The truth about water resistance ratings 🌊

Water resistance ratings is one of the most confusing and even dangerous subjects in watchmaking. Your watch pretends it's 50m, 100 or 20m Water resistant? This is a lie, and the whole watch industry is in on it!
Please find below the watches shown in the video:
⭐Seagull 1963: Amazing mechanical chronograph for just $166 :
Link: s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_Dds...
Review: • Seagull 1963 chronogra...
⭐Tissot PRX Powermatic 80:
Link: amzn.to/3KfOXR7
Review: • Tissot PRX Powermatic ...
⭐Orient Kamasu: a channel favourite!
Link: amzn.to/3IgeJlL
Review: • Orient Kamasu (Mako 3)...
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0:00 Intro
1:10 What makes a watch water resistant?
2:14 What do water resistance ratings REALLY mean
6:30 How to keep your watch safe
8:10 Conclusion

[@TheBimmer74]

As a rubber chemist, I will tell you that all rubber O-Rings and gaskets are not created equal. It all depends on how well the rubber compounds are formulated, which are used in the composition of these seals. Showering and swimming are not going to expose you to chemicals that will harm these seals. I shower daily with my 200 meter watches and also take them in the hot tub and have never had a problem. The most important property of these seals is what engineers call compression set resistance. Seals, which are compressed in the same position for many years can stay in the compressed position after years of exposure to heat and undergo oxidation. This creates a situation whereby the seals lose their ability to push back when compressed aka they lose their sealing ability and must be replaced. This is why it's a good idea to have the seals replaced every so often and a pressure test done afterwards. The biggest problem are watch owners who set their watches and forget to fully compress or seat the crown afterwards.

[@Horologique]

That is some very specific information, thank you so much! I cannot go as deep, but I learned something today 😉. The bottom line is that seals have to be replaced when they degrade and your watch checked before being exposed to water

[@TheBimmer74]

@Horologique is the text me on Telegram about a giveaway for real or is it a scam from a bot?

[@TheBimmer74]

​@Horologique is this giveaway a scam? Is this a bot?

[@Horologique]

@@TheBimmer74 Scam! I'm sick of these leaches!!

[@TheBimmer74]

@Eric B I have several watches with Viton seals. It actually has really great resistance to high temperatures but doesn't perform well at very low temperatures. It was a Viton seal that failed on a very cold day of the space shuttle launch and it leaked bringing down the shuttle.

[@craigkovach8475]

I swim in the ocean all the time and for years have always worn my indestructible $75 100m Casio Compass watch not because my 200m ISO diver wouldn't be fine but because I'm afraid of losing it and because it's shiny and I'm scared of sharks! : ) So quite guilty of desk-diving but I gotta say that little Casio is an awesome and reliable ocean watch (even gives me ocean temp). Another great video thanks.

[@Horologique]

Casios are indestructible, even under water, especially the Gshocks!

[@migfed]

I think you posed the key points so people that are getting into this hobby will stand on firm ground and avoid all this misconceptions derived from the industry itself. Great as usual my friend.

[@Horologique]

Thank you so much 👍. Yes this is intended for people getting into the hobby

[@InGratitudeIam]

He made this way more complicated than it needed to be.

[@1SaG]

Back when I was younger and dumber, I used to wear nothing but Swatch (mostly the basic, 30m WR models) when on vacation. I swam with them, I snorkled with them, I water-skied with them - never had any of them fail on me. If I had known back then that 3 ATM/30m doesn't really mean 30 meters, I probably wouldn't have used them in this manner. :) Hydraulic Press Channel has some very interesting high pressure tests up on YT with various watches, taking them down to crush depth and/or to 300 ATM/3000m of pressure. Interestingly enough, even the Vostok diver they tested only failed at around 1800m (the crystal cracked and then imploded). They also had a cheap-ish Quartz diver with a self-applied 200m rating and even that one lasted well beyond 200m (failed around 100 ATM IIRC) and even after the dial-side of the case filled up with water, the movement was still working. I think the only watch that survived the maximum "depth" they can achieve with their pressure chamber was a Cronos Sea Dweller/Deep Sea homage - which now comes with a "3000m pressure tested by Hydraulic Press Channel" engraving on the case-back. :)

[@Horologique]

Totally, I saw their video about the Cronos sent over by Gary from ILW, and it was truly impressive 👍

[@1993reefblue]

I'm not sure about other brands but my cheap Timex and Casios have never failed under any normal water activities like showering, swimming, hot tubs, ect. Even years later when changing batteries the watch was perfect with no evidence of moisture. People taking off there 100m dive watches before getting wet is utterly hilarious.

