All You Should Know About Dive Watches

When it comes to function, sophisticated watchmaking, style and absolute ruggedness, all get combined in one timeless piece, i.e., dive watches.

Basically, dive watches are designed for underwater diving that can withstand a minimum 100m seawater pressure. Earlier, in 1970s and 1980s, dive watches were a standard way to track bottom time during scuba diving. At present, dive computers do this job, but divers still wear watches as symbols to set them apart as scuba divers. In addition, Swiss made dive watches have become a style statement, and you don’t need to be a scuba diver to put on dive watches.

History of dive watches

Efforts to make watches that can withstand underwater pressure and can be used to keep track of time undersea started in the 17th century. Since the invention of portable watches, efforts were made to protect the mechanism from dust and moisture as well as keep the lubricants intact. Over time, this technique to seal the watch movement was improved.

As watch and watchmaking constantly evolved, it is hard to tell that when the first fully functional waterproof watch was developed. However, the development of a durable, waterproof watch took off in late 19th century.

Early divers were used to be equipped with hard hats and to keep track of time spent underwater, they simply put an ordinary pocket watch inside their helmet.

With the development of Scuba diving, dive watch making also took off. Through 1960s, there came a rapid development in what can happen in the domain of water resistance watchmaking. However, it wasn’t until 1996 that International Organization for Standardization introduced the features and standards for modern dive watches.

General Features Of A Modern Dive Watch

Depth rated

Most dive watches are water resistant and are provided with a depth rate of a minimum 100 meters or even far deeper that the maximum depth for scuba diving. Sports watches, waterproof for shallower depths are not taken account for scuba diving.

Watch case

In addition to their water-resistant property, dive watches cases must be corrosion resistant to seawater. Therefore, they are generally made of titanium, ceramics, stainless steel and plastics.

The case is built stronger and much durable than a simple dress watch. Due to this reason, dive watches are comparatively large and heavy to other watches.

The crystal

Though the same range of different materials for crystal for dive watches is used, it is relatively thick to withstand the underwater pressure.

Crystals are often used to provide additional strength and reduced reflectiveness so that it is easier to be read.

Screw down crown

A screw down crown is the most common methods for waterproof the winding and adjustment mechanism. With this feature, the crown screws into the case making the interior of the watch sealed preventing the accidental adjustments. Before the watch is put on or time is adjusted, the crown is unscrewed and pulled out to adjust.

A good understanding of the features of dive watches will help you decide that what you should expect and look for before buying one.

Mark Taylor is a Digital Marketer & Blogger. He likes to share interested posts related to health,amazing shopping products, technology, career etc..