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Freedivers Watch (not computor)!!!!
- Thread starterDivingDane
- Start date
Thread Status: Hello
, There was no answer in this thread for more than 60 days.
It can take a long time to get an up-to-date response or contact with relevant users.
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Funny you say that Sross! they made virtually the identical watch for yachting around the same period.
same count down format with the red hand and the round minute marks.
hopefully my first couple of Freediving courses i teach will give me enough to buy that watch.
and there is another on ebay "unused" i love the ingraving on the back!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mens-Omega-Seamaster-CHRONOGRAPH-watch-RARE-APNEA_W0QQitemZ350379546416QQcategoryZ31387QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DDLSL%252BSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BMRU-281%252BIA%252BUA%252BIEW%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D8%26pmod%3D350376257598%252B350376257598%26po%3D%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D6680341140643870565
DD
same count down format with the red hand and the round minute marks.
hopefully my first couple of Freediving courses i teach will give me enough to buy that watch.
and there is another on ebay "unused" i love the ingraving on the back!
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Mens-Omega-Seamaster-CHRONOGRAPH-watch-RARE-APNEA_W0QQitemZ350379546416QQcategoryZ31387QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DDLSL%252BSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BMRU-281%252BIA%252BUA%252BIEW%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D8%26pmod%3D350376257598%252B350376257598%26po%3D%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D6680341140643870565
DD
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Hi FoxFish,
Mechanical movements don't have the kind of accuracy I need. The best certified chronometer mechanical movements are accurate to +/- 2 sec per day, approximately, and even some of the high end, multi-thousand dollar Swiss brand names gain or lose 5-6 seconds per day. I'm often out in the field where I have no access to a time signal, or internet time servers, and I often need a watch that is set to within seconds of UTC. I can't afford to have a watch that is out by more than a minute within less than 2 weeks, sometimes sooner in the case of mechanical dive watches that get exposed to wide temperature swings.
By comparison, I've measured the accuracy of my Traser tritium watch, and it gains less than 3 seconds per month, even when it is used for diving.
The other issue with mechanical watches is their power reserve. If you only have 1 watch that you wear all the time, it's not an issue, but I have a collection of watches that I use for different purposes, and some of them don't get used that often. An auto watch winds itself down in 2 or 3 days, and if you go away on a trip for a couple of weeks it'll be dead when you get back, and you'll have to reset it as well as wind it. My quartzes are always happily running when I go away & come back. Some of the hardcore automatic watch enthusiasts actually get watch cases with little reciprocating display mounts that keep the watch from running down, but I'd rather just keep it simple & get a quartz.
Auto watch enthusiasts like the fact that they don't need batteries, but high-end auto movements need to be opened up and serviced every few years if the watch is going to last and stay accurate- just like quartz watches need to be opened up for a new battery (and service) every few years, so I'm not seeing any advantage there. Also, Citizen and Seiko have removed the battery replacement issue with quartz movements by using photocells or mechanical generators to keep rechargeable batteries topped up, but I'm wondering whether accuracy will suffer, at least for analogue watches, if people don't bother opening them up for service?
An interesting piece of trivia: the most accurate watch in the world, the Chronomaster, is made by Citizen and is only marketed directly by them in Japan. it is accurate to better than +/- 5 seconds per year. They make various styles using the movement, including some very beautiful jewelry models in solid gold, platinum & titanium. The finish of some of these models rivals the best Swiss units, and the Chronomaster is a major status symbol among watch geeks in Japan.
Of course, now with atomic clock time radio broadcasts, any cheap quartz watch can set itself to within microseconds every day, as long as it's getting reception, but that doesn't work in India yet, so I'll stick with my trusty Traser for now
That Seamaster is a beauty! Does the strap really have purple tones in it, or was the colour introduced by the camera?
Yes, thanks for pointing that out. The engraving of Mayol and a dolphin is beautiful. That watch is a real piece of art.
