Thanks to JohnSteed for a smooth and pleasant transaction on this Super Kontiki; a model I have been contemplating since I began collecting vintage. No mistaking this one for a modern reissue, that's for sure.

I love the bezel, but can anyone explain what the numbering is supposed to indicate?

 

I think the bezel numbers represent the code for opening @JohnSteed 's safe of horological wonders

 

I believe that is a decompression time bezel.

I believe it’s before the days of air pressure gauges. Basically it’s a deco table. When you get top side you set the bezel to the max depth you hit in feet on this one, to the minute. And that is how long you have to stay top side.

It might be meters, I need to pull out the old US Navy Diver tables to confirm.

@Jones in LA might have a better idea.

 

I think this is probably correct and yours is in meters/metres.
Here's a link to Doxa's page explaining how to use their (ft) version.
(Requires Flash)
http://www.doxawatches.com/MANUALS/bezel.htm

 

Good call! I think you're right. It's a "no deco" bezel, in meters. That's not exactly how it works though -- it's actually the opposite. How it's supposed to work is you set the bezel when you start your dive, and you find your desired maximum depth on the bezel. That corresponds to your no decompression bottom time limit.

However it looks like this one is extremely outdated to say the least -- according to this bezel, if you were going to 40m, you could stay down for 15 minutes. I would not recommend doing that unless you want to end up in a chamber after your dive.

 

Thanks for the help gents, and special thanks to Kmart, who may have saved me from a near death experience.

 

Out of genuine interest how far away from current thinking do you think this bezel is?
On the link to the Doxa page I included above they have 120ft at the 15 minute mark which by my 'googling' is 36.576 metres.

I've only done very basic 'holiday' dives and struggled with equalising the pressure in my ears even at very shallow depths so, despite being in a nice part of the world for it, I think I shall have to stick to snorkelling (on the surface).

 

That depends on what dive tables you use. The current Doxa bezel is based on US Navy Dive Tables. Based on current research, a Navy diver can spend 10 minutes at 40m (approximately 130 fsw) without going into decompression. Some recreational tables only give you 5 minutes at that depth, as most divers are not nearly as fit as those who dive for the US Navy. As time has gone on and they've accumulated more and more data the limits have gotten shorter. 15 minutes at 40m is well outside of any decompression limits today.

However, remembers that this assumes a square profile; i.e. immediately descend to your max depth, stay there the whole dive, then ascend at the end of your no deco time. 99% of divers use a dive computer nowadays so no deco bezels are mostly obselete. I do think they're cool though.

 

@Kmart

Your right. It’s the ancient USN tables.

Set the triangle to the minute when you descend. Once your max depth exceeds the marks on the outer bezel in meters you must ascend.

That’s a super scary set of guidelines knowing what we know now.

 

Thanks @Kmart.
Really appreciate you taking the time to explain.

 

Yes - Bezel is decompression as said, thx @Foo2rama

 

I’d never seen this type of bezel before, but I agree with the consensus here — it appears to be a concise version of the US Navy no-deco stop dive table, in metres. It’s too un-conservative to abide by in real life but interesting from an historical perspective.