New Thread, Old Subject - The Best Dive Watch (for me)

[Mastow1]

The Casio Duro MDV 106, 12-hour analog watch with a movable bezel (marked like the Rolex Submariner) is the best divers’ watch for me.

I enjoy the countdown feature of the bezel on this watch. To use, I turn the bezel so the minute hand points to the beginning of the number of minutes before the zero/event. The bezel is marked every five minutes to facilitate. After setting, and without memory or math, a glance indicates the minutes remaining till, or after the event. I use this feature to time minutes till the boat leaves or arrives at the dive site, the laundry is done, happy hour is over, or planned bottom time ends.

To use the elapsed time feature of the bezel watch, I turn the bezel until the minute hand is pointing at zero. Afterwards the minute hand will point to the markings on the bezel indicating the elapsed time. I use this feature to time shrimp on the barbie, time on the telephone, and surface interval. I use it to time deep-water safety stops because my computers don’t. Some divers use this feature for navigation.

Most importantly the Casio Duro MDV 106 is a fine travel watch for dive trips. I don’t need to take it off to put on my wetsuit. It is remarkably inexpensive for its capabilities so if damaged, lost, or stolen, it is inconsequential.

Digital watches are relatively slow to set or switch between modes, difficult to operate with gloves, harder to read in limited visibility, lack passive illumination, and seldom display the current time when in stopwatch or countdown mode. The luminous markings on the Casio MDV 106 make it easy to read in the dark, but the diver must occasionally flash, light on them when they become faint. It is pressure rated to 666 feet, boasts a screw-down crown, costs around 60 bucks, and is the best diver’s watch for me and possibly for you.

May all your dives have the surfaces you plan.

 

[Jcp2]

I find the bezel of this watch to be inconsistently tight between individual examples. I have to really wrench on mine to get it to turn, while the one on my Seiko prospex is much easier to use. But then, one is a fifth of the cost of the other. I use a Casio g shock for my safety stop timer.

 

[Mastow1]

I also used a Casio G shock for safety stops but as I outline in my original post, it is difficult to reset the timer with gloves and is awkward at best to reset from a countdown timer, to a deep-water safety stop timer, and reset the stopwatch for the next safety stop. A bezel watch is relatively simpler, faster, and requires less brainpower to switch functions, but lacks stopwatch precision.
I have an expensive diver’s watch and must clean the inner workings of the bezel, by turning it while submerged in a dish of hot soapy, to ensure it remains free turning. Your point is well taken and divers should ensure the bezel moves freely when they purchase it and keep it that way.
As an old moss-back diver, my G-shock watch is hard for me to read on a night dive. With both watches having strong points and relatively the same cost, which one, and why, would you recommend to divers?

Don’t touch the coral, Mike

 

[Mastow1]

I agree that the bezel of this watch tends to become hard to turn when dirty. When it does, I twist the bezel with soap to clean it when I shower (as stated earlier). When it is dry, I oil where the bezel meets the case, turn the bezel to distribute the oil and wipe off all oil from the exterior of the watch. After this it turns like new.