Tough Watch Heavyweights - Why Divers Watches Are the Toughest Sport Watches on Earth

One of the coolest things about divers watches, isinvolves rapid temperature changes. For a period of
that they are amongst the toughest watches on thean hour, the watch is first placed in forty degree
planet. These highly specialized sports watches arewater, then when the time expires, is rapidly
designed with functionality first on the watchmaker'stransferred to five degree water. The watch is left
priority list. This is because as a watch is subjectedfor a further hour before being moved back to the
to greater depth, the tougher it has to be tofourty degree water again for a final hour.
guarantee safe operation in a pressurizedBy far the longest test in the ISO procedure is to
environment.test the watch's resistance to the corrosiveness of
How Divers Watches Are Testedseawater and involves the diving watch being
There is a strict international standard that a truesubmersed in thirty centimeter water for a period of
divers watch must satisfy in order to be a certifiedover two days. This is why most diving watches are
diving watch. Watches must pass a series of testsmanufactured from stainless steel, titanium, plastics
laid out in ISO 6425, to earn the right to print theor ceramics as these materials do not rust.
words "DIVER'S WATCH" on the case. Any watchUsing A Diver Watch Under Water
bearing this marking will have satisfied the ISO 6425Diving watches are also tested for the practical
testing procedure that is a special type of guaranteeapplication of using a sports watch underwater. It is
that the watch will hold up under submarinemandatory that all diving watches have some
conditions.mechanism for keeping track of the total amount of
The first test in the ISO 6425 procedure is atime since the start of the dive.
condensation test. The test involves heating a plateMost analog diving watches use a unidirectional
to around forty to forty five degrees centigrade, therotating bezel to track dive length, the bezel can only
watch is then placed on the plate and left for abe rotated one way and as part of the standard is
period of ten to twenty minutes. Over this periodrequired to have distinctive markings at five minute
the watch will heat up to this specific temperature.intervals and a scale of sixty minutes. The watch is
Onto the watch's crystal face, a drop of water atrequired to have its 60/0 minute mark be legible at
room temperature is placed and left for one minutetwenty five meters below the surface and the
and then wiped off.reading of the time legible itself. Analog diving
If there is any condensation seen to be formingwatches achieve this with luminescent watch hands,
beneath the crystal face, then the watch fails thewhereas most digital diving watches implement this
testing. No further testing is conducted from thatwith a back lit watch screen.
point on.Divers watches must also indicate that they are
Another test in the procedure requires that watchesworking, both at 25 meters and in complete
be tested at depths that are 25% below their rateddarkness. Analog watches have a running second
depth in still water conditions. Slight weatherhand with luminescent tip. When the battery runs out
variations can cause the density of seawater tothey must present an "EOL" (end of life) indicator.
differ from between two and five percent and it isDivers watches are among the most rigorously
also well established by science that seawater istested sports watches on the planet, meaning a
denser than fresh water.good one will likely last you for many years and be
Thermal shock testing is also applied to the divecompletely safe to use in and around seawater,
watch as part of the testing procedure. The testingwhether you are scuba diver or not.