Does this make since to anyone? Commercial divers please help....

[rkboyer911]

This went way beyond me.......I was on another fourm and was chatting about my new purchase and this guy wrote this......

Rolexes don't keep good time in Roatan. Something about magnetic fields or something like that.
You may exceed your max bottom time and have to take a chamber ride.
answer was this...........

ONLY mechanical movement watches will be affected by magnetic fields.

If you apply a a magnetic field to a Rolex while diving, it could have a significant error on measuring bottom time. You see, as you dive deeper, the greater gaussian effect of the earth's core will exert a much stronger force on the watch movement. Remember the right hand rule. It should be obvious here. Not only that but I would posit that the diver may potentially experience a shock due to the increasing electric field generated by the two magnetic poles, (your primary and your octo would turn into opposing dipoles), combined with the proximity to the earth's core. Two opposing dipoles are depth are deadly. (Faraday's corollary). My advice is to use a Casio. It could save your life.

Due to the potentially disastrous consequences of diving with a Rolex.

WOW he totally lost me any of you Commercial divers know anything about this?????

[JohnEaton]

Originally Posted by rkboyer911

If you apply a a magnetic field to a Rolex while diving, it could have a significant error on measuring bottom time. You see, as you dive deeper, the greater gaussian effect of the earth's core will exert a much stronger force on the watch movement. Remember the right hand rule. It should be obvious here. Not only that but I would posit that the diver may potentially experience a shock due to the increasing electric field generated by the two magnetic poles, (your primary and your octo would turn into opposing dipoles), combined with the proximity to the earth's core. Two opposing dipoles are depth are deadly. (Faraday's corollary). My advice is to use a Casio. It could save your life.

Due to the potentially disastrous consequences of diving with a Rolex.

Cough... Bulllll shhhhhtttt... Cough... Cough...




If I were welding I would probably use something other than a Rolex when diving...

But I don't use a SuperLite or a Kirby when welding either...

Not because of the magnetic field but because welding can strip metals from the surrounding area... Don't really know how the 904L would stand up, just would rather not try it...

[WatchTimes]

Sounds like bull dookey to me BUT
regardless every diver I know uses a computer
these days anyway so VERY few divers would really
count on their watch for their air supply time.

[Art161]

Not a clue. You could try a PM to vjb.knife. Vince is a former commercial diver.

[Tareg]

doesn't sound likely to me, earths magnetic field does change with distance from the core, but if going from sea level to the top of a mountain at 1000s of feet has no effect on your watch, then I doubt the increased magnetic strength at a couple of 100 ft below sea level will have any effect.

[Perdu]

That's why Seiko sell so many mechanicals to divers.

[rkboyer911]

Originally Posted by JYogi

Sounds like bull dookey to me BUT
regardless every diver I know uses a computer
these days anyway so VERY few divers would really
count on their watch for their air supply time.

I do infact use a computer (to much thinking not to use one)
I just found this interesting and had never heard of it...and ive been diving for several years. All most every dive watch ive seen is mechanical.

[Markg]

thats the stupidest thing i have heard in a long time...

when diving, i dont wear my sub, but rather two computers. but it has NOTHING to do with what he told you.....

[JohnEaton]

Originally Posted by Markg

thats the stupidest thing i have heard in a long time...

when diving, i dont wear my sub, but rather two computers. but it has NOTHING to do with what he told you.....

I use two computers as well...

When the first computer requires decompression I hang it at 10 feet while I dive using the second computer, by the time it needs to decompress, I can usually re use the first...

By alternating computers all day I can usually double my bottom time

[Z-Sub]

Sounds like bull
The distance to the earth's core is so much bigger than the depth any commercial diver can go and makes no real effect on the watch.

[Tools]

I think that that is very well written.... Very well written indeed.....

...........

If it were true, of course, all of us who did our diving in the 60's and 70's (and before) would be dead now..

[rkboyer911]

Originally Posted by Tools

I think that that is very well written.... Very well written indeed.....

...........

If it were true, of course, all of us who did our diving in the 60's and 70's (and before) would be dead now..

Never seen that meter before Thats great!!

[Z-Sub]

Like that BS Meter

[VDENTALS]

People that used a rolex don't care about time

[Ed Rooney]

Originally Posted by JohnEaton

I use two computers as well...

When the first computer requires decompression I hang it at 10 feet while I dive using the second computer, by the time it needs to decompress, I can usually re use the first...

By alternating computers all day I can usually double my bottom time

Nice.

[Ed Rooney]

Originally Posted by rkboyer911

This went way beyond me.......I was on another fourm and was chatting about my new purchase and this guy wrote this......

Rolexes don't keep good time in Roatan. Something about magnetic fields or something like that.
You may exceed your max bottom time and have to take a chamber ride.
answer was this...........

