What time is it? Watches and horology

I've done 30m which with a few of mine. 40m is usually the maximum for recreational diving before you get into technical diving. I know people who have gone down to 75-100m but really unless you are wreck diving there's no that much to see at those depths as all of the "pretty" marine life is 40m and above.

There are people that do deeper dives for oil rig / pipeline work and maintenance but that is hugely specialist and hugely dangerous, but very, very well paid.

Everyone uses digital dive computers now anyway so the point is moot. I only use my dive watches as a back up to my computer.

tl;dr - depth markings over 100m are usually a statement of quality rather than useful user guidance.

(PADI Advanced Open Water with NITROX certification and 50 dives - L&W has 200 dives and is a certified Dive Master)

I assume then if you worried about it, take it to an independent who likes you to check it?

I've done a Padi dive at 40m myself once and a few 30s. But I wasn't wearing any of my autos for the dive.

I have a friend who's a rig diver so I should ask him.

Did you take any of your watches with you on your dives? Any seen beyond 10m?

Yeah one of my quartz CW - but none of my autos because they all came after dadhood. We're only just now thinking about starting diving again.

There are people that do deeper dives for oil rig / pipeline work and maintenance but that is hugely specialist and hugely dangerous, but very, very well paid.

I know somebody who charges anything up to £35k per day to hire him as a diver. Specialist ultra deep welding oil drilling equipment sort of stuff.

My father did a BUNCH of work building a pro-level garage for a tech diver who worked the Gulf of Mexico. He was the guy of last resort and charged unbelievable rates. Only worked a couple of days of month and the rest of his time was restoring a couple of classic muscle cars. The garage had a full height hoist and a ridiculous set of tools and a security system to match. Paid cash for everything too.

I gather that there are more sat divers than available work at the moment so the industry rates have taken a hit but if you're one of the true specialists (apparently the guy I know is one of two people with his skills in the world), you can really rake it in.

Don't they end up having to spend two weeks in decompression ffs?

Just a note about the real vs fake debate. I bought a replica Tudor BB a few months back which I posted on here.. Its a very good quality for a fake.. I like the Tudors and may opt for the genuine item in the future.. I don't have any issue wearing it. I also switch between a Steinhart which is obviously a Rolex homage and then have a Seiko SKX007.. a good solid diver which does the job. Just for comparison I have a Tag Carrera Chrono which I got as a wedding present from my wife 14 years ago.. I'm not precious about it and generally will wear it doing most things.. I think you might as well get the value from it. The only thing I remove it for is tiling.. although I did have the glass back smashed playing 5-a-side one night.. so I won't do that again.. Generally when I go on holiday i take the Steinhart and Seiko as if one of them got damaged or lost I wouldn't be gutted.. The TAG stays at home more for sentimental value if something happened to it.. Someday I would like to pass it onto my only son when he gets married.. Should have decent patina by then :-)

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Interesting to hear everyone’s points of view.
All this talk of homages has got me thinking about still wanting a Royal Oak... that has sent me down a rabbit hole of homages / similar styles. Like the Baume & Mercier one... no where to really try them on though.

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Omega Artemis Speedmaster incoming?

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa-land-first-woman-moon-artemis-mission-space-exploration-moon-landing-project/

Re water resistance numbers, keep in mind the meters mean the equivalent pressure in atmospheres, it doesn't mean you can actually dive with it to that depth.

Not only that, plenty of watch makers have been caught out by exaggerating ratings.

Helson were embarrassed by this a few times, which is one of the reasons that you can trust their ratings now...they get called out badly if they do pull a fast one.

Is anyone interested in buying my Brass 42 Shark Diver by Helson - it's the version with the green dial and date - this one but not so shiny:

It's got the box and all gubbins, in very good nick. Not sure what the going rate is on these, say £300?

Lust o'clock

Yes I just recently learnt about the existence of and became obsessed with saturation divers. Such a bleak life, like being in the special forces, disappearing for secret tours then spending your off-time staring into the middle distance.

Probably

Are you ok at the end of your career? Assuming you avoid any work related injury / catastrophe and retire happily at a time of your choosing, is your body ok?

Think I read that it can cause neurological problems down the line. But probably no worse than long-term exposure to LFGSS.

Don't they end up having to spend two weeks in decompression ffs?

Worth watching the documentary about the raising of the Kursk to see the kind of conditions they exist in.

Helson were embarrassed by this a few times, which is one of the reasons that you can trust their ratings now...they get called out badly if they do pull a fast one

Cough cough... Bad timing?

Helson depth-gate happened a long time before they started making brass watches.

Somebody had a Steel SD45 fail on them at 30m and then went about buying a bunch of their watches and pressure testing them. The results were not good. After that, Helson haven't put a foot wrong.

In all honesty that's a wicked watch...

At the risk of being morbid, have you read about the Byford Dolphin accident? Proceed with caution, but learning about that only made me more in awe of those guys, the lifestyle and the equipment.

There is also a documentary which I've been meaning to watch called Last Breath, which sounds fascinating. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-47826802

Lol yes, didn't notice the previous post. But Stonehedge is right, that affected the v1s and this is a few generations past that, thank god. That almost sunk them.

I think of it often! Usually when I'm mincing pork