Just out of curiosity, I wonder how many members here on Omega Forums have ever used the helium relief valve on the Seamaster Professional for its intended purpose. And if yes, how deep did you go? For the record, I've never used it and am very unlikely to ever do so.

 

I doubt many people have ever used it.

 

If I understand correctly, the only circumstance the helium release valve is designed for is commercial saturation diving, where you would be breathing a special heliox compound for days on end. Not many people do that for a living.

 

I've never used on my 2531.80 but when I sent mine to Omega for service they said it was "worn" and replaced it. I've had the watch since it was brand new in 2010...

 

Statistically speaking, I think the percentage of Seamaster owners that have used or needed the He valve for it's intended purpose is zero, down to a good 5 decimal places.

flw is right. It's not about depth. Only needed for commercial diving, when living in a pressurised chamber breathing a gas mixture that includes Helium for several days. This kind of diving could be anything from 100 to 300 mts. Which in principle doesn't sound like much, but it's about the deepest a human can actually go.

VERY few people doing that king of diving, and I doubt a Seamaster would be their first choice anyway.

 

The HEV has two seals inside, and seals need replacing, so the HEV is replaced at every factory service, just the crown, case tube, crystal gasket, and case back gasket are.

The newer style HEV's (which have been around for a number of years actually) are modular units, so the entire unit is replaced. The older style (what would have been the original style on your watch) can be disassembled and the seals replaced, something I do all the time. Here are the parts of the valve when disassembled from the case:



The main tube of the valve is still threaded into the case, but these are the guts of the valve.

Cheers, Al

 

It’s great for inflating balloons at kids’ birthday parties. All that built up helium ...

 

Here are a couple of fun articles I've read.

https://www.gearpatrol.com/watches/a578179/5-dive-watches-of-professional-saturation-divers/

https://www.ablogtowatch.com/confessions-commercial-diver-helium-release-valve/

 

Commercial divers working on oil rigs still do saturation diving pretty routinely. It's not a huge profession and it never was, but it's their standard practice. It's one of the most tedious jobs I can imagine, but they make pretty good money. I don't know how many of them wear watches.

 

Great articles. Thank you.

 

What a stupid pointless gimmick. Sealab is over. No one buying a seamaster or Rolex Deepsea is a working saturation diver. Helium escape valves irritate me enough to not buy any watch that has one.

 

I don't know, my next door neighbor is a commercial diver and he wears a Seamaster. Asked him if he uses it at work and he stated that he does. Whether he uses the He valve, I didn't inquire. I'll try and find out.

 

AFAIK there is only one technical driver on the forums and he has not gone that deep while wearing a watch inside the suit or in a bell.

 

Ouch, don't hold back. Glad you feel that way, because I'm going to buy a 2nd Seamaster especially a model with a He valve and I'm hoping for plenty of inventory to choose from.

 

“an old timer who explained to me how “every watch has a helium escape valve…it’s called the crown”, meaning the diver simply unscrewed the crown during the days-long decompression to allow the expanding helium molecules to escape”

This seems counterintuitive to me, as concerns Omegas (because it’s H release requires manual release).

If the regular crown itself can be released, why would Omega ever need the redundant H release valve?

Meanwhile:

“One seasoned sat diver did mention Seamasters are known to explode when owners forget to open the helium valve — an expensive mistake.”

 

I actually dive with my dive watches. I am not a professional diver. As a "sport" diver, I am not allowed to descend below 130'/40m. For me, and legions of desk divers, the He valve is a stupid thing. Reminds me of a rich guy that buys a sports car with a wing that pops up at high speeds, and drives back and fourth to the country club.

I think the He valve is silly marketing. Omega should get rid of it.

 

.............but Rolex has one.....

 

I dive; but not commercially.

My father however began as a Navy diver and then did work as a commercial 'deep' diver, which did see him in saturation units quite a few times - he was actually retired from the line of work by a piece of equipment malfunctioning on a different job and ending up with DCS aka "the bends". He was a Doxa guy for this very feature and used his watch all the time for work; several of the guys he worked with wore SD's but I have no idea if any used SMPs. Afterwards when he was told he shouldn't work in a sat environment again he sold (possibly traded) it to get parts for his '71 Bronco (also now long-gone).

I still have a few very, very hazy memories of seeing it, scuffed to hell and gone, on his wrist when he'd come home from dives.

His replacement? A quartz Seiko diver - very pragmatic man, Pop was.