Water Resistant or Waterproof – How Complicated Can This Be?

From a diver friend who sells water resistant and waterproof watches, “Actually what really water resistant means is that the watch can sustain a certain amount of atmosphere, which naturally means that it can be submerged into water under certain amounts of meters. So for example 3 atm would be 30 meters, which in this day in age all the watches are at least 3 – 5 atm water resistant. Even the classy dress watches with leather straps are still made water resistant to at least 3 atm.

Now when you are talking about water proof, naturally this means that the watch will be used for diving or sport water activity. And those watches are more heavy duty in terms of water resistance. Now it is still water resistant, like to 300 meters or to 1000 meters which not many ever dive to, but it shows how rigorously they test the watch to make sure that it can take that kind of water pressure. To test for water resistance there is a special device that watch service centers use. You put the watch inside and it shows whether it is able to hold pressure.”

Now to protect – and maybe confuse us more, there is the official ISO 2281 water-resistant watches standard that is monitored by the International Organization for Standardization.

Wikipedia states, “The International Organization for Standardization issued a standard for water resistant watches which also prohibits the term waterproof to be used with watches, which many countries have adopted. The international standard ISO 2281 Horology – Water-resistant watches defines the water resistance of watches. This standard was introduced in 1990 and only designed for watches intended for ordinary daily use and are resistant to water during exercises such as swimming for a short period. They may be used under conditions where water pressure and temperature vary…”

Writing this blog is giving me a headache. I am going to take my Omega and just keep it dry.

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