29
Jul
I bet you often see the “water resistant 100 meters” marking on your watch and think that it means you can use your watch under water without danger of damaging it. It’s almost 100% true, but some water resistant watches are not suited for activities like scuba diving. If I were you I would be interested to understand what these marking actually mean and how I can protect my watch against accidental damage by ensuring I’m not pushing the limits of technology.
As a definition, a water resistant watch is a marking that tells how well the watch is insulated against water leaks. Markings like “Water resistant 100m” means that particular wrist watch model was tested in water against 100 meters of static pressure. If you forgot physics, static pressure is the pressure of the water column found above the watch. If you’re wearing the watch and move your hands (as you would do) there are other forces involved, forces that can break the watch, that’s why you should take some margins into consideration.
Also make sure that you don’t use the watch submerged in water for longer periods of time, as it will also damage the watch or some of its components like the seals that age faster under water than in thin air. Because there isn’t any official classification of water resistant watches here’s a table taken from Wikipedia that compare current markings with suitability and activities permitted with such models:
| Water resistance rating | Suitability | Remarks |
| Water Resistant or 30 m | Suitable for everyday use. Splash/rain resistant. NOT suitable for swimming, snorkeling, water related work and fishing. | NOT suitable for diving. |
| Water Resistant 50 m | Suitable for swimming, white water rafting, no snorkeling water related work, and fishing. | NOT suitable for diving. |
| Water Resistant 100 m | Suitable for recreational surfing, swimming, snorkeling, sailing and water sports. | NOT suitable for diving. |
| Water Resistant 200 m | Suitable for professional marine activity and serious surface water sports. | NOT suitable for diving. |
| Diver’s 100 m | Minimum ISO standard (ISO 6425) for scuba diving at depths NOT suitable for saturation diving. | Diver’s 100 m and 150 m watches are generally old(er) watches. |
| Diver’s 200 m or 300 m | Suitable for scuba diving at depths NOT suitable for saturation diving. | Typical ratings for contemporary diver’s watches. |
| Diver’s 300+ m for mixed-gas diving | Suitable for saturation diving (helium enriched environment). | Watches designed for mixed-gas diving will have the DIVER’S WATCH L M FOR MIXED-GAS DIVING additional marking to point this out. |
Tip: When servicing a water resistant watch ensure you take it to a specialized repair shop, so that a professional ensures all seals are in place and the wrist watch is again water tight once the case has been opened and internal components exposed to air.
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Tagged with: dive watches • water resistant • what is
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