I'd always thought it would be nice to have a thread on this Forum dedicated exclusively to photos, stories, reviews, and commentary on watches used whilst diving. So I'm going to begin just such a thread.

There, I've done it.

Now, my first official act as The OP is to OPEN the thread to photos, stories, reviews, and commentary on watches used anywhere NEAR or IN water -- could be swimming in a pool or lake, frolicking in the surf, or hosing the kids off with a garden hose on a hot Summer day -- anywhere the water resistance of your watch was an important factor in choosing to wear that particular watch.

Having done that, I'm going to show you pictures of a watch I used recently whilst diving, and tell you what I thought about the watch for this application. And even show and tell a little about the diving itself.
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I'd heard about an underwater art exhibition that had been set up near the town of Avalon, on Catalina Island -- a small-ish island located about 40km (25 mi) off the Southern California coast. I also had a brand new dive watch that I wanted to take underwater -- the Seiko SRPA21 (a Special Edition variant of the recently-released SRP77x family of dive watches). It was the cool colour scheme of the watch that first grabbed my attention. Only later did I begin to appreciate just how good a watch it is for the price I paid (about $US 400).

Here's an iPhone shot of the watch, on the bracelet it came with.



What a beauty! Quality-wise, the bracelet isn't bad either and is quite comfortable. The diver extension on the clasp is simple and effective. Except I didn't wear the watch diving on the original bracelet. Why? Not because I didn't want to, but because the day I got the watch in the mail I took it to the local shopping mall and had the 'mall watch guy' size the bracelet to my wrist. Within minutes of returning from the mall the watch fell off my wrist and into my lap while sitting at my desk. So now I don't trust the bracelet.

Back to diving with the watch.

A couple of weeks ago I took the high-speed ferry from the mainland to Catalina and did some diving in and around the area where the art exhibition was set. (More on the exhibition later.) The water is cold-ish this time of year -- 14degC (57degF) so I wore a dry suit for all three dives. I had put the Seiko on a navy blue 22mm strap I purchased from ToxicNATOs. The NATO strap worked well with this watch on dry land and underwater. All the diving I did was between 10m (30ft) and 22m (70ft) below the surface.

Here's a shot of the watch at 22m.



At that depth, the cool colours have vanished but the important features of the watch are still clearly visible. The bezel is a bit tight for turning on land and underwater, and the grippiness of the edge of the bezel is not particularly great (I'd give it a 5, maybe 6 out of 10, if a sawblade-edged Doxa bezel is a 10). But despite the tightness and un-grippiness I could still turn the bezel at will, even with neoprene gloves on.

Here's a shot of the watch at about 5m. Some of the colour has returned.



Here's another shot of the watch between dives, taken while giving some nitrogen back to the atmosphere (from my bloodstream).



All in all this is a fine watch for diving and I won't hesitate to take it underwater again. But it might be a while before its turn comes, as I've got quite a queue of watches ahead of it.

Now, about the diving and the art exhibit. Here's a photo to pique your interest. Then, check out the video to get a more complete telling of the story. Enjoy!

 

Man I thought I bulked up diving out here lol. where are you located in SoCal?

 

good pics! geezus you do wear a lot of stuff while diving!! I prefer simplicity and consider myself a 3-80 diver. Visibility must be at least 80 feet, air temperature must be at least 80F, and water temperature must be at least 80F. I no longer take any of my watches with me underwater as a computer now occupies my wrist...the last time I had my Oris TT1 underwater was in Roatan couple of years ago.

 

Woo hoo! This thread's first customer! And with cool pics! Thanks man for posting up

Yes, I've found with age that I get chilled easily. I appreciate my dry suit for California diving more and more each year. I felt like even more of a wuss when I saw pictures of Jason Heaton (from the Grey NATO podcast and Hodinkee contributor) cruising about in a wetsuit, diving at the same location the same time I was there.

 

See my comment above about bulkiness. I basically dress like I'm going skiing. And I'm based in Los Angeles -- Jones in LA

 

I have a trip to LA scheduled for mid/late August, perhaps I can join you in one of those crazy outfit dives!

 

Please look me up next Summer! In late Summer even I can dive in a wetsuit (7mm of course, with hooded vest underneath)

 

Great first post!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Nice video Rich. What housing did you use with the iPhone?

I have very few watch photos. Honduras also.

 

Thanks @flyingout

I used the WatershotPro housing, made right in San Diego.

Is that a submariner you're wearing in the photo?

 

Lake Ontario - Rolex 16600

Costa Rica - Omega Ploprof 600

 

They look like very adventurous dives!

 

Indeed they were! Too bad both watches are gone. Got myself another ploprof that I'm bringing back to working duty

 

Cool. I have so far avoided investing in photo gear but do want to revisit more compact, travel friendly options.

It is. Purchased rather impulsively in KL (at an AD, not the street market) at the end of a 1999 Borneo dive trip. It's been with me most dives since and ultimately led me to this silly forum answering a question about it.

 

I used to take just a full-blown DSLR setup underwater, but it's been a relief to have the option of using a cell phone which fits in a pocket of my dry suit.

 

I was hiking on our old family place and was within 200 yards of the lake shore when I took this photo of the old Seawolf I was wearing. I realize it's not even very close to being a diving photo. Hey, the lichens are neato.

 

Close enough for this thread! That really is a fine-looking example.

 

The energetic shorebreak thrashes all foolish enough to enter (me incl) at the mouth of the Russian River at Jenner, Ca. And it rolls neato pebbles nice and round!

 

Seiko SBDX0012 LE

 

Closest I have come to seeing a Great White. Unless we are talking about the 2538.20. .