Anybody know much about the moment range of analogue "dive" watches look pretty nove and the price is reasonable
dd
Posted via Mobile Device
dd
Posted via Mobile Device
The Apnea watch is still on sale for an excellent price. Thought people might be interested in this press release on the Apnea model issued in 2003 by Omega:
OMEGA Watches: Press Kit Text
Yes it does have a purple strap
Arrived yesterday complete with some pics of the mechanism & details of its service & purchase date.
Great looking even if a bit dated, very slim, spent its 44 year life in India.
Cost me $400.
I have the collectors bug now!!
Yikes FoxFish! Watch collection addiction can be very hazardous to your financial health. There's no better way to have fun though (except for freediving
) and at least you end up with something nice as you give in to your cravings.I went cold turkey a couple of years ago, and have been free of watch cravings since. Well, almost . . . I gave in last fall and got myself a Sector Mountain Master (but it was 2/3 off the regular price, nobody can resist that
)
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Thought people might like to see this interview with Guillaume Nery on the Ball watches he dives with:
Guillaume Néry: World Champion Freediver, Ball Watch Ambassador, & Crazy Holder ofBreath - Blog - Hodinkee
Guillaume Néry: World Champion Freediver, Ball Watch Ambassador, & Crazy Holder ofBreath - Blog - Hodinkee
A much overlooked alternative to a Panerai :
Professionale RM MODELLO 6003 - Anonimo Wrist Watches
This one is cool - made of the same bronze as a propeller :
http://www.anonimo.com/models_gallery/pict/pol13.jpg
Al
Professionale RM MODELLO 6003 - Anonimo Wrist Watches
This one is cool - made of the same bronze as a propeller :
http://www.anonimo.com/models_gallery/pict/pol13.jpg
Al
I'm starting to get the hots for the Immersion H2O Pro:
The band looks especially cool to me.
Immersion Diving Technology
The band looks especially cool to me.
Immersion Diving Technology
Not really a freedivingwatch but has an unbeatable depthrating:martialBell & Ross Hydromax 11,000 Meter Steel on Bracelet with Black Dial H-BLK-SB - Essential Watches
What a great idea. Fill the watch with an incompressible liquid, and voila! no pressure problems and no helium accumulation & outgassing issues for the hardcore deep saturation divers.
The watch is ultra-elegant, could easily compete with the Rolex Submariner or Omega Seamaster
and they give you a bracelet for dressy occasions as well as a real rubber dive strap for dive use.
I guess the only downside is that you would have to send the watch to Bell & Ross service centres for battery changes.
Came across a cool video ad for the Sea-Touch.
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eE-bLJAl4U]YouTube - Tissot SEA-TOUCH[/ame]
I downloaded the manual, and the one issue I had with this watch is I couldn't figure out how one could measure your surface interval with it. It looks like for Scuba divers it would work rather well, but lack of surface interval takes it out of contention for freediving.
Also, while the orange bezel may look bright & cool on the surface, when you go down any depth, orange becomes very dull, and black markings become very difficult to read against what starts to look like a brown background. The black & silver colour scheme is actually much more practical for any dive watch.
Hi sross - yes it does lack a few specific features for freediving but it depends what you are after really. The lack of an automatic surface interval timer is not a big issue for me for example, given the type of freediving I do. Some depth alarms would have been awesome....
The orange bezel also is not a problem - it's actually fluorescent so assuming you live in a sunny country, then it's bright even if you go deeper. When it's not sunny it's not very bright but still I didn't find it hard to read - maybe you go much deeper than me in any case, I don't tend to look at my watch when I dive so not a big issue for me.
Overall it's a good watch if you are a recreational freediver but a bit pricey (and big/thick!) - the touch screen looks cool but it's actually a bit annoying to operate in the water, especially if you have gloves on (impossible..).
The orange bezel also is not a problem - it's actually fluorescent so assuming you live in a sunny country, then it's bright even if you go deeper. When it's not sunny it's not very bright but still I didn't find it hard to read - maybe you go much deeper than me
in any case, I don't tend to look at my watch when I dive so not a big issue for me.Overall it's a good watch if you are a recreational freediver but a bit pricey (and big/thick!) - the touch screen looks cool but it's actually a bit annoying to operate in the water, especially if you have gloves on (impossible..).
