# THE BEST DIVERS WATCH BAR NONE!



## Guest (May 24, 2003)

Hello all,

Been rather a lot of debate (arguing?) over the best divers watch.

Let me present you with "The queen of the seas"

The Breitling Superocean Professional.

The huge depth rating of 5000ft or 1524m laughs at 300m watches and pours scorn upon measly 200m!!

Designed for the US Navy seals in the 50's this is the big boss.

It's built in helium release valve automatically vents when the internal pressure reaches 3 bar.

The 3.7mm thick crystal can withstand one ton of pressure!

Below you will see the mighty mistress adorning my masculine wrists for your delectation.

All bow at the sight of her!!!

(Slightly tongue in cheek but I'm feeling a bit cheeky today)









Your comments as usual are appreciated, although as usual ignored









Cheers,

Neil.


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## Foggy (Feb 25, 2003)

> Designed for the US Navy seals in the 50's


But, more importantly, was it ever used by them ??? Enquiring minds want to know more.

Foggy


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## Paul (Mar 2, 2003)

Hi all,

I know very little about diving, except, mostly it happens underwater. I understand that there is a pressure build up the deeper you get. So the first time the watch goes to 5000ft all the helium escapes through the valve. Why does it need it the second time? Why don't they escape the helium in the factory?

Surely one of the contributors to the "best dive watch" will be able to educate me.

Paul D


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## Glennn (Apr 20, 2003)

Most divers never go below 35mtrs so any watch that dosnt leak and tells the time does the job,for a watch to qualify as best it would need to be as accurate as is humanly possible this excludes all mechanical watches.My bsac diving instructor friend wears a quartz timex 200m rated.

As for the breitling Neil you would be pretty vexed if you came up from your 5000mtr dive and discovered it had dropped off your wrist,because the pressure had reduced it to a twig.


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

I'd call it the "top hat and tails" divers watch.

A fella at work has a Landrover County with bull bars, and all the ******** on it. It NEVER goes off the road.......NEVER. We always laugh when he passes in it.............we say there goes that fat head with his "top hat and tails" Landrover!


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## Guest (May 24, 2003)

I'm afraid you are all missing the point again.

99.5% of people who buy divers watches never get them wet!!

I certainly won't even though I own more than one.

If the bloke with the Land Rover likes it he doesn't have to drive over muddy fields to satisfy anyone, he buys it for himself.

Roy doesn't fly his plane around using his Breitling B1.

Who REALLY needs a chronograph?

Griff you yourself own a "top hat and tails" Omega SMP which is about the same price as the Superocean and with the Helium release valve you dislike. You still love it.

Some people might say "there goes old fat head with his fancy divers watch and never goes diving" about you.

I personally marvel at the technical expertise that allows a manufacturer to build a watch with a 5000ft depth rating.

If we just want an accurate watch we can get one for a couple of pounds from a petrol station.

And there would be nothing on this forum to talk about!!!!!

Paul,

I am no expert but I believe there is a quantity of Helium in our atmosphere and when under pressure the Helium expands which could explode the watch.

You can't vent it at the factory because it is ever present in the air and the watch is not a vacuum.

Cheers,

Neil.


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## Glennn (Apr 20, 2003)

Ok neil,so we are not discussing the best divers watch but the nicest divers watch in that case theres not much to choose from as they are all butt ugly monstrosities.

Except the Blancpain 50 fathoms,which if it cost less than Â£200 i may buy it.

as for the helium escape valve,i agree it is engineering at its best,but pointless,

if they made a divers watch with a teasmade on it would you buy it!!!!!


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## Foggy (Feb 25, 2003)

Neil

... the Navy Seals question still remains. If I had a fiver for every time I'd heard that said about different watch brands, I'd be a rich man. Is there any documentary evidence that the Navy Seals used Superoceans, other than maybe as private purchase watches ?? Enquiring minds *still* want to know.

Foggy


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## mat (Feb 25, 2003)

I thought the helium escape valve was for when divers go down in some kind of diving bell or similar... they are filled with a mixture of gases which include helium.

