I’m still trying to decide what to do with my Tudor Black Bay GMT (2nd post in the thread, I think). It’s a more understated piece vs. the Rolex GMT Master II that it was originally bought as a “stand in” for. And it wears very nicely on its bracelet, leather or its standard Nato strap (and I have all three).
I just can’t figure out when I’d wear it now. If I want GMT … I’d wear my Rolex. If not, then I’ve myriad other options. And the Rolex is physically more robust … where the bezel on the Tudor, while currently flawless, is definitely more “vulnerable” than the ceramic on the Rolex.
At the same time, they’re no longer selling for a premium - and I can’t think of a piece that gets you “more watch” for what they do sell for.
Here is my Omega Planet Ocean and Rolex Deepsea.I love these watches and take them on all my dive trips. I used to use them more, but with dive computers. Its not as necessary. Although its good to have a backup, to determine surface intervals, dive time, bottom time, and no fly time. They are classic dive watches that appeal to divers.
Thanks, The orange Omega Seamaster really looks great with orange leather band. The Deep Sea Challenger had a Rolex Deepsea strapped to the external of the sub, when James Cameron made his historic dive, 6.83 miles below the ocean. It was the deepest dive by a submersible ever completed. The Rolex deepsea watch survived , great marketing campaign for Rolex.
I really like the Orange Seamaster and Planet Ocean models. I remember Jeremy Clarkson finding one (I think it was a fake) in a random market on one of the Top Gear shows … while he was wearing the only other color they offered at the time … and he couldn’t tell the difference between real/fake.
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On the Deep Sea Challenge … Rolex actually did the same thing in 1960 with a watch strapped to the outside of Trieste with what was the “Deep Sea Special” (which looks very different to the Deepsea Challenge of today … and wasn’t a commercially available model).
It’s very nice to see someone else that actually wears their dive watches when diving!
The deepest I’ve taken mine is 390 feet (that was actually a 16610 Submariner). So far, my 126600 (current model 43mm Sea-Dweller) hasn’t gone deeper than 320.
And it probably won’t, at this point, as the necessary support is a PITA and I’ve done more than enough multi-hour decos at this point to never want to do them again. And while rebreathers can help lessen that, by keeping the mix optimal for depth, they’re their own special set of issues and risks.
A single AL80 or S117, 85 degree+ water, and an hour in the water no deeper than 70 feet is quite alright with me at this point. Make an exception for the odd wreck, but not often now.
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The watch in your picture looks like a five-digit Sea-Dweller (4,000 ft rating), though the picture isn’t that clear. The Deepsea is rated to 12,000 ft, and then there’s the Deepsea Challenge which goes all the way to 36,090.
Apparently I have a Deepsea with the Cameron (D-blue) dial waiting for me back at my AD in FL. Been on the list for an actual Deepsea Challenge for too long now … but I want the set (43, 44 and 50mm …).
Random thought (sitting around/traveling does this …) …
… why not 400 feet?
Would be a nice round number, right?
I was already pushing it … doesn’t seem like a big deal to drop just another 10 feet … but you’d be surprised (well, competent technical divers wouldn’t be). 390 feet was already me rolled on my side, waving my arm around below me …
As it was, I looked like an advertisement for Dodge Diver Dave’s Discount Dive Cylinder Supply … and that was with multiple cylinder stages on a line for both descent and ascent.
The Deepsea is a beautiful watch. The James Cameron model has green “Deepsea” on dial and transitions from blue to dark blue on dial. It is very heavy, for a day to day watch, but looks beautiful on wrist. You can’t go wrong with Rolex submariner or Deepsea models. They just keep going up in price. My Omega Planet Ocean is the 44mm chronograph. I am not sure if they are still making a 44mm model. I keep most of my dives at recreation dive limit 133 feet.
Well, from an AD they’re always MSRP, so the Deepsea will be $14,460 and the Deepsea Challenge will be $25,950. They’re not pieces I’d go to the grey/used market for unless they were the last two pieces I was EVER buying.
When I do get the Deepsea Challenge, though, I’m going to take in out into deep blue water, maybe one of the blue holes, mount it next to a depth gauge, on a plate with a suitable camera pointing at it (in something like a Benthic 3 case), dive to 100 feet or so (maybe on a rebreather - so I can hang for a bit) - and then lower the fucker on a line as far as I can so I can get a picture of MINE at some asinine “How the fuck did you get that deep?” depth …
Interesting test. You will probably have more problems with the camera housing failing. The watch should survive no problems. My ikelite housing for Canon 5d is tested to 300ft. So any camera housing that goes beyond that depth is going to be very costly. Once you get beyond 300ft you are a saturration diver, working for a offshore oil rig, or doing some risky wreck or cave diving, using rebreathers.
