The first waterproof watch was made in 1915. Shortly afterwards, in 1918, the first synthetic shatterproof glass is fitted. These combinations combine to create the first watch capable of withstanding rough handling. In 1926, the first brand still known today produced a waterproof watch with a screw-down crown. This brand is called Rolex, the watch was called the Oyster.

The most important thing for a waterproof watch is not to manipulate the crown and buttons in water. Moving the crown or pressing a button will wrinkle the seal and the watch can pick up moisture. The crown must always be in the base - zero position when in contact with water, which is screwed or screwed in at the case. In fact, the water resistance of the watch is tested artificially in tanks - thus under calm conditions. In water, however, anyone wearing the watch is not just lying on their wrist, but swimming, diving, and performing various movement activities underwater - and this movement changes the water pressure around the watch, which puts weight on the watch.

If you soak your watch in salt water, it is a good idea to rinse it with fresh water and dry it. Do not expose your watch to large changes in temperature - for example, by taking a sauna or immersing a warm watch in cold water. Condensation may occur and will be active due to the slight moisture that may enter the watch due to these rapid changes. If the glass on the underside of your watch becomes dewy, this is a sign of moisture in the watch. It is also a good idea not to expose your watch to pressure changes. This applies mainly to climbing from, for example, 500 metres above sea level to 1,600 metres above sea level. The change in pressure at the top will also reduce the pressure in the watch, or the pressure in the watch at 1,600 metres above sea level will be the same in the watch as around the watch in a moment. If you then go back down to 500 meters above sea level, the pressure will increase and the watch will "soak up" the pressure along with the relative humidity. This case can be compounded when it's winter, when the relative humidity is higher everywhere. At the same time, it is important to mention that one should not go into a hot tub with the watch, as the hot tub has warm water (changing the properties of the seal) and the water pressure at the jets is so great that it can easily take on pressure values in the water column of several meters. It is also important to know not to go into the sauna with any waterproof watch, as the relative humidity in the watch will condense with the temperature rise and the watch will more or less dew inside.

Many waterproof watches have a rotating lunette around the glass. This lunette is actually the first kind of underwater timekeeper. How is it used? To avoid having to wait for the minute hand to reach the number 12 or to set it manually and thus split the time, you turn the lunette before diving so that the minute hand points exactly at the zero of the lunette. This will show you how many minutes have passed since your dive. All lunettes must be turned backwards only - so that you can reduce the time by inadvertently turning them, and therefore resurface - albeit unintentionally - earlier.

The numbers indicated on the dials or caps of the watches indicate the water resistance that this watch will indeed withstand - but in complete peace of mind. If you run a watch marked 100M (the same is a pressure of 10 bar. or 10 ATM) to a depth of 100 metres, the watch should be able to withstand it. However, with the watch moving in the water, the pressures on the watch multiply. So, in general, if there is 100 M on the watch, we subtract one zero from the back - or we can dive to a depth of 10 metres with the watch. However, it depends how sharply we move the watch even at this depth - it is better to dive to a depth of 8 meters with a 100 M watch, anyway it is too much for amateur divers. In general, 1 meter of water column is 0.1 ATM or 0.1 bar.

The sealing of the watch goes hand in hand with the durability and accuracy of the movement. The more sealed a watch is, the better it can withstand air pressure, which can then directly affect the accuracy of the movement (more accurately, air pressure affects the hairpin inertia), the better it can withstand temperature, which can affect the quality of the oils in the bearings. At the same time, watertightness goes hand in hand with dusttightness - fine dust is less dense than water. Thus, it can be said that waterproof watches have longer time horizons for cleaning the movement than non-waterproof watches (of course, it depends on where and in what environment the watch is worn - if a non-waterproof elegant watch is worn in a dusty environment, the horizon for cleaning the movement is the same as for a waterproof watch).

Explanation of water resistance markings on watches - water resistance table
Water resistant - watches with this marking on the dial or cap are designed for everyday wear and for company. These watches are resistant to dust and increased humidity, e.g. in rain etc. Please handle watches with this marking with care - they are not intended for rough handling or direct contact with water.

Water resistant 30M (3 ATM) - watches with this marking are, like watches with the water resist marking, dust and moisture resistant - they may already come into contact with water, but really accidental, e.g. washing hands. Watches with this water resistance must not be completely submerged - water does not matter here in case of dripping or dampness. In the case of complete immersion of a watch with this waterproofing, the watch may become wet, which is most often manifested by dew on the glass.

Water resistant 50M (5 ATM) - watches with this designation are water resistant to surface bathing. The watch already has a quality seal in the crown and if it is a chronograph, the chronograph buttons also have a seal - there is also a seal under the cap (screw-on, but also screw-down). You can swim with caution with a 50M watch and the watch is capable of sealing to a depth of 0.5 metres, which is fully sufficient for surfers, swimmers ... in short, for surface swimming. However, care must be taken not to get the watch deeper below the surface of the water when swimming, which often happens. With a 50M watch, great care must be taken throughout the swim to ensure that the watch does not get to greater depths or get caught in water pressure, for example by a wave that causes water pressure greater than that at depths up to 50cm below the surface. So a 50M waterproof watch is more for accidental dips in water - for swimming, it's better to choose a waterproof rating of 100M or more precisely because there's plenty of potential for the pressure around the watch to build up so much in the water that a 50M waterproof rating won't be enough.

Water resistant 100M (10 ATM) - a watch with this designation can already be fully considered water resistant. This designation gives us a guarantee for diving down to a depth of 8 - 10 meters, which includes recreational diving, water sports, etc. The seals in the crown, cap or chronograph pushers are reinforced and prepared for higher water pressure. Watches marked in this way are already designed to withstand shocks from the outside. It is important to know, however, that the crown must not be tampered with on watches below 10 metres and that if the watch is fitted with a chronograph, the chronograph (or more precisely, the chronograph buttons) must not be used in water.

Water resistant 200M (20 ATM) - a watch bearing the 200 meter marking is already a watch designed for deep-sea diving. There is always already a screw-down case back and almost always a screw-down crown - for perfect sealing and deactivation of the crown during a deep dive. With this watch, you can already dive down to a respectable 20 metres, where there is already so much pressure that if you hit something with that kind of pressure, it must be a real blow and the watch must be able to withstand it. 200 metres water resistance is the maximum for a mass-produced watch. Even here, however, the crown or chronograph buttons must not be handled in water.

Water resistant 300M (30 ATM) - a watch designed for professional divers. This water resistance will never be used by a normal water recreationalist - the watch is already equipped with an air valve, screw-down buttons, crown and cap are a matter of course. With a watch sealed in this way, you can dive to a depth of up to 30 metres.

Water resistant 1000M (100 ATM) - a watch designed for professional deep-sea diving. Such watches even have a liquid in the interdigit space, in which the hands run without problems, which serves to equalize the pressure at such a depth and therefore ensures the unbreakability of the glass by pressure. Everything that is movable tends to be screwed with very fine threads and still often covered.

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