ONLY mechanical movement watches will be affected by magnetic fields.

If you apply a a magnetic field to a Rolex while diving, it could have a significant error on measuring bottom time. You see, as you dive deeper, the greater gaussian effect of the earth's core will exert a much stronger force on the watch movement. Remember the right hand rule. It should be obvious here. Not only that but I would posit that the diver may potentially experience a shock due to the increasing electric field generated by the two magnetic poles, (your primary and your octo would turn into opposing dipoles), combined with the proximity to the earth's core. Two opposing dipoles are depth are deadly. (Faraday's corollary). My advice is to use a Casio. It could save your life.

Due to the potentially disastrous consequences of diving with a Rolex.

WOW he totally lost me any of you Commercial divers know anything about this?????

He was kidding.

[JohnEaton]

Originally Posted by Ed Rooney

He was kidding.

I'm serious Ed...

My bones are 904L and I fart nitrogen...

[rkboyer911]

Originally Posted by JohnEaton

I'm serious Ed...

My bones are 904L and I fart nitrogen...

YUP and if you did that you would be farting nitrogen!!

[vjb.knife]

You surely don't need a Commercial Diver to answer this question you need a geo-physicist. If you ask me though that was pretty high on the BS meter. I was told by a couple of guys not to wear a Mechanical watch while underwater welding because it could either magnetize it or otherwise affect it. So I never wore a watch while welding or burning, but rarely wore one while commercial diving anyway. I never used a computer either, I had a Tender for that.

[Brushpup]

Originally Posted by vjb.knife

You surely don't need a Commercial Diver to answer this question you need a geo-physicist. If you ask me though that was pretty high on the BS meter. I was told by a couple of guys not to wear a Mechanical watch while underwater welding because it could either magnetize it or otherwise affect it. So I never wore a watch while welding or burning, but rarely wore one while commercial diving anyway. I never used a computer either, I had a Tender for that.

Hey Vince, your post makes me wonder, and I am asking sincerely, not in an argumentative way. If watches could/would get magnetized while welding why would a company like COMEX require them as part of standard gear? Really curious about this now..

Patrick

[Parachrom]

My BS sniffer is going off. Never had a watch get magnetized under water except once, as I neared a loadstone No not a BS loadstone but the real deal type of loadstone. It went a bit screwy on time, but a trip to my Ad set it right. But being in proximity of a 2 ft diameter loadstone would magentize just about anything.

[vjb.knife]

Originally Posted by Brushpup

Hey Vince, your post makes me wonder, and I am asking sincerely, not in an argumentative way. If watches could/would get magnetized while welding why would a company like COMEX require them as part of standard gear? Really curious about this now..

Patrick

In any commercial diving that I did a watch was not required by any of the companies that I worked for. I wore a watch occasionally but rarely. I dove band masks and helmets that always had communications with the surface. The Tenders and/or Diving Superintendent always kept times and logs. I was told by several Instructors in Diving School and guys that I worked with that welding could hurt a watch so why bother risking it if you don't need it. Comex can do what ever they want, I never worked for them so I do not know their policies. How sure are you that Comex "requires" that Divers wear a watch during welding and burning operations? It's possible but I am not so sure that Comex requires this, but I can say that a watch is most certainly not necessary for this type of work. I don't find it curious though; many companies in the same industry have very different policies, practices SOP's.

[RsqVet]

As others have mentioned the argument about the earth's magnetic field is pure BS.

As to welding with a watch, unless there is something massively diffirent about underwater welding, then there is not likely much to worry about either, unless you coil the lead around your watch and strike the arc.

Also 904L, being similar to 316L is MOST likely not able to be magnatized to any significant degree. Many, many orthopedic implants are made from 316L and these are routinely MRI'd with no issue.

[vjb.knife]

Originally Posted by RsqVet

As others have mentioned the argument about the earth's magnetic field is pure BS.

As to welding with a watch, unless there is something massively diffirent about underwater welding, then there is not likely much to worry about either, unless you coil the lead around your watch and strike the arc.

Also 904L, being similar to 316L is MOST likely not able to be magnatized to any significant degree. Many, many orthopedic implants are made from 316L and these are routinely MRI'd with no issue.

There are quite a few things that are different about welding underwater in the ocean. For one you must wear rubber gloves under leather welding gloves. If you don't you will get shocked unlike on dry land. Quite obviously seawater is a good conductor of electricity. If your rubber gloves are not in good condition and you are holding onto the grounded work with your free hand (which in many cases is required to maintain position) and the welding lead is hot, the current will run from the ground up your arm and across to the the hand with the lead in it and I can tell you, from personal experience, that it is invigorating to say the least. In fact even if there is a very small hole in that rubber glove you will be shocked.