Since the helium molecules are much smaller than nitrogen, oxygen and co2 etc, they can squeeze past the seals in the watch and get in it... then when the bell rises, it does so too fast for the helium to squeeze back out, as the air pressure drops to 1atm. So the watch's crystal blows out.

So the Helium escape valve is only for one specific kind of diving

this might be wrong,

cheers,

mat


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

You are correct Mat.

I bought the SMP Neil, because I like the look of the watch. The fact that it is a divers watch is totally irrelevant to me. I hate water after nearly drowning during army activities many years ago.( Lets see if Mrcrowley has a clever remark to make about that!) I don't see the point of a boast in having a top hat and tails divers watch. Means nothing to me whatsoever. The divers watches just produce a watch of the chunkiness I sometimes like, and which are good for other activities.

However, the SMP is, in my opinion, more widely equipped to be a divers watch than the Brietling so proudly boasted by Neil


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## Foggy (Feb 25, 2003)

This is all very interesting guys, but these "my watch is better than yours" type threads - what are we actually *learning* about watches through them ?



> However, the SMP is, in my opinion, more widely equipped to be a divers watch than the Brietling


Please educate me, because I honestly don't know the answer, or indeed if there is one - why is the SMP better equipped as a diver's watch ? I assume you mean technically better ?? Please, let's hear some reasoned arguments on this.

Cheers

Foggy


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)

As far as I am concerned there is no best divers watch, it is totally down to personel choice as with everything.

You are correct Neil I only need a chronograph to time my love making with the wife and an Omega Chronostop can do that.









For those that dont know a Chronostop only has a 60 seconds timer.


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

The SMP helium valve is manually operated, so when it is screwed down for normal use it is less likely to go wrong compared to an automatic device, but I did say in my opinion, and others can agree with that or not.

I'm sick and tired of the better than your watch catmuck as well, but I've not pictured my SMP on wrist and made a top of the pops watch boast.

What's your problem with that anyway!?


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## Foggy (Feb 25, 2003)

> What's your problem with that anyway!?


Griff

I assume you're talking to me, so.....

My problem ?? Only that a statement is made without the reasoning behind it. You've now explained and I've *learnt* why you have your preference. I participate on these forums to *learn*, and occasionally offer something in return if I know an answer, that's all. If opinion without reasoning is all that posted, there's not a lot of *learning* going on. Other than that, No problem.

Foggy


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## Sargon (Feb 24, 2003)

While not overly fond of Breitlings in general I rather like it. I'll take Neils tongue in cheek comment at face value. Is this a chronometer? What's the movement?


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

Breitling's own 25 jewel auto. They call it Calibre 17


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## Sargon (Feb 24, 2003)

I found an online review of the watch. It says it's got an ETA 2824, and it is COSC certified. Why it doesn't say that on the dial I don't know. Maybe because all Brietlings are chronometers? I think I heard that somewhere. I didn't know the 2824 were certified as chronometers. Though I've got to say my Glycine Combat diver watch is more accurate than my Seamasters.


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## Le Neause (May 22, 2003)

While I generally like large watches, I think I'd need to do weights to be able to lift it.









Le N


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

Well Sargon, you've told me something. I always thought Breitling built their own mechanical movements. I expected them to have help with Emergencies, B-1's etc. Swiss are great at chocolate, mechanical watchmaking. Electronics? Not heard anything myself...


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## Guest (May 25, 2003)

Hello all

Glad you all like my little thread!









The reason I posted it in such a way was to instigate discussion, which seems to have worked.

In answer to your myriad of questions:

Foggy,

The only reason I know of the SOP's involvement with the Seals is because Breitling trumpet about it in their literature, not being militarily interested I have not personally checked if Breitlings claims are libellous.

The Breitling 17 is in fact their reworking of a base 2824 movement that is bought up to chronometer standards as in fact are all their watches.

Griff

Regarding the comparison between the SMP and SOP as I own both (2 SMP's)

I feel I am in a better position to judge.

My judgement is:

They are both as good as one another. For what I want to use them for.

