Sea-Dweller and it's depth rating...

2447 Views 12 Replies 10 Participants Last post by Mike295855, Apr 5, 2008

Sea-Dweller

Discussion Starter · Apr 4, 2008

I'm going to throw out a couple questions. As I said in a previous post, I'm definitely not the physics guy...so maybe you folks can help me out with this. First of all, before I get to my MAIN question, just as a sidebar, if you have a watch, for example, the Sea-Dweller, which says it's good to 4,000 feet, does it literally mean 4,000 feet beneath the surface? Or is that 4,000 feet of pressure? Or is it the same thing?? I guess what I'm trying to ask is, lets say you're underwater 20 feet below the surface, and you're stationary. Then you start swimming. Once you start, does your motion, because of the resistance of the water, thereby exert MORE pressure on the watch, even though you're still at the same depth of 20 feet? You folks see what I'm getting at? Just kinda wondered exactly how that worked. As far as the main question thought...I was curious...why do we need the new Deep Sea to be rated at almost 13,000 feet? And I ask because, and maybe I'm wrong here, someone please correct me if necessary, but since no one will ever be going down that deep unless you're in a pressurized submersible, then technically, it wouldn't matter what the depth rating is, because the submersible is pressurized, isn't that true? That would mean that, in a pressurized submersible, at 10,000 feet below, a day date is as good as a GMT-Master is as good as a Deep Sea. Or is there something that I am seriously overlooking here?? I'm not here to do any bashing, you folks know that I do love my rolexes, and I appreciate the impressive statistics of the new Deep Sea...I'm just trying to figure out some physics here...any one have any thoughts on this????

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Scott D

· #2 · Apr 4, 2008

So that's definitely not an easy answer, and why I despise the way most manufactures rate the water resistancy of their watches. They say it's water resistant to 100m, but then say you shouldn't scuba dive with it, only submerge the watch (like swimming). IMO they should all rate the watch for the rating a normal person will exert on the watch at that depth. Like you said, someone thrashing about at 50' puts more pressure on a watch than if it was attached to a fishing pole & just 'dropped' to that depth with no movement, which is how most manufactures rate the watch. It's ridiculous because I don't know of 1 person who doesn't move their arms once they're in the water. Granted it's not an exact number, but they can certainly come up with a better, more accurate rating. However, were they to do that their 'resistancy' on the dial would be less & the watch would be perceived as less of a diver. So, they've developed a model that shows the maximum number for marketing, when in fact it's not accurate.

Now, that all said, the Rolex manual states the watch is waterproof to the depth rated on the watch. And each Rolex is tested in 2 separate tests (one dry & one wet) to 90% of it's rated depth rating. So I'd have no problem taking a 300m Rolex to 250 m (not that I'd ever go that deep) where I certainly wouldn't do that with many of my others.

Regarding the why 12,00 ft. rating is needed for the DS, I can't answer that one...

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Scott D

· #4 · Apr 4, 2008

I could be wrong, but aren't there divers that work in pressure suits (I don't know what they're called - but the space suit for deep water) at great depths? Either oil rigs, scientific, whatever? They're not 'exposed' like a 'regular' diver would be but they're not in a submersible either. I'd imagine they wear the watch on the outside of their suit, so the depth rating would be a necessity for people in this line of work.

granted, it's still a fraction of a percent of the customers who'll use it that way, but it is a tool watch designed for those type environments. We 'regular joes' just like the professional tools (just look at most of our tools in our garage & I'll bet you see a bunch of overkill there too :biggrin: :thumbup1: ).. This is the Tim Taylor Binford Dive Watch.. Why do you need 12,000+ ft?? JUST BECAUSE!! :biggrin: :biggrin: :biggrin: :thumbup1:

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