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Seiko, and others, make plenty of watches to 100m WR rating (aka 10 bar), which is plenty for swimming and is intended to indicate that it is suitable for swimming. You are correct that it’s the gaskets in the crown that provide the water resistance. Having the crown screw down is mostly about it not being able to be knocked or pulled out underwater by accident. (Having a screw down caseback is generally very important for water resistance though.)
I don’t know what else it would say than “water resistant” as watch manufacturers have not been able to use the term “waterproof” for a very long time.
Regal-
Thanks both.
I don’t know what else it would say than “water resistant” as watch manufacturers have not been able to use the term “waterproof” for a very long time.
That was my impression. Since there's no watch can be made perfectly waterproof, they can't claim that it is. The crown in this case is obviously just for adjustment.
ffm
Can I get a sense check on something? I've got a Seiko, nothing fancy, it looks something like this with a stainless body and titanium back. It's marked on the back as "Water resistant 10 bar".
It needed a battery change as the second hand had started skipping, so I took it round a few places to get a price. I ended up at an independent jewellers that's been really helpful in the past where one of the staff (possibly owners?) gave me a much cheaper price than anywhere partly because, she assured me, they wouldn't need to pressure test it, in fact they couldn't pressure test it because it was only "water resistant" and didn't have a screw down crown. Apparently it was only just about good enough to shower in and I was lucky that I hadn't tried swimming in it.
From a few things I've read (including Seiko's own site), this is, in retrospect, horseshit and it is indeed waterproof for standard swimming. Other sites I've read indicate that screw-down crowns offer extra water resistance when screwed down but don't have to be as there are internal gaskets that seal it to the specified pressure.
Any thoughts? I'm going to go back in because they managed to scratch the back of it by not going straight to the proper tool to get the back off and then charged me more than quoted because it took longer than they thought, but I'd just like to check my facts re. the waterproofing.