Would recommend avoiding sector with a long long stick. i had an expensive sector watch bought as a birthday present about... 8 years ago or so now. Took it out diving & it flooded straightaway. Took it back to get it repaired & had nothing but grief trying to get them to repair it, eventually they did, but replaced the inside working with a scratched dial & then the whole thing crapped out again & stopped working completely before i even put it back in the water.
Sector were totally uninterested with my story & told me word for word on the phone - wait for it - that their watches were not made for diving/freediving. Bear in mind this watch came with a wetsuit extender on the strap... if that makes any sense...!
This is just my personal experience, namely a very very bad one with Sector watches!
Sector were totally uninterested with my story & told me word for word on the phone - wait for it - that their watches were not made for diving/freediving. Bear in mind this watch came with a wetsuit extender on the strap... if that makes any sense...!
This is just my personal experience, namely a very very bad one with Sector watches!
Hmmm,
I have a Sector Mountain Master which is supposed to have a water resistance rating of 100 m. Now I know a 100 m rating really just means you don't have to worry about a watch being in the rain or dropping in the sink, you can't even use them for snorkelling, but they're supposed to stay water free as long as there's no significant water pressure on them.
Well, the watch found its way into a couple of inches of very cold water last winter, and immediately condensation started forming on the inside of the crystal! I though the watch had leaked and the movement, if not pressure sensor, were goners. I immediately warmed the watch up and the condensation cleared away, and the watch has been functioning OK ever since. I looked up some watch discussion threads, and it seems like fog forming inside this model of watch is a common issue, although no one has been able to figure out whether it's because of leakage or because of the large case design and crystal design, and atmospheric vapour is condensing like it would from any other moist air.
The build quality is admittedly low on the Mountain Master. The bezel is not accurately machined and I had to lubricate it with a combination of graphite & mineral oil to enable it to turn without sticking at one point on the circle, and you have to clean it regularly. It is really stylish IMO, but it does have some external parts that just don't quite line up the way a really precision-machined part should. In particular the screw-down crown feels like a jar lid compared to the smooth accuracy of my Swiss Traser dive watch. I'm glad I only paid $300 for it, but having said all of the above, I love it. It is one of the most useful watches ever made, if you're the kind of person who actually uses a barometer & compass, as well as wanting analogue hands. It also looks like a real watch (unlike the resin-cased, polymer-strapped Casio Pathfinders & their cousins) with that inimitable Italian flair, including Sector's instantly recognizable tyre-tread bracelet styling.
I have a Sector Mountain Master which is supposed to have a water resistance rating of 100 m. Now I know a 100 m rating really just means you don't have to worry about a watch being in the rain or dropping in the sink, you can't even use them for snorkelling, but they're supposed to stay water free as long as there's no significant water pressure on them.
Well, the watch found its way into a couple of inches of very cold water last winter, and immediately condensation started forming on the inside of the crystal! I though the watch had leaked and the movement, if not pressure sensor, were goners. I immediately warmed the watch up and the condensation cleared away, and the watch has been functioning OK ever since. I looked up some watch discussion threads, and it seems like fog forming inside this model of watch is a common issue, although no one has been able to figure out whether it's because of leakage or because of the large case design and crystal design, and atmospheric vapour is condensing like it would from any other moist air.
The build quality is admittedly low on the Mountain Master. The bezel is not accurately machined and I had to lubricate it with a combination of graphite & mineral oil to enable it to turn without sticking at one point on the circle, and you have to clean it regularly. It is really stylish IMO, but it does have some external parts that just don't quite line up the way a really precision-machined part should. In particular the screw-down crown feels like a jar lid compared to the smooth accuracy of my Swiss Traser dive watch. I'm glad I only paid $300 for it, but having said all of the above, I love it. It is one of the most useful watches ever made, if you're the kind of person who actually uses a barometer & compass, as well as wanting analogue hands. It also looks like a real watch (unlike the resin-cased, polymer-strapped Casio Pathfinders & their cousins) with that inimitable Italian flair, including Sector's instantly recognizable tyre-tread bracelet styling.