If you read up on how depth ratings are determined, you'll probably find that a 50m rating (with brand new seals, tested in a controlled static environment) really doesn't have the margin of error you'd want to have. But I certainly agree that a skin-diver watch with a 150m rating, is plenty good enough for any recreational diver. Commercial/technical divers are an entirely different story, of course, but they usually don't wear watches exposed to the environment anyway.
The other side of this is the marketing angle, and the connection of marketing to technology, which has a long history in horology. If you look at advertising of pocket watches and wristwatches, you will constantly see that manufacturers used technological developments to market watches, even when many of the advances had little practical benefit. This is the thinnest watch, this is the smallest watch. This is the watch with the most complications. This is the watch with the most jewels. This watch can withstand the highest magnetic fields. Etc. It's no different with depth rating. It's fun and interesting to have a watch with a 1000m depth rating, and it's a way for a manufacturer to demonstrate a certain type of superiority.
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