What Makes A Luxury Diving Watch?

Since the first world war, when men started wearing watches on their wrists, the trend of wearing wristwatches has become popular (as we have it today).

Watches have since then moved from being combat instruments to essential and luxurious fashion items. From 1926, when Rolex launched its Oyster, a waterproof wristwatch, to 1932, when Omega unveiled its Marine watch till date, the watch industry has continued to debut several water-resistant wristwatches. Today, there are countless numbers of versatile and sporty diving watches that have features far beyond water resistance.

Diving watches are primarily designed for athletes going underwater. However, they are now worn by watch enthusiasts and those who fancy luxurious fashion items.

These watches are so fascinating that if you are a watch enthusiast and do not have one in your collection, it is not a complete collection. It is even more fascinating to know that top watch brands continuously pursue improving the features of their diving watches.

In fact, most brands put their watches to the test by performing in-house tests or conducting an external, independent test. Wristwatch brands and manufacturers conduct these tests to prove that their latest collections are original. You can now wonder what makes a diving watch so special.

Furthermore, before you can regard any wristwatch as a diving watch, it has several criteria it must have passed. This article discusses the essential ones.

Criteria For Considering A Watch As A Luxury Diving Watch

Prestige Time puts the Rolex deep-sea and Breitling Superocean 46 among the two leading and best-selling diving watch brands for a reason. They meet the essential criteria that give them an edge over their competitors.

The major criterion for determining or testing a diving watch is ISO 6425. These international standard organization guidelines were originally written in the 1980s and were recently updated in 2018.

The ISO 6425 states that for a wristwatch to be regarded as a luxury diving watch or be ISO 6425 compliant, it must meet the following criteria:

Minimum Water Resistance Rating

The first condition is for the wristwatch to have a minimum water resistance rating of 100 meters or 330 feet. So, before considering a timepiece as a luxury diving watch, it must have a minimum depth rating of 100 meters or more.

It should interest you that as of 2022, there are dive watches rated and tested to plunge up to 1000 meters.

Diving Time Measuring System

A versatile diving watch must be equipped with a secured and sophisticated measuring system to indicate diving time.

For instance, such a sophisticated measuring system in a diving watch should have a 60-minute unidirectional rotating bezel. This rotating bezel will have markers displaying every five minutes or should have a visible digital display.

A watch will be considered a luxury dive watch if it has inner bezels instead of outer bezels.

Shock and Saltwater Resistance

Another feature of a luxury diving watch is its resistance to shock and saltwater. The best dive watches are made from anti-corrosive materials, making them highly resistant to salt water.

In addition, diving watches are made of high-quality materials to make them resistant to shock. Some popular test for shock resistance is releasing a blow with a force of about 5,000gs to the face of the watch and its left side.

Should such a wristwatch retain timekeeping to within +/- 60 seconds a day, it is considered a good diving watch.

Conclusion

Today, there are several families and types of watches, and one of those wristwatch types that has continued to fascinate watch enthusiasts or jewelers is the luxury diving watch.

While some of these watches will publicly highlight that their collections are diver watches, some do not specify but ensure they meet the ISO 6425 requirements.

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