[@mwojciak]

You are just wrong. SO WRONG :( Do your research better. You're just spreading rumors. WR for new watches is acctually under certain ISO norms (ISO 22810). Not only dive watches, all of them. So if you are selling watches in USA or EU it has to fallow those norms. So, your 30m WR can survive 3 atm pressure or more. If you know anything about physics you should also know that it is litteraly impossible to make such pressure with your hands... I give you few examples - IWC mark XVIII, which is 6atm. According to manufacturers manual instruction booklet you can snorkle with it! SNORKEL. I was swimming with my XVIII for years. Recentely I have bought Patek 7234. It's also 60m, and manufacturer also claims that it suitable for water activities on the surface. The only warning is about leather strap... PS. First diver watches, Zodiac SeaWolf, Submariner and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, were WR to aprox 100 meters. So please...

[@bbwt9991]

You are right. I just commented similarly. I an retired German navy diver and he certainly has a lot of inaccurate information here. As one example, many smartwatches used to measure swimming strokes for example the older Samsung watches are only 50m.

[@DM-rc4yu]

Ironic that the video is titled "the truth" when it just repeats common myths.

[@1993reefblue]

@@DM-rc4yu I almost turned it off in the beginning when he said 100m doesn't mean you can swim with it or even shower lol Same myths

[@howardroark7726]

Thanks for this excellent information.

[@simonthomas5113]

Thank you for pointing out the "steam" element. I always wondered about this as my job involves handling steam cleaned objects and pulling them out of the machine that cleans them.

[@hectthorno584]

Excellent review !!! 😉

[@wrenside]

great stuff as always. thanks!

[@Horologique]

Thank you!

[@InGratitudeIam]

He made this way more complicated than it needed to be.

[@mortimerwatt1766]

Very Useful Video - many thanks

[@Horologique]

Thank you 👍

[@danbrown7857]

Very good!👍🏼🙂👍🏼👏🏼

[@user-ig6nu4oo5p]

i think it depends on the brand. you can easily swim with a casio f91w and i even seen it pressure tested for almost 200m, same goes for seiko and such. on the other hand i wouldnt trust a pegani design 200m wr to be true.

[@InGratitudeIam]

A basic rule of thumb for dive related equipment is only use equipment rated for at least twice the "working pressure," i.e., your deepest dive. So, if your deepest dive is 150 feet, get something rated for at least 300. Commercial divers work in depths around twice that. ISO standards, among other things are very specific about how a bezel is marked and operates. It's safe to say that a watch rated for 50 meters, roughly 150 feet, is okay when swimming in a pool with a 10 ft deep end. The biggest problem with taking a watch into the shower is due to heat and the pressure that can build up inside the case. Sometimes crystals pop out of place. Seals do degrade over time and WR ratings are based on new seals.

[@backyardcigars8670]

Brilliantly done and to the point. Even though I had this information I enjoyed watching your presentation of the truth behind water ratings. I recently had a 500 meter dive watch fail a pressure test and luckily I did not submerge the watch but instead had it checked out. Are the rubber gaskets to blame ?maybe but the watch is less than a year old so my watch tech said it may be a factory defect. The watch company is sending me a new watch but it was a lesson learned when a 500M dive watch fails you even before hitting the water. Thank you for the video.

[@Horologique]

Thank you so much for your valuable feedback! It's a reminder that we always have to be wary, even with new watches 👍. What brand was it if you don't mind?

[@InGratitudeIam]

He made this way more complicated than it needed to be.

[@backyardcigars8670]

@@Horologique hello- it was an Axios Ironclad- Singapore based. But they have been fair with me and they are paying for all costs.

[@Pierluigi_Di_Lorenzo]

4:57 ISO '6425'. 5:06 No link regarding testing exists in the notes, just advertisements for watches that mostly are not divers.