I like them equally for different reasons.

Roy

I wondered why you wanted that Chronostop!









I may go into the pro's and cons of the SMP and SOP for your reading pleasure at a later date as I hear a boot sale calling!!









Cheers,

Neil.


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## 036 (Feb 27, 2003)

Here is some escape valve info.

It refers to a Rolex SeaDweller but thisbut I am posting it for general information,* it applies to any such watch*:

In the early 1970's, Rolex supplied Submariner watches for divers working for Comex (Compagnie Maritime d'Expertise), a French company, working out of Marseilles, which specialized in deep diving using pressure chambers. Problems arose when the watches experienced a build up of helium gas from the pressure of the undersea environment. When the pressure chambers were decompressed, the helium could not escape from the innards of the case fast enough, and often times blew the crystal out of the case. An occupational hazard in the cramped confines of the Pressure Chambers.

Comex approached Rolex with a possible solution to this problem by modifying the Submariner case with a helium escape valve on the side of the watch. This proved to be effective for these types of dives, and Rolex decided to make a production version of this watch with the helium valve. This watch was launched as the "Sea-Dweller' in 1971.

As you may already know, the Sea-Dweller is designed to be used in an underwater habitat that has a mixed atmosphere of helium and oxygen. This permits the concentration of oxygen to have a normal partial pressure without the nitrogen which is the major gas found in air along with oxygen. If normal air were used in a deep sea habitat, the pressurized concentration of nitrogen would cause nitrogen narcosis (very undesirable).

With helium replacing the nitrogen, many dive problems are solved, but some others are created. Because the helium molecule is so small (atomic weight: 1; atomic number: 1 - remember?), helium can easily infiltrate through the crystal and O rings of the Submariner or Sea Dweller. Since the heli-ox mixture in the under sea habitat will be so much greater than that of the surface atmospheric pressure, the accumulated helium pressure inside a Submariner would be so great, that on surfacing the waterproof integrity could fail since there is no way for the Submariner to release the gas inside the case in order to equalize with the decreased pressure of the water near the surface. Naturally the crystal is the weakest component of the watch movement's case. As a helium filled toy balloon rises to greater altitudes it encounters lower atmospheric pressure so that the pressure differential inside the balloon becomes so much greater that the atmosphere around it that it expands. The same principle is at play in the ocean except that the effect is greatly exaggerated (water weighs so much more than air). now the helium that was pressurized in the watch at a great depth may be equal to several atmospheres, but as it rises to the surface, unlike with the balloon, there is no place for it to expand. Therefore the gas pushes outward with tremendous pressure. As mentioned above the case is much stronger than the watch crystal and eventually something must give way. Rolex solved this problem by using a one way pressure relief valve.

Hope someone finds this useful.

Si


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

Roy,

As regards the Chronostop being suitable to time the duration of your screwing activities, i.e. with it being up to 30s, it may not be suitable should you decide to adopt the screwing techniques of a Chinaman!


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## Roy (Feb 23, 2003)




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## Sargon (Feb 24, 2003)

I always thought Helium was number two on the chart?


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## 036 (Feb 27, 2003)

You are correct of course, Helium has a1 proton and 1 neutron therefrore atomic number of 2. Hydrogen is the first in the periodic table.

In my defence, its been 20 years since my chemistry A-level!

I should have pointed out that I got the above off the web when trying to find out about the valve.


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## Griff (Feb 23, 2003)

Helium has an atomic no. of 2, and an atomic wt. of slightly over 4.


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## Paul (Mar 2, 2003)

Hi all,

@Simon - Thankyou for the posting, cleared it all up now. I definately don't need a helium relief valve! no matter what its number.

All my gas is relieved naturally









Paul D


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## 036 (Feb 27, 2003)

Yes Paul, this thread puts me in mind of a bit of natural gas relief too.









Seriously though I was just interested in the purpose of the valve. My research indicates there are precisely 0 people on the planet that actually NEED a helium relief valve.

Which doesn't make such watches any less good or desirable for some people. I can't swim but I would love a Sea Dweller.


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