I’m not really sure why watches do this, but it is a practice that is hugely misleading. On the backs on many watches there is almost always this bold claim of “water resistance” to a certain depth it can never actually reach. On the whole it is hugely misleading and likely to ruin a perfectly good watch.

To offer an example, the back of my own Khaki King Automatic makes a claim of water resistance to 50M:

Hamilton H64455533 Men’s Khaki King Automatic Black Dial Strap, Free Shipping

Now what does this actually mean? Does it mean that this watch can go 50 meters underwater?

The short answer is, NO!

If you think about it, what does “water resistant” really mean? I mean would you buy body armor that is simply “bullet resistance” rather than “bullet proof?” I mean I can claim that my car is elephant resistant, but if an elephant hurls its mass toward the side of my car, I doubt it would fare very well.

The truth is that the advertised water resistance of most watches is an outright lie, and that any watch that claims any degree of water resistant is not capable of going to the depths it advertises. If a watch claims 50-100 meters of water resistant it may be suitable for wading in the kiddie pool and things like water skiing, but I would be wary to take it even to 1/10th of its advertised depth. And while I may concede that 200 meters of water resistance can maybe handle some light dives, it can’t go anywhere near 200 meters of depth.

I know that this doesn’t apply to the vast majority of you desk jockeys out there, but if you seriously want to go to great depths you have to get a watch that can handle it.

So how do you know?

It’s simple, all you have to do is look for the “DIVERS” mark on the watch:

Seiko Diver’s Automatic 200M – Black Dial – Stainless Bracelet

If you are having trouble reading it, reads:

SEIKO

AUTOMATIC

DIVER’S 200m

Watches that make the bold “DIVERS,” or “DIVER’S” claim means that it has met a certain set of standards and is actually suitable for diving to depths that you may never go and then some. These watches can take the punishment so have at it.

Have you ever bought a diver’s watch and wondered as to the exact purpose of that exclusively left-turning ring doohickey surrounding the dial of your watch?

Well let me just say, if you feel stupid because you don’t know how to operate this thing, that’s because you probably are.

Seriously, even a monkey can do this:

Seiko Men’s “Black Monster” Automatic Dive Watch #SKX779K3

IS A MONKEY SMARTER THAT YOU?!?!

If you don’t know what I am talking about I’ll show you what I mean using my Seiko Black Monster:

Seiko Men’s “Black Monster” Automatic Dive Watch #SKX779K3

This is a typical dive watch, and if you’ve read some of my earlier posts you know that I love this watch even though it does weigh a ton. It’s got everything that a typical dive watch has got. It has luminous hands and markers, great depth rating, tough steel case and bracelet, rugged looks, and most importantly of all for the purposes of this tutorial, it has a diving bezel.

If you still don’t know what I’m going on about I have singled out the diving bezel just for you:

Seiko Men’s “Black Monster” Automatic Dive Watch #SKX779K3

Now as you see the bezel has minute (or seconds if you will) increments that goes up to the number 60. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that because there are 60 seconds in a minute, 60 minutes in a hour, and the fact that a diving bezel is on a bloody WATCH, probably means that its purpose has got something to do with measuring time.

Well you guessed right genius, a diving bezel is used to measure time, and its purpose, diving of course.

I won’t bore you with the details of diving but the purpose of a diving bezel is typically for divers to time their decompression stops. You see, when a diver goes deep underwater they have to endure a great deal of pressure. Going down to great depths, however, is not quite the same as coming back up. A diver can get down to great depths relatively fast, but when coming back they can’t do it too fast or they might get sick or even die.

To overcome this, divers have to come up in carefully-timed stages, and in this situation a watch becomes as important a diving tool as a wet suit and a scuba tank. You ever notice how the increments on a diving bezel are different from the 0-15 minute position as opposed to the rest of a bezel? That is because the typical decompression stop for most diving situations is 15 minutes. Ever wonder why you can only turn the darn thing counterclockwise? That is because it is safer for the diver not to perceive a shorter elapsed time if the bezel should accidentally get turned after it is set.

Well now that you know a little more, it’s time to learn how to operate the thing.