[@eyesuckle]

I have to take issue with your advice to have the seals on your watch checked regularly. I've had two watches that were in the moderate price range ($200 to $300). Both were destroyed by water ingress after I had the batteries changed--by supposedly professional "jewelers." Up until the time I had the batteries changed, I had no problem swimming and even scuba diving with these watches. But as soon as the backs were opened up to change the battery, they could no longer be safely submerged. I went swimming and they filled up with water. Maybe I just live in a city (Vancouver) where the jewelers are especially incompetent. But as far as I'm concerned, if you can avoid having the back of your watch removed, then don't. One of the main reasons I switched to a solar-powered watch is so that I wouldn't have to have the battery changed, and thereby risk having the seals replaced incorrectly. Like so many of the electro-mechanical things I own these days, the manufacturers seem able to make these items, but the service people are incapable of t servicing them.

[@Horologique]

I totally understand and that can happen. What they do here in France when you go for a battery change is that they tell you the watch will not be water resistant anymore. They do tell you that they can do the water resistance but it costs much more, I think it's a ratio of 5 to 1 or thereabouts. It's strange that they didn't tell you this, indeed don't go to those jewelers again

[@zsoltprokai7310]

Seiko make ISO certified 200m air diver's watches (Turtle-Samurai and upwards). I think, they can easily survive any diving within the air diving range. I have try my very cheap Vostok Amphibia in 10-15m deep (checking boat anchor), it is also a 200m diver's watch without any problem. But! My Seiko Alpinist has 20bar rating, I would not try it, because the inner rotating compass has no screw-in crown. I think it can survive any surface activity or very shallow snorkeling, jet-skiing or water-skiing not it's territority.

[@chriswatchreviews4752]

Thanks for putting this out. A lot of non-watch people don't understand the WR meanings of watches. I had to explain to my dad that he could not swim with his 50 WR watch. Anything above 100 is usually pretty safe. Ancedotally speaking, before I knew anything about watches, I swam in the ocean and snorkled with 100 WR watch that did not have a screw down crown, and nothing happened to them over several years of ownership. A lot really does depend on the reputation of the watch maker

[@Horologique]

You are welcome thank you for your real world feedback, I totally agree 👍

[@InGratitudeIam]

He made this way more complicated than it needed to be.

[@mwojciak]

You are actually both very wrong. You're just spreading rumors. WR for new watches is acctually under certain ISO norms (ISO 22810). Not only dive watches, all of them. If you are selling watches in USA or EU it has to fallow those norms. So, your 30m WR can survive 3 atm pressure or more. If you know anything about physics you should also know that it is litteraly impossible to make such pressure with your hands... I give you few examples - IWC mark XVIII, which is 6atm. According to manufacturers manual instruction booklet you can snorkle with it! SNORKEL. I was swimming with my XVIII for years. Recentely I have bought Patek 7234. It's also 60m, and manufacturer also claims that it suitable for water activities on the surface. The only warning is about leather strap... PS. First diver watches, Zodiac SeaWolf, Submariner and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, were WR to aprox 100 meters. So please... Odpowiedz

[@mtbkmaniac1]

I trust my Seiko Turtle for getting into the water. However if I am going diving, I will be taking my instrument to be tested. Should do that yearly for water bound watches.

[@Horologique]

Ahhh I have taken the Turtle to many underwater adventures as well, glad to see others are seeing some action 👍👍

[@vladchan]

The ISO standard for water resistance watches says that they are suitable for everyday use and short swims. They are not suitable for diving regardless of depth rating.

[@bbwt9991]

Many smartwatches are 50 rated and used to record swimming data in the pool and in the sea. So, not all 50m ratings are the same. As for 100m wr swimming and snorkeling is fine if the brand is reliable. As for 200m, this is a standard diving watch for recreational diving and are safe far below the 3 or 4 metres you mention. In fact many will be safe even deeper than 200m but it's rare that divers will go that deep. I'm a retired German navy diver and I've never gone deeper than 120m. The Orient you displayed though not ISO certified can definitely go to 120m or more and the Seiko and Orient ISO certified 200m watches are tested to a level of around 20% MORE than the 200m on the dial. So a 200m is fine for diving, in fact it is the standard for most scuba divers. You don't need a 300m watch, because 1. You'll never need it and 2. An ISO 200m watch will probably go to 250m before even the chance is there that it might leak.

[@frankmiller95]

ln addition to your other admirable accomplishments, your English is better than half, the native born, voting population of the US.

