SD waterproof rating of 4000 ft. WHY?

[maverick]

You could be twins. Maybe a career in TV will be in your future, JJ.

On the serious side I cannot answer your question. I can only find drivers at about 2000 ft. max. Could it possibly be for bragging rights? I doubt Rolex made this for nothing. They do over build their watches but........ =) maverick

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by maverick

You could be twins. Maybe a career in TV will be in your future, JJ.

On the serious side I cannot answer your question. I can only find drivers at about 2000 ft. max. Could it possibly be for bragging rights? =) maverick

Hi Dennis,

Nice chatting with you today over SKYPE. Guess you guys are right. The 4000 ft. is more like a sales ploy - no human on earth is ever going down that deep with an SD on his wrist to test it out....that's for sure!!

See you later, Dennis!!

[ohlins]

yeah it could be a sales ploy.......it could also be about having extra buffer or tolerance.....

just like a 2000 watts RMS amplifier........or a 800 bhp car.......BIG figures sell....you may never use all of it.....but it's nice to know u have it....:)

[pcarson]

JJ, no human has ever been to 4000 ft with or without a watch, in fact no-one has come close. I think the current record for technical diving descent breathing mixed gases (designed to reduce the chance of getting bent) is about 315M.

Most recreational SCUBA divers don't do things like that; they breath air and go much less deep. Usually to between 100-120feet. Below that it gets dark and cold, so the professionals do it with mixed gas. The limiting element is the "area under the nitrogen curve" which is influenced by a number of things, chiefly depth and time spent at that depth.

Tolerance to the temperature varies from individual to individual, fitness levels, activity underwater and water temperature. Most reasonably fit people will need a 2-4 mm suit if they want to dive tropical or sub-tropical 80 or greater feet at a surface temp of 20-24 degrees. Even then it can be chilly. It's a rough guide, and the only trade-off is that thicker wetsuits are more buoyant at less depth, so buoyancy is harder to manage for the novice.

But the deepest a professional has been is 310-315 meters, and this was a "technical" dive ie a dive done for its own sake. The guy took 6 hours to decompress.

Incidentally, you don't get crushed at depth because you're made of water. The air in you is compressed and that can be a problem in sinuses, including the middle-ear. Also, the deeper you go the higher the amount of nitrogen you absorb (not the proportion). You can go as deep as you like; pressure is not the limiting force. Limiting forces are nitrogen retention (decompression sickness or bends -only an issue if you get back), temperature, light and compression of air in trapped spaces. There is a whole book you can read on how this stuff affects the lungs, but it's boring.

Does that hep?

[JJ Irani]

Some good info there, Peter....thanks a lot - appreciated!!

[TARDIS]

I am going with the marketing theory. Rolex have always been into marketing in a sensational way. The channel swim in 1927 was one of the first of many.

When Rolex brought the 4000ft model out it was unbeatable at that time with such a gob smacking depth figure. Some of the buyers of this model may be associated with marine sport or even professional divers, but I would say far and away the majority of SD buyers wanted the watch because of the depth rating enscription on the dial. A big WOW factor if you like.

Lowering a watch by line overboard into the sea and measuring the line is impractical.

The pressure tests that Rolex carry out on their models in the factory are simulating ocean depths in special tanks. I read that years back, they pressure tested an Explorer I to some phenominal depth equivalent before the oyster case actually crumpled. (can't remember where I read it). This was used in an advertisement in magazines for the watch and showed pictures of it caved in. A great increase in sales of the model followed, they realised that pressure testing, especially on sports models used for snorkelling or scuba recreation would be more saleable with the marine depth 'limitation' enscribed on the dial. Similar advertisements were of the Sea Dweller being strapped to the outer hull of a submersible.

Rolex usually understate the pressure that is the marine depth equivalent. The Submariner is 1000ft (300m) and I'm optimistic it may go half as much again before any water penetration or case damage occurs.

Rolex were smart enough to know that their Sea Dweller would sell far better if it had the impressive 4000 feet written on the dial rather than 150 BAR or just "waterproof"

I would say that today more Rolex Submariners and Sea Dwellers are sold because of this and that the majority of buyers are not scuba divers either.

Rolex marketing may believe that to wear a Sea Dweller gives the owner a feeling of achievment and invicibility. He has no intention of diving to that depth for obvious reasons, but it gives him an dream image in his own mind that if he could descend to those cold black crushing depths, he would be able to so with the SD on his wrist.

So JJ that's a few reasons why the SD has the 4000ft rating.

Steve

[Andad]

If it plunged straight down could it handle the speed?

[leopardprey]

I think the extra protection from the increased Depth rating of the SD, just gives that extra edge you need. If you are a saturation commercial diver, you may only go down to couple hundred feet but you may be doing work and banging the watch against things that could cause additional pressure and stress on the watch. The SD was created out of a need by the COMEX divers. Of course the original SD's depth rating was less than it is today. But still had the HEV.

[astcell]

Rolex needs one to work in the Marianas trench!

...10,911 meters (35,798 ft or 6.78 miles)

[padi56]

Originally Posted by astcell

Rolex needs one to work in the Marianas trench!

