1000' - Do normal divers ever go that far?

[Subfiend]

We have been through this before. I have been to 4913 meters inside a submersible, wearing my Submariner. I have also been to 4,000 meters inside a submersible, wearing my Sea-Dweller and a Daytona. I have been diving to 50 meters on scuba with my Sub and Sea-Dweller, and to roughly 33 meters wearing my GMT-II.

I don't dive deep on scuba anymore. Once you have been three miles down, the attraction to venturing more than 50 meters below the surface on scuba diminishes rapidly.

I always wear a Rolex when I dive, whether it's a vintage Submariner or my modern Sea-Dweller. I also have three dive computers: a Suunto Vytek, an Aladin Air Z Nitrox (which I have never used) and my reliable old Oceanic. Nevertheless, I keep a set of Navy tables in the pocket of my SeaQuest BC.

[vjb.knife]

Originally Posted by ral

Back to 300m
Maybe Rolex 300 meters rating really means 300 meters in an actual use at that depth. I do not think it detracts anything from the watch if 300 m just means the regular 300 m water resistance.

If the Submariners 300 meters water resistance rating was really meant for actual use by divers operating at 300 meters, maybe they should incorporate their gas release valve on the Submariner too. Except for those few record breaking attempts, a divers watch intended to be used by divers at 300 meters depth should have a gas release valve so that it can survive spells in the diving bell (which is different from a recompression chamber).

I used to think those gas release valves on the SMP's were a useless marketing gimmick since I though it was only a scuba diving watch and not an immersion diving watch. I respected the fact the Rolex did not add unnecessary part to a watch which could be an additional cause of failure (one more valve which mike fail and let water in).

Apparently, I was wrong, and I guess the release valves on the SMP's actually serve a useful purpose.

I don't want my Sub to have a Helium Relief Valve what is the point of that; then it would basically be a Seadweller.

When I was working as a Commercial Diver I did a lot of surface decomp Dives in the 300 foot range and although I know that a Submariner can easily be used at 1000 feet I still like the extra margin that the 300 meter rating provides. Just as I would like to have a Seadweller on if I was working deeper in the 1000 foot range. If Divers are working for a long enough period of time even in the 300 foot range they may employ a Saturation system. All of the Saturation work I did was between 450 and 655 feet. I could have used a watch without a helium relief valve and on several occasions I did. All that is required is to open the crown during decompression.

You guys keep mentioning the Diving Bell which is actually the Diver or Personnel Transfer bell. Sat Divers do not spend very much time in the bell at all. It is just used to run the divers down from the Saturation System to the work site on the bottom, we probably spent 15 minutes per shift in it. The place where the watch becomes pressurized with Helium or whatever other inert gas is being used is in the saturation system on the deck of the support vessel (ship or barge). Then during the decompression profile the Divers are in a separate section of the surface Sat system. This is where they might have a problem with the watch crystal popping off if their watch does not have a Helium Relief Valve or they forget to open the crown of the watch.

The truth of this whole thing is that not that many Saturation Divers wear watches in the system because they don't need one. I wore mine a couple of times just for giggles but I definitely did not wear it on the bottom while I was working. If a Saturation Diver wears his watch in the saturation system and in the water during his work shift one thing is pretty sure and that is that the watch is going to get beat up, scratched, dented, dirty, dinged, chipped and cracked. This is generally rough dirty work with a lot of tools in a room basically made completely of metal with hatchways, ladders and tons of things that are easily capable of smashing the crap out of whatever watch you wear.

If you don't know it already, in this type of diving the Diver generally wears a helmet and is always in direct communication with the Diving Supervisor by a VOX hard wired communication system, so getting the time is as easy as asking. And finally the Diver does not need to time anything anyway, he is not in control of his environment in any way especially decompression.

[Aqua fobic]

Correct Vince
The bell is your taxi to work.
You an old sat rat too then?

[vjb.knife]

Originally Posted by Aqua fobic

Correct Vince
The bell is your taxi to work.
You an old sat rat too then?

I was Sat Diving in the mid 1970's in Chile with Oceaneering International, then went to shallower work back in the states for a few years until I went back to college in the early 1980's. Then I gave it all up completely. Saturation Diving is a little scary when you start thinking about it and there's no good way to go if something does go wrong.

[ral]

Thanks vjb.knife for the information.

The truth of this whole thing is that not that many Saturation Divers wear watches in the system because they don't need one.

If a Saturation Diver wears his watch in the saturation system and in the water during his work shift one thing is pretty sure and that is that the watch is going to get beat up, scratched, dented, dirty, dinged, chipped and cracked. This is generally rough dirty work with a lot of tools in a room basically made completely of metal with hatchways, ladders and tons of things that are easily capable of smashing the crap out of whatever watch you wear.

Most of COMEX work was actually done at depths less than 100 meters. With all the work Rolex and Doxa did for the watches built for Comex you would think the HEV was necessary and that they actually used their watches while underwater. You mean the whole wherever a Comex diver goes he wears his Rolex was just some kind of marketing gimmick? I don't know maybe it was.

[vjb.knife]

Originally Posted by ral

Thanks vjb.knife for the information.
Most of COMEX work was actually done at depths less than 100 meters. With all the work Rolex and Doxa did for the watches built for Comex you would think the HEV was necessary and that they actually used their watches while underwater. You mean the whole wherever a Comex diver goes he wears his Rolex was just some kind of marketing gimmick? I don't know maybe it was.

All I am going to say is that in two years of this work I wore a watch about three or four times and the rest of the guys on my crew were about the same.
It may be a company policy with COMEX for them to wear them, I don't know. I guess if the company gave me one I might wear it but probably not.