[@markymarknj]

Sir, I would add that the watch's construction should be considered. For example, my Citizen Navihawk A-T is rated for 200 meters WR, but I wouldn't do much more with it than wash my hands or go out in the rain with it. Why? Because: 1) it doesn't have a screw-down crown; and 2) it has four ingress points (buttons on either side of the crown and a control to rotate the E6B bezel). With my Navihawk, I take the WR rating with a grain of salt. However, I wouldn't hesitate to take either of my Citizen Eco Drove Promaster dive watches deep, because: 1) it has the screw-down crown; 2) it's ISO 6425 compliant (DIVERS 200 Meters); 3) the watch is designed and built for real diving, and it's used for that purpose; and 4) Citizen dive watches are well known for being tough. Oh, and THANK YOU for bringing out the point about DYNAMIC pressure! WR tests are done at static pressure, so one cannot go swimming or diving with a watch to its rated WR; their arm movement will increase the dynamic pressure, thus exceeding the watch's WR rating. Finally, if someone does saturation diving, that diver is a professional. They'll use a Doxa, Squale, or a Scurfa watch. The Scurfa watches are designed by a professional diver, BTW...

[@Getouttahere78]

Best is to never shower with your watch, especially with hot water. My daily is rated for 200m and I will get into the pool with it. I always wash it in cold water. When I dive I wear a G-Shock

[@Horologique]

Right on all accounts 👍

[@gianri05]

@horologique ive been wondering this about the Tissot sea star which has a 30 bar wr rating but isn’t « iso » certified.

[@Horologique]

Hello. For a brand like Tissot there's no issue, a 300m Diver you can totally dive with it 👍

[@brianmsahin]

Excellent video Olivier and good advice. However, there is one exception to the 50m no swimming rule. For fitness I use a Samsung Watch Active 2 which has a 50m water resistance rating. Not only that I swim with it as this watch as part of the fitness functions measures swimming lap speeds, calories and swimming stroke efficiency. Now it would not have that if you can't swim with it. I've been using it for 3 years in the swimming pool. However, that's a specialized watch designed for this use, the case itself even has aquadynamic properties to assist with smooth water flow. I do agree however that a 50m standard non fitness watch isn't for swimming. I'd never bring mine into the water! One thing you are certainly wrong on is a 200m watch. I scuba dive very regularly, the watch is a backup for a dive computer of course, but I have regularly dived to 60m and a bit more with both ISO certified Seiko divers and non certified micro-brands and they are absolutely fine. In fact in the case of the ISO watch, they are tested beyond 200m or whatever the maximum is.

[@Horologique]

Thank you very much for that feedback my friend! Totally, I swam and even dived 4m during 30 minutes (practice pool diving) with a cheap sports wristband and it has held perfectly for the last 3 years. Great that you have so much dive experience, that gives you a lot of real world insight! I have been diving here and there and have noticed that only us watch lovers dive with our watches for backups, other divers use...another dive computer as a backup 😂

[@karstentopp]

With most watches, I adopted the policy that cheap Chinese watches are rated in "Mao Meters", whereas the better ones are rated in "China Meters", otherwise known as "mm" and "cm".

[@spgk6470]

Nice vid! I swim many times in the meditarranean every summer and my rules are simple. Find a watch from a trusty brand that you like but you dont mind losing or damaging in the sea. For me it's a CASIO MTD 1053D at 50 euros. 200m wr nice cheap watch and plesant to wear. Every time after a swim day rince it with fresh water, then let it inside a water filled cup to take the salt away. Have it pressure tested and change the seals every 3-4 years. In this case it's a quartz so every time the battery dies. Keep your other nice loved watches away from swims! Have them also pressure tested every 4 years if you want a piece of mind and an occational swim. Also anything with a wr rating under 100m is only good for splashes if you don't want a gamble.

[@dunderhay9169]

I don't know why anyone would shower with a watch! Steam can be a problem as there isn't pressure compressing the seals. I would be happy to swim in any reasonably new major manufacturer 100+m watch, but I think we all need to ask ourselves how much is this watch worth, how much to repair, is it better to choose a less expensive watch to risk in water?

[@GShockWatchFan.]

G Shock won't let you down

[@aka_lonewolf19]

I frequently use my gshock 2100 for diving and it's still tough as hell. I just dont care abt that watch. If it was expensive i'd never dare to use like that. Still going strong after 4 yrs

[@Horologique]

Gshock is God Tier mate!