...10,911 meters (35,798 ft or 6.78 miles)

They did on 30 September 1953,attached the Bathysphere Trieste but only to 3150m.But thats one Rolex thats was not designed for normal wrist wear.

[astcell]

Originally Posted by padi56

They did on 30 September 1953,attached the Bathysphere Trieste but only to 3150m.But thats one Rolex thats was not designed for normal wrist wear.

What kind or wrist did it need?

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by astcell

What kind or wrist did it need?

You're a certified nut, Robert!!! LOL!!!

[Fitchy]

[QUOTE=JJ Irani;201640]Okay guys,

Here are a few obvious questions coming your way...please answer them as best you can. Thanks!!

1. What is the maximum depth a professional trained diver can go down to with the usual breathing apparatus, but only wearing a normal dive suit?

2. What is the maximum depth a professional trained diver can go down to with a special extra thick diving suit and the huge metal helmet on top?

3. Whatever the depth, I'm pretty sure no human being on earth can get anywhere even close to 4,000 ft without being crushed like a tin can. So why this enormous depth rating on the SD when it can never be actually WORN by any man to that depth?

Normal scuba on air(21%oxygen 79%nitrogen) can go to 66 metres but after that there are issues around CNS toxicity due to oxygen being breathed under pressure, may cause tonic/clonic sezures.
With some training and a bit of nerve you can go deeper, using helium mixture to cut down the risk of oxygen toxicity.

Pro Divers can work around 300metre mark, they use an umbilical line which pumps warm water and breathing gas to their suit.
It can take up to a week to decompress in a bell from that depth, and ive heard stories of divers in Deco from a sat dive in the south china sea, when a hurricaine blew up and could not be pulled up, and had to wait for it to blow over, but sadly did not survive the storm.

[scott22]

I'll try posting a serious answer, and touch on something that I don't think anyone else has mentioned yet (unless I missed it).

It's really not about depth -- it's all about pressure. Pressure increases as you descend in the water, of course, but if you are simply waving your (Rolex-wearing) arm through the shallow end of a swimming pool, you are creating enormous amounts of pressure on the watch that simulate the pressure the (stationary) watch would receive at much deeper depths.

Watchmakers no longer describe their watches as "waterproof" -- merely water resistant. A watch that is water resistant to, say, 50 feet, could actually be compromised by taking a shower or going for a swim through a shallow pool because it would receive more pressure from the movement than it would merely sitting stationary in 50 feet of water.

So, yes, Rolex's depth rating on the Seadweller might be higher than most people would reasonably go, but even if human physiology allowed going to those depths, your Rolex would probably crack before you ever reached that rated depth if you're moving your arms.

[JJ Irani]

Originally Posted by scott22

So, yes, Rolex's depth rating on the Seadweller might be higher than most people would reasonably go, but even if human physiology allowed going to those depths, your Rolex would probably crack before you ever reached that rated depth if you're moving your arms.

Hmmm....you have made an interesting point there, Scott. Anyone here have any more to add to that!! Thanks, Scott!!

JJ

[padi56]

Originally Posted by scott22

I'll try posting a serious answer, and touch on something that I don't think anyone else has mentioned yet (unless I missed it).

It's really not about depth -- it's all about pressure. Pressure increases as you descend in the water, of course, but if you are simply waving your (Rolex-wearing) arm through the shallow end of a swimming pool, you are creating enormous amounts of pressure on the watch that simulate the pressure the (stationary) watch would receive at much deeper depths.

Watchmakers no longer describe their watches as "waterproof" -- merely water resistant. A watch that is water resistant to, say, 50 feet, could actually be compromised by taking a shower or going for a swim through a shallow pool because it would receive more pressure from the movement than it would merely sitting stationary in 50 feet of water.

So, yes, Rolex's depth rating on the Seadweller might be higher than most people would reasonably go, but even if human physiology allowed going to those depths, your Rolex would probably crack before you ever reached that rated depth if you're moving your arms.

If I remember the deepest recorded dive just on scuba gear was in the Red Sea a few years back.By a guy called Nuno Gomes total depth was just over 318m.Now it only took him about 20 minutes to reach that depth.But because of breathing different gasses at that depth and pressure, a little over 12 hours with all the safety stops to finally return to the surface safe, and without any decompression treatment.Now at these extreme depths,there are several diving related problems to overcome nitrogen decompression sickness, oxygen toxicity,sheer dehydration and the different affects of the gases when changing over tanks containing the different gas mixtures.Now while breathing the high helium mix the gas wants to leave the blood while the nitrogen wants to rush in.Now this dive would have not been possible without a huge back up and very careful planning.Gomes is in a very small group of guys that have gone over 250m with just scuba gear.In fact there have been more guys to go to the moon,that over 250m underwater just on scuba. But most recreational divers today stick to around 40m max depth.But when saturation diving what the SD was intended for, when divers have finished working in the water. They rest eat do everything and live in a dry pressurised chamber on, or some how connected to a diving support vessel, or say a oil rig.But at the same pressure as the main working depth, the whole diving team would be only compressed to the working pressure once. And then decompressed to surface pressure again only once, over the entire work period, of days or weeks or even longer.