The ones I’m thinking I’d use are made here in Florida and are rated to 8,000 (Benthic 3+) and 9,000 (Abysso) feet respectively and run about $500. BUT … the former is for action cameras, the latter for a specific compact Sony video camera. I wouldn’t be trying it with a DSLR!
Hell, even on shallow recreational dives the most I can be bothered to carry these days is a pair of GoPro Hero 11s, one on my BCD and one on a tray with pair of Sola 3800 Lumen lights. Most of the time it’s just a GoPro in the standard dive case, on a stick, and whatever light I’m diving with at the time.
Well, no argument about such deep dives being risky.
You don’t need to be a saturation diver, or a working diver, or use a rebreather, to dive below 300 feet. There is admittedly not a lot of point, in most cases, outside a few wrecks.
However, you do need a lot of planning, support and experience to do so safely though. And even then “safely” is relative. There’s still lots of risk vs. even a 130 ft OC recreational dive on air.
I’m a certified technical diver, and rebreather diver, but I don’t typically do either anymore.
For the 390 ft (120m) dive I was diving with a group. We had three boats. Multiple support divers. It had taken 3 months to plan/organize. Thermal management was a pain. Bottles/regs staged on lines. In addition to running doubles for back-gas, and four cylinders (2x2) slung side-mount. I think we had a pair of ponies on lines as well, but I’d have to look at the dive log to be sure.
Most of the deco was done off the staged bottles … leaving what we carrying for descent, bottom time, and then backup.
Bottom time was <5 minutes. The entire dive took 4 or 5 hours, maybe more, though - the vast majority of which was just deco time. Again, I’d have to check my log to be 100% sure.
I don’t like cave dives, never have, unless they’re relatively shallow and very open with little/no risk of silting. Gives me the willies just thinking about it. Same with any overhead environment.
I did a couple of wreck/penetration dives when I was younger (I’ve been diving for >30 years now), but they were not that deep, and we didn’t penetrate that far (could see a way out the entire time, put it like that). There’s a longer story there, but it’s not my thing. Hanging above them/swimming around the outside … sure … eerie … and fascinating … but going IN? Not any more.
The scariest dives I completed were some wreck dives, and cenote cave dives. I did complete a saturation dive at 300ft. This was done inside a bell, they pressurized bell to 300ft to test your abilty to handle oxegen toxins on body. How this is done is you use heliox gas a mixture of helium and oxygen. The issue is oxygen is toxic beyond 300ft. So you must breath heliox gas. They also have you do mental clarity games, to asses your abilities to handle tasks under pressure. All of this was actually quite fun. I did all of this in the US Coast Guard, as a search and rescue diver.
I’ve done a few crazy things relating to depth and altitude.
The 390 foot tech dive was one - mixed gasses including hypoxic trimix/heliox because, as you say, oxygen toxicity is an issue that deep.
I did HUET training.
That put me off pursuing being a Navy helicopter pilot.
And I did altitude exposure training (in a chamber), one part of which involved a simulated explosive decompression to an effective altitude of 36,000 feet. That was back when I was young, fit, and had just climbed Kilimanjaro … so was adapted to altitude. ToUC was a lot shorter than I expected.
Part of the altitude exposure stuff was the same kind of mental proficiency/clarity stuff you mentioned (and which I did during my deep-diving/tech-diving training also ) … at progressively higher altitudes …
Oh, and while this is starting to become “The DIVING Thread” … one other recent thing …
I was diving off Honduras, Roatan specifically, just recently. I’d been toying with the idea of trying to get a dive (well ride) on “Idabel” (“The Yellow Submarine”) … which was stationed just across the bay from where I stayed (it went out, and I saw it coming back one afternoon).
But that was the same week that the OceanGate TITAN situation occurred … and … well … yeah.
I still can’t believe anyone would get on board that death trap. No backup systems, no tether, to the surface. To top it off you are locked into sub, even if they could surface, could not open hatch. The bell hatch was secured with bolts and pneumatic wrench. CEO purchased expired carbon fibre from Boeing, got it on sale for it had passed expiration date. Refused to get sub certified by submersible organization. To save money and he knew it would not pass stringent requirements.