[@stinkintoad]

This is why I wear a 1000 meter Breitling superocean.

[@Gboyrides]

so if rolex tested my date just its rated to 10bar 100m/330ft now they pressure test 10% over that rating so if it passes why the fuck wouldn't i be able to dive to 50 ft with it it just hit 400ft ish ft depth ISO rating and their rules are shit

[@XjohnjohnX88]

❤️❤️❤️

[@InGratitudeIam]

He made this way more complicated than it needed to be.

[@ahmedhishamdr8485]

As a rule:No screw down crown, the Watch is no more than 30m WR….rain or splash resistant,no swimming or diving!

[@1993reefblue]

Hogwash.. the gaskets in the crown is what stops the water not the screw down action. Screw down just adds a measure of safety so that the crown doesn't get pushed out by accident. Also 30M by todays standards is more than anyone needs unless you're a professional diver.

[@owenlaprath4135]

This whole thing infuriates me, and you are right about blaming the industry, but it was NOT the Japanese, who cheated us! Can you swim in a watch, if it is not a 20 dollar Casio, or an OLD Seiko-5 watch rated at 30 meters, which according to the new charts is not even soap-proof while taking a shower?? To be clear, people have been swimming with sub 100 dollar Seiko-5 watches from their beginning 60 years ago, and with a Casio, nobody even checks the water rating, when they go for beach time! Why is Casio's OLD chart so different, from that agreed to by the world's most expensive luxury watch makers, like Rolex, Omega, Patek Pillipe, etc, who charge from 5thousand to over half a million and MORE for their prissy safe-queen pieces? All of this "rating" idiocy gives the expensive luxury makers an excuse to NOT do sufficient water-proofing. Casio's 10 to 100 dollar per watch water chart looks way different, and allows for a lot more, than all these umpty-thousand dollar per watch Swiss rip-off artists! The "dynamic" pressure, that is added, when you swing your arm back and forth for paddling is far less than one extra ATM or bar or 10meters. Swinging your arm back and forth at 5 m/s, which is 18 Km/h , 11 mph, or 10 Knots, generates 1/10th of an extra Atmosphere, and that is more than twice of what a well trained swimmer can do, when they do a world record speed max of 5 mph! Swimming with a 30meter watch should be just fine, as long as you do not jump-dive into the water! Seiko-5 has been famous as a sports and casual swimming watch for generations, and they were until recently rated for only 30 meters! I guess I need to stick to Seiko and Casio???? OH, WAIT, many homages are rated for 200 meters, and while that may be optimistic, I yet have to see my Invicta, Tandorio, or Pagani homages fail in the shower or the senior's therapy pool session! My 30 and 50 meter Casios are also just fine, thank you very much! So SCREW all over-priced Swiss watch makers! If my 100 meter Glycine fails, they better be prepared for a surprise!

[@Gboyrides]

10atm is 147 psi yet only rated for swimming hmmm i bet you cant swim down to 98 ft which is 30 m 50 ft would be hard to anyone and thats only 36 psi soooo tell me again why I wouldn't be able to go diving with my watch that's rated to 10 bar? Pretty sure if you're diving around 50 feet it's only 36 psi which the watch can handle 147 soooo someone needs to come up with a better certification

[@Horologique]

Because 10bar is only theoretical, in lab conditions. In real life you've got many other factors to take into account: movement of the arm, normal wear of the seals up to that point, and so many other factors. Really, look it up. The only way you can dive with a 100m is if it's ISO 6425 certified.

[@Gboyrides]

@@Horologique but Rolex testers 10% higher than 10 bar you're not gonna go anywhere anywhere near that swimming or diving

[@Gboyrides]

@@Horologique 10 bars 147 psi where are you gonna go that's gonna raise the psi to 147 you're diving only to 50 feet usually and that's 36 psi no matter how much you wave your arm is not gonna be over 147 psi

[@Gboyrides]

@@Horologique and 10 bar is not only theoretical it's tested. I could take my watch off right now and put it in a pressure tester and it would test at 10 bar. Because that's what Rolex says, and that's what Rolex does and I've watched all the videos of them testing them. Why would a company put 10 bar on and if it's not actually 10 bar that's just lying

[@Horologique]

@@Gboyrides www.watchrepublicshop.com/blogs/watch-guide/properties-of-good-water-resistant-watch-for-your-adventure