a lot of people, myself included, when they start tech diving they are using a bottom timer or computer in gauge mode. Then tables are cut for the decompression. The advantage to this over a watch is that the tables tell you at 37 minutes i should be at this depth, at 40 this depth, that time is easily verified by the bottom timer which is giving you a continuous run time. I guess you could do the same form a watch but bottom timer is easier you have depth and run time right there.