I do not know exactly how to explain how this might affect a watch in this case and I am not sure whether these guys were talking about the watch getting magnetized or actually damaged in some other way. What I do know is that I heard it from a couple of people that were very reliable, very experienced and they were not fooling around about it. So, as I said before if you don't need to wear a watch in a situation where there is a fair potential to damage it why wear it at all. At that time I had only one diving watch and used it more for sport diving and every day use than on the job, so I was not willing to risk damage of it. If you are not concerned about it then I suggest the next time that you are welding underwater to wear your Rolex and poke a few holes in you gloves just for good effect; then let us all know how your watch is running. If it is fine than I will concede that I am probably mistaken.

That being said I have quite a few diving watches now and wear a Rolex Sub or Sinn EZM3 daily as a beater now regardless of my activities. I am retired now but even when I weld at home I don't wear a watch other than a G-shock perhaps. I think you will find in general that Commercial Divers are a rather frugal and over protective bunch when it comes to protecting themselves, their crew and their gear so in my opinion you will not find a lot of them wearing Rolexes and similar on the job at all much less welding or burning underwater.

By the way, from what I understand, the 904L case is not what you need to be worried about magnetizing it is the bits and pieces inside the movement which are not made of austenitic stainless steel like the mainspring.

[Tools]

Welding will destroy a watch...

It isn't the magnetic flux, but the actual molten spatter that will punch right through the crystal, stick to the metal, melt the gold.

Unless it's well protected ... fine... but then, what's the point of a wrist watch if it's completely shielded...

[JohnEaton]

I've not noticed splatter so much with underwater welding, but I know that the electrolytic fields set up in saltwater will strip metal right off your hat, sometimes to the point that regulators are like tin foil and can collapse...

I'm not aware of electrolytic effects upon 904L and cannot state pro or con...

[rkboyer911]

Boy the saga goes on he just wont let in lie..... now hes saying "I once saw a diver's regs arc together because of the effect of the Coriolis force. The spinning of the earth produced enormous potential energy differences between the opposing metals in the regs. You see at sufficient depth, the Curie point temperature at which the orientations of spins within iron become randomized,causes the substance to lose its magnetic field. The loss of said field can induce huge temperature swings. Close to one pole of a magnet, field strength diminishes proportionally to the inverse square of the distance. This is because it behaves as a "unipolar magnetic field" (that is, the close pole seems much stronger than the far pole, so the far pole can be ignored). Gravity is also a unipolar field, and it also diminishes as the inverse square of distance; but, unlike magnetic fields, gravitational fields always obey the inverse squared law. The increased gravitational field can lower your bouyancy characteristic especially if wearing ballast like the sea-dweller. In short, you should have an emergency release strap attached to the watch that will allow you to dump the Rolex in extreme magnetic conditions."

(I'll be underneath carrying my emergency Rolex body bag).

[JohnEaton]

Where are you reading this???

I'm impressed with the amount of BS he can sling...

[mpkRolex]

Originally Posted by rkboyer911

This went way beyond me.......I was on another fourm and was chatting about my new purchase and this guy wrote this......

Rolexes don't keep good time in Roatan. Something about magnetic fields or something like that.
You may exceed your max bottom time and have to take a chamber ride.
answer was this...........

ONLY mechanical movement watches will be affected by magnetic fields.

If you apply a a magnetic field to a Rolex while diving, it could have a significant error on measuring bottom time. You see, as you dive deeper, the greater gaussian effect of the earth's core will exert a much stronger force on the watch movement. Remember the right hand rule. It should be obvious here. Not only that but I would posit that the diver may potentially experience a shock due to the increasing electric field generated by the two magnetic poles, (your primary and your octo would turn into opposing dipoles), combined with the proximity to the earth's core. Two opposing dipoles are depth are deadly. (Faraday's corollary). My advice is to use a Casio. It could save your life.

Due to the potentially disastrous consequences of diving with a Rolex.

WOW he totally lost me any of you Commercial divers know anything about this?????

A Submariner or SD can go up to 400 meters deep. Do you think 400mts would make any difference in magnetic field considering the size of earth? (The diameter of the earth at the equator is 7,926.41 miles (12,756.32 kilometers)) I think it is bull****

[1MAC]

Originally Posted by mpkRolex

A Submariner or SD can go up to 400 meters deep. Do you think 400mts would make any difference in magnetic field considering the size of earth? (The diameter of the earth at the equator is 7,926.41 miles (12,756.32 kilometers)) I think it is bull****

No, it can't. If I remember correctly, magnetic fields decrease with the square of the radius just like gravity. If the radius of the earth is about 4000 miles and you dove one mile (that'd be impressive) you would change your radius by 1/40th of one percent. Not a huge difference in radius or magnetic field.