Helium Escapement Valves?

Is it all really nonsense? It's just simply another screw down crown/valve to a hole in the watch case right? Is it really purely ornamental and zero practical use? It seems so...

If you dive deep enough and spend much time under, you need to hang out in a diving bell. That is when the HEV actually needs to function. It is for saturation divers. 99.5% of us do not need it. On SMP's and PO's the watch is still waterproof to 50 meters if left unsecure. Best to not unscrew it since most of us consider decompression relaxing on a couch with an alcoholic beverage.

Ha - my point is clearly this thread is tongue and cheek hi-jinx 😀 And the thread is hilarious.

My question is truly - are these valves simply ornamental - in all seriousness. I believe they are and just wanted confirmation.

Somehow I forgot to include that when decompressing in a diving bell, gas is being releases from your blood because if you ascend without decompression you get the bends; air bubbles in you blood veins. Ouch!

The crystal on your SMP or PO could pop off because of the pressure being released. Therefore the HEV is a sort of back door for the helium gas to exit safely.

I have read that unscrewing the crown will achieve the same results but the HEV does it more efficiently and quickly. Kind of like taking off the caseback to adjust the time when using the crown will do the trick better.

All has been said, it's a useless gizmo.

1) If you're really into saturation diving, you'll have a dive computer attached to your wrist while in the water. You might have a second dive computer as a backup on your other wrist, not a mechanical watch. As said above, if you still insisted on a mechanical watch as a backup, a chronometer would make far more sense.

2) Ok, now you're back to the diving bell after your diving. Actually, you might want to wear a mechanical watch after your day's diving while you rest . There a watch with a helium valve might make sense, as you're breathing a pressurized gas mixture that contains helium, to avoid decompression after your work in the water.

Actually, the valve is not needed while in the water (there's no helium in water) but when the diver is breathing the same gas mixture in the diving bell. The diving bell has a pressurized atmosphere that contains helium that's also surrounding the watch. That's when helium (a far smaller molecule than nitrogen, or water) entered the watch case in the old days. It could squeeze itself through joints and screws where nitrogen or water were too big to pass.

So, in conclusion, how many saturation divers in the mechanical watch community? 0.01% at most? How many would want to use a mechanical watch? Probably not all of them?

The gadget is useless for the remaining 99.99% of us.

By the way, Seiko already rendered obsolete the need for a helium valve in a watch case as far back as 1968 with heir monocoque cases for the 6159 watches, but for sure watch marketing departments kept it, as it's easier to tell a compelling story about a watch with one more gadget than without it.

^
The original Ploprof was so secure it negated a HEV too. Too bad OMEGA did not make the Ploprof reissue the same.

As others have said, they used to be important for a very small population of professional divers who do saturation dives.

They have really no use or purpose to recreational divers, and any professional diver who works in an environment where a helium release valve would be useful is now using a dive computer instead. Some might wear a mechanical watch as a backup in the event of both of their dive computers failing (a lot of serious recreational divers will have a backup computer, so I'd imagine professionals do the same), but even at the recreational level, dive watches are pretty superfluous at this point.

Doesn't mean they're not cool though 😉

The HEV does have a practical purpose - you can tell naive women in bars that it's necessary for your deep dives. Only astronauts, pilots, and firemen get more macho points than saturation divers. Of course, you're totally lying your ass off to try to pick up these women, but they won't find out 'til later if ever at all.

I would love to see something that could replace the He valve. Something that would screw into its place and be flush with the case. That would be awesome!
It would no doubt void the warrantee, but if you're already out of warrantee, who cares..

My take:

They are the equivalent of fake-aluminum skid-plates of your neighbours Hyundai Tucson .

They don't do Shit for the vast majority. ...they are just there for SHOW

extra kudos if the valve is gold like on the big-daddy-dark side of the PO

I beg to differ? There's one at 9 o'clock that shows very clearly in your pictures? Or am I missing something?

that is the bellybutton 😁