Watches for scuba diving

[SaliMali]

Me and the wife are starting scuba diving tomorrow. Rather than wear our nice watches I bought a couple of G-Shocks from Amazon but am a bit confused by the user's guide.

My Mudman is water resistant to 200m and the guide says it is ok for scuba diving until helium-oxygen is needed.

The wife's Baby-G 3000 8-ER says it's water resistant to 20 bar yet the guide says it's not suitable for scuba diving.

As I understand it 20 bar is 200m so surely both should be suitable for scuba diving. I realise that static pressure differs from dynamic pressure but we will only be going down around 12m so surely there shouldn't be a problem.

I rang Casio who seemed to agree but said they would look into it and get back to me.....they haven't yet.

Has anyone worn their G-Shocks whilst scuba diving?

Cheers.

[ahockley]

Why wear a watch at all? Your dive computer / depth gauge will tell you all you need to know. You'll have enough to worry about without needing to keep checking whether your watch has imploded!

[okgo]

A G-shock will be fine. My housemate uses his when he goes diving. Dread the thought of using his Rolex Sub for what it was designed for. Turd.

[ShadownINja]

okgo said:

A G-shock will be fine. My housemate uses his when he goes diving. Dread the thought of using his Rolex Sub for what it was designed for. Turd.

Harsh.












But fair.

[SaliMali]

Thanks for the replies. As I won't be wearing my Seamaster for the purpose for which it was designed I guess that makes me a turd as well

The topic was posted before I'd read my PADI open water pack so I didn't know about dive computers etc.

[pork911]

It relates to differing testing standards.

A cursory glances at wiki gives the following (usual disclaimer about reliance on wiki applies)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_6425

Edited by pork911 on Monday 23 February 14:16

Edited by pork911 on Monday 23 February 14:17

[DBRacingGod]

Yup - I've taken my G-Shock diving and it's fine, up to and including 30m.
I only used it for redundancy as mostly my Suunto Spyder keeps things bubble up and rubber down (to use a biking metaphor).
Used...because now I've got my Sub. And I do use mine.

[deejuic]

ahockley said:

Why wear a watch at all? Your dive computer / depth gauge will tell you all you need to know. You'll have enough to worry about without needing to keep checking whether your watch has imploded!

Not everyone uses a computer. Also, having a watch as a backup doesn't hurt.

[blackburnbmw]

Excuse my ignorance but why would you not wear a Sub, say, or sea dwelller (or something of that ilk) for diving? I thought they were built for getting wet.

[okgo]

blackburnbmw said:

Excuse my ignorance but why would you not wear a Sub, say, or sea dwelller (or something of that ilk) for diving? I thought they were built for getting wet.

Because they don't actually do half of what a cheap digital diving watch can.

[ShadownINja]

Really? One guy on TZ-UK claims to take his Rolex scuba diving... (he might be telling porkies but we have to assume otherwise).

[blackburnbmw]

okgo said:

blackburnbmw said:

Excuse my ignorance but why would you not wear a Sub, say, or sea dwelller (or something of that ilk) for diving? I thought they were built for getting wet.

Because they don't actually do half of what a cheap digital diving watch can.

I understand that a Sub "only" tells the time, may tell you the date and has a bezel that can be used as a basic timer, but surely it is built to cope with at least a few metres of depth / water pressure? I don't SCUBA dive, but I do swim and wouldn't consider not wearing any of my Seiko's in a pool or in the sea.

[okgo]

How many divers are there that go below 100m?

I genuinely don't know, but I would bet not many.

My Planet Ocean can apparently go down to 600m! Mental!

[taffyracer]

but a dive watch won't tell you your depth, allowing you to plan and stick to your dive plan which is essential for safety so.....

[blackburnbmw]

taffyracer said:

but a dive watch won't tell you your depth, allowing you to plan and stick to your dive plan which is essential for safety so.....

...there's no reason not to wear your Sub to tell the time underwater? One could use another instrument for the more specific diving functions required, such as depth?

[pork911]

Its a good idea to carry a watch which together with your depth gauge can be used as a back up for your separate diving computer (assuming you have planned your dive!).

As to using a sub - of course its personal preference. For recreational diving its a bit over the top and you may or may not wish to take the risk of losing it.

The 'rolex sweep' doesn't mean much underwater.

Recall reading a book on a over 300m dive where most of the diver's instruments failed and a rolex was lost (or so he told his sponsors!).

[Lost soul]

okgo said:

My housemate uses his when he goes diving. Dread the thought of using his Rolex Sub for what it was designed for. Turd.

I have used my Sub down to 40 mts with not problem , but the seal did break in the shower one time

I have a Citizen dive watch for data logging which i use some times

[okgo]

I would have no hesitation of taking my Omega down to the depths if it was called for.

Although I would make sure it was on a bracelet, don't trust straps!

[Mr Noble]

blackburnbmw said:

taffyracer said:

but a dive watch won't tell you your depth, allowing you to plan and stick to your dive plan which is essential for safety so.....

...there's no reason not to wear your Sub to tell the time underwater? One could use another instrument for the more specific diving functions required, such as depth?

I ALWAYS wear a watch (its been a Sub date for the last 10 years) AND a dive computer. Set the bezel to record the elapsed dive time on the Sub and then use the computer. Should the comp. go capput or start to read irraticaly (its happened!) you still know how long you've been down for and can work a rough ascent time and deco stop length accordinly.

$0.02c

Oh, and it may have been said above, but for me the Submariner is THE dive watch Legend has it that the inventor of "scuba" himself, Monsieur Cousteau wore a Sub.

[sjg]

I use a cheapo Timex digital watch (the cheapest I could find at the time rated to 200m!) as a backup and it's been fine to 38m or so. Clipped to my BC usually though as the strap won't reach around a drysuit wrist!

If you're starting out and renting kit it's unlikely you'll have a dive computer so you'll be relying on tables and a knowledge of how long you're down for - so a watch or timer of some sort is essential.

I'd say a dive computer is one of the best early bits of kit to get though, after your own mask and fins - not many places rent them out wheras everything else is easy to get. Don't spend a fortune on a waterproof watch when you can get a Suunto Gekko or similar for about £150.