Well here is my Seiko Black Monster sitting on the wrist of your humble presenter. As you notice the bezel is set so that the ‘zero’ mark is set at the 60 minute, or 12 o’clock position:

Seiko Men’s “Black Monster” Automatic Dive Watch #SKX779K3

Let’s just say we are underwater on a dive. Actually forget that! I want to use a more real-world situation, so let’s say we want to know how long it takes for my cake to bake. Disregarding the above shot of my Black Monster, the current time on my watch is 11:40, so what we want to do is turn the bezel so that the ‘zero’ mark, or the big triangle, is hovering right over my minute hand like so:

Seiko Men’s “Black Monster” Automatic Dive Watch #SKX779K3

So now that my bezel is set I just leave it there until I need it again. When my minute hand reaches 11:55 that would mean that 15 minutes has elapsed, when the watch hits 12:00 that would mean 20 minutes have passed and so on and so on…

Well I’m smelling a burning from the office oven so that must mean that my cake is done. I read my watch and it looks like this:

Seiko Men’s “Black Monster” Automatic Dive Watch #SKX779K3

Now pay attention. How long was my cake in the oven? Look at the time, it is now 12:18.

If haven’t figured it out at this point, than you have problems. Here is the solution:

Seiko Men’s “Black Monster” Automatic Dive Watch #SKX779K3

Main purpose of a diving watch is diving, but I suspect that diving bezels all across the world will do just as well timing steaks on the grill as well.

Well there you have it monkey. That is how you use a diving bezel:

Seiko Men’s “Black Monster” Automatic Dive Watch #SKX779K3

Sorry I couldn’t resist. Happy Valentine’s Day to all. Here is another picture I dug up of my tough as nails Seiko automatic Diver’s watch called the BLACK MONSTER. I hope you all have a love as strong as the love I have for my Black Monster:

Seiko Diver’s Automatic 200M – Black Dial – Stainless Bracelet

No it’s not what you think. Although it’s not far off, but… Oh never mind! This is the Seiko Black Monster I’m talking about here. It is a diving watch from the far east with a small but loyal cult following. Originally available only in Japan it has made it’s way overseas and your humble presenter was able to scoop one up. Without further adieu, here is my Black Monster:

Seiko Diver’s Automatic 200M – Black Dial – Stainless Bracelet

When I first picked this up I immediately knew why this watch is nicknamed the Black Monster. It’s big, it’s thick, and it’s heavy. (Hmm…) This is a big chunk of metal no doubt. It’s not the biggest Diver’s watch you will find, but for me and most people it’s more than enough watch. Its nighttime illumination is top-notch. It’s accuracy is unheard of at this price level, and I have a feeling this automatic watch will last many many years without the need for servicing. Here it is sitting on the wrist of your humble presenter:

Seiko Diver’s Automatic 200M – Black Dial – Stainless Bracelet

It’s big, it’s heavy, and it’s ugly, but I absolutely love this thing. The clasp is an especially nice touch with both push button and deployment adding two layers of security to the thing. The bracelet is super-solid and honestly I’m hard-pressed to find much of a difference between this and something like a Rolex Submariner. I suppose you won’t feel such a loss if you should happen to drop this thing in the ocean, but as far as I know, this watch is the best value, best bang for your buck. However you want to put it, it’s a steal. I love my Black Monster.

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely adore Taiwan. I’ve never been there before but my girlfriend is Taiwan born and bred and she is a strong supporter of what is called the Taiwan Green Party, which is the Taiwanese National Party and home to the most fervent fans of traditional Taiwan. I support their politics. I have no idea what those politics may be, but because she supports Taiwan, so do I. She is fiercely nationalistic, and for her type of country-lovin’ Taiwanese I have the perfect watch:

Honestly I have no idea what the official name of this watch is since the only sites I’ve seen with this watch are written in characters I don’t understand, but I simply call it the Ball Taiwan Limited Edition. It is a little puzzling to me why Ball would introduce such a watch, but the marketing genius behind it is undeniable. I’ve never seen a country-specific limited edition watch, but I know tons of people with a very strong national pride. Make an India limited edition, or a China limited edition, and you have the formula to make BILLIONS!

It is said that a train crash occurred in American history because one of the conductors of that train had a watch that was 4 minutes slow. That prompted a man named Ball to found a brand of watches with unparalleled accuracy so that accidents like those could be prevented, and since then whenever anyone wanted to know the correct time they asked a train conductor in part because they knew he carried a BALL. Ball watches have been synonymous with accuracy and reliability ever since. The revival of the brand came as a whisper to me, and are still a whisper as they are very hard to find even online, but today’s Balls are known primarily because of their use of tritium gas tubes which result in superior nighttime illumination seen in no other watch brand.

Personally I’m wondering as to what prompted Ball to make a big divers watch for the generally smaller in stature Taiwanese population, but by all means: If you are fat enough, muscular enough, and if you can find the thing, please get it. If Ball made a South Korea limited edition, I would certainly consider it, but I’ll pass on this Ball.