Why use a watch?

[ToPpS]

Yeah isn't the Oceanic VT3/Aeris T3 a great little dive computer!!!

But the dive computer is not something that you should follow blindly and that's why you should always plan your dive and dive your plan.

Couldn't agree with you more! A dive computer doesn't replace your dive tables and is on substitute for a proper dive plan.

 

[Nemrod]

I don't think Exley was not referring to the real dive watches (Rolex, Omega, Doxa, etc.) but rather the more jewelry like watches that were often only good to 100m.

But he had a good point, when I used to look for a watch that accurate enough to navigate with it was my Casio not any of my Sunday-go-to-meetin' watches.

Sheck was The Man but if he said that then he don't know anything about watches. Pssst, Sheck, Fossil is not a top end watch, neither is Timex or Swatch. I seriously doubt my Seikos, SARs, DOXA or similar are going to "crush" so dear ol'Sheck, rest in piece, you were the best but you never owned a real watch it seems.

N

 

[Nemrod]

Yeah isn't the Oceanic VT3/Aeris T3 a great little dive computer!!!


Couldn't agree with you more! A dive computer doesn't replace your dive tables and is on substitute for a proper dive plan.

Nor is it a substitute for a watch.

N

 

[jason1428]

i think a dive watch is more of a backup instrument and also it is something of an identity thing. you can wear the dive watch after your dive for dinner or something. it is something that will remind you of being a diver and also the people around you. i think more than the practical use of the dive watch, it is this somewhat emotional aspect that makes them desirable.

 

[Stu S.]

The back cover of the latest Golf Magazine has a Rolex dive watch on it. You have to be old enough to remember Mike Nelson to afford a watch like his. It's great that a dive watch represents the "stylish-affluent look".

Some of you guys will remember a usable regulator costing $52 and non-leaking dive watches at $400. That's now reversed. There were always "dive style" watches that looked the part, but could not take the pressure. I messed around with a few of them, and could not make one last. It took Casio to make a leakproof watch that a young man could afford.

My "stylish-affluent look" is from Costco for $49. Four years, no leaks. At that price, why not have one and take it along?

 

[Thalassamania]

In the early 1970s you could get a "sports" watch, good to 100 feet, from Sears for $25, it did not look like a Rolex or Doxa, but it worked well and had a one year guarantee.

 

[Nemrod]

In the early 1970s you could get a "sports" watch, good to 100 feet, from Sears for $25, it did not look like a Rolex or Doxa, but it worked well and had a one year guarantee.

I have one, it is a mechanical wind up watch, a Bulova and looks like a cross between a DOXA and a Rolex. I used it for 20 years, I bought it about 1971, it still works. It went to nearly 240 feet and way past sport limits many times and probably still could.

I realize that in the USA that "Rolex" is considered to be the only watch but outside of that small universe exists a plethora of mechanical and automatic watches that range from 150 dollars automatic Seiko to 2,000 dollars DOXA to 25,000 dollars gold and diamond Rolex. Frankly, no insult to anyone intended, I never cared for the Rolex look and would not purchase one even if I could afford one, well, actually I can but I don't. I find that I have to draw a line somewhere and I cannot justify such a thing for myself.

I find the digital watches hard to read and don't provide info at a glance but that said, I used a Timex Ironman type watch also for years till it got lost somewhere. They work fine for the Digital generation, if you like that sort of thing, cheap and functional.

N

 

[sladerer]

I love this board! A question about why wear a watch becomes a debate on whether a Rolex will implode at 800' as implied by some now dead guy - beautiful (kidding aside, Sheck was the MAN in the cave diving world - RIP).

A dive watch is a necessity if you don't have a dive computer. As has been pointed out, it provides one of the three critical pieces of information needed to safely stay within NDL limits (regardless of which tables you dive). A dedicated bottom timer can also provide this information, but a dive watch set correctly at the beginning of a dive is just as effective and has uses outside of diving. I wear a watch while diving as a backup. If my DC were to die, I can safely ascend to my safety stop and use my watch to time it.

A dive computer is a step up from this and is considered a "must" by many divers and even by some dive shops/operators for multi-day, repetitive diving. After a recent trip to Coz where one new couple chose to dive without even a watch - "we'll just get in last and go up first" - our shop owner/DM vowed that he would not take anyone without a computer again. Maybe a bit of an over-reaction, but you get the idea. DC = the basic info you need to stay within NDL, and is a solid safety investment if you have decided to actively pursue diving. OTOH, if you are going to dive once or twice a year at relatively shallow depths (<60') a DC is overkill IMO.

Whether to get an air integrated (AI) DC is the next choice. I dive an Aeris Elite T3 hoseless wrist mount computer. When I decided to buy, I wanted something that would grow with me as I advanced in diving. It is Nitrox capable, has a gauge mode, supports 3 different tank/gas mixes, plus I liked that it was a wrist mount as I never have to "look" for my gauges ;-)

Hope this helps.

 

[ecox]

As an extra measure of safety. Never needed it, but it's nice to know it's there.

 

[illFisch]

Because dive computers simplify a lot of things for the divers.

And not to forget it's easier to sell one to a newbie if it's seen as an essential piece of diving kit.