SD43 bezel easily moved?

[strafer_kid]

Must say that I have not come up against this with my SD43.......unlikely to be mission critical for me anyway.......

[SS Oyster]

Originally Posted by challer

Yes I did. With the bezel rotating regularly, the watch is a flawed design. The GMT holds tight and there is no reason the SD should not as well. Sorry SD and SUB owners, if the bezel moves with normal wear, it's not working as intended.

My wife’s 16600 SD doesn’t budge unless you want to move it. My experience with all ceramic divers is that they will move much easier and the teeth are deeper, more easily caught on clothing. Doesn’t bother me, and I don’t know why anyone would sell their watch because of it, but the ease of movement is true.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[challer]

Originally Posted by Brian Page

Not particularly, but remember that's why the bezel only goes one direction - safety

Safety has nothing to do with it. The bezel is there as a countdown timer. If it can't hold the time mark because it moves easily with normal wear, then it is not an effective countdown timer. There have been many threads on this site about this topic. Yes, I sold mine because of that. Great watch but watch but in my opinion flawed design because it does not work as intended. The GMT doesn't have this problem so I assume the SD could be remedied if Rolex desired.

[10klakes]

I wear my SD43 kayak fishing, hiking, snowmobiling, and more.... the bezel has NOT moved unintentionally (ever). This piece is never leaving my collection.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[abozz]

Originally Posted by samson66

Are you a saturation diver? The SD43 rotates no easier than any other diver Rolex produces. I still find it hard to believe anyone would sell this watch due to the bezel, on rare occasion, moving 1 or 2 clicks off 12 o'clock by accident. Unless you wear thick sweaters underwater I don't thing it would be an issue

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge using Tapatalk

[Jason71]

All of the ceramic divers rotate too easily to be trusted underwater IMHO. Good thing Rolex only makes jewelry now. I only dive with my 5-digit Rolex watches.

[Brian Page]

Originally Posted by Jason71

All of the ceramic divers rotate too easily to be trusted underwater IMHO. Good thing Rolex only makes jewelry now. I only dive with my 5-digit Rolex watches.

I agree with this statement as well, but for me ironically the only place where my dive bezel has never been accidentally moved has been IN the water. Agree though.. can't think of a time ever where my 5 digit sub in or out of the water has moved unintentionally.

[hbombkid]

All my buddies have subs and we constantly just move the bezel a tick so the person has to move it back to be aligned lol

[csaltphoto]

I do know that Rolex dramatically changed the bezel construction from the 5 series to the 6 series to make it smoother. My 5 digit has never moved unless I want it to. I wouldn't call it stiff but it is purposeful. The 6 digits I have played with is more like a mechanics ratchet. Very smooth, very ball-bearing feeling. Perhaps too smooth and easy for the original intended purpose. But great for fiddling with in the office, timing food or runs and all the other more day to day stuff we use it for.

[jps3b]

The bezel on my SD43 moved fairly easy too. That’s not why I traded it, but just letting the OP know that min3 did the same.


@jps3b

[VicLeChic]

I get that with most of my divers and they're not going anywhere. Divers are not supposed to be worn under a cuff. This is like complaining that a sports car on summer tires is slippery on snow and thus "poorly engineered".

[brandrea]

That’s it, I’m selling mine now.

[padi56]

Originally Posted by Jason71

All of the ceramic divers rotate too easily to be trusted underwater IMHO. Good thing Rolex only makes jewelry now. I only dive with my 5-digit Rolex watches.

Agree up to a point Jason but you can bet most that are complaining in this thread are desk divers.And as we all know the bezel must be kept within a cats whisker of the 12 marker or watch could self destruct..

[watchwatcher]

Originally Posted by brandrea

That’s it, I’m selling mine now.

[Sharkhandler]

Hi all,

As the OP this has been a really interesting discussion.

For me personally I am torn. I used to be a diver, and I am BSAC certified.

I was sold on the sea dweller, not only because of its design, but also because of its history as a dive watch, going back to the COMEX era.

I was interested in how some members would describe this as a ‘tool watch’.

To me, a tool is something engineered to carry out a task. A hammer will bang some nails, a socket wrench will undo some bolts.

Bahco make the best tools on the planet. Tough, well engineered and can take a beating. Stanley tools ... not so much.

I thought the sea dweller was designed as one of the best dive tools possible. As a former diver, to see the bezel being shifted in normal wear, do I think this is one of the best tool watches on the planet?

No.

A tool should do its job. A dive watch needs to record when you go in the water and never lose track of this, because if the bezel rotates just by one minute you could lose a minutes worth of air.

Therefore, in my opinion, the SD43 is useless as a tool watch. Ok so it goes down to 4000ft, but if it can’t reliably record when you go into the water, what’s the point of a dive watch?

Is the SD43 one of the best Jewellery watches on the planet?

Yes.

It’s elegant, comfortable to wear, with a timeless design. The size makes sense, and it has a visual balance that is like the submariners of old. It’s also a Rolex.

After reading these posts, I will now never label this as a tool watch, because as a tool it is utterly rubbish and a £100 Casio will do just as good a job.

As a Rolex, it is utter perfection and peerless in my opinion.

My 2ps worth.








Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Junior_]

Before I got a Sub, I wore an Orient Ray II. Try diving with that; that damn bezel practically needed pliers to turn. Or get an Seamaster; there is nothing to grab onto so you'll never get that thing moved.

I notice at least once a day, the Sub gets moved a click or two, usually caught on a shirt cuff. Like another poster, just gives me a chance to move it back into place and listen to that sweet sound.

[brucethemanlee]

My SD4K’s bezel does not move unless it really gets caught on something or I jam my wrist into some tight bag / pocket reaching for something and it grabs the bezel teeth

Otherwise 98% of the time I’ve not needed to readjust the bezel because it moved on its own


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[artschool]

[Sharkhandler]

Originally Posted by artschool

Interesting meme.

So tell me, why is the seadweller referred to by most members as a ‘ tool watch’

This’ll be good.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Frits1980]

First couple of times it happend with mine i thought just coincidence but its happening almost every time i wear it. Mostly one click but i had 2 and even 3 clicks as well. I can also feel some wiggling space when i turn the bezel left to right. Moving bezels or left to right wiggling never occurs with my other divers (HULK, Bathyscape, Black Bay, 14060m) so it seems its a flaw in the watch and for those who actualy dive with it…. quite a big one.

[yugxelor]

I wear my SD43 a couple of times a week and have noticed this happening a handful of times. I think a couple of things are important to note...

1) Anytime it was knocked off of 12:00, it was by 30s to a minute, so nothing SO substantial that it would be detrimental. If I am ever diving in a situation where it is, I am carrying a dive computer and not relying solely on my SD.

2) The ticks, at least on mine, are loud and noticeable. Especially under water, I have never had a problem with knocking it off of its correct slot and not either hearing or noticing it immediately.

[Jason71]

Originally Posted by yugxelor

I wear my SD43 a couple of times a week and have noticed this happening a handful of times. I think a couple of things are important to note...

1) Anytime it was knocked off of 12:00, it was by 30s to a minute, so nothing SO substantial that it would be detrimental. If I am ever diving in a situation where it is, I am carrying a dive computer and not relying solely on my SD.

2) The ticks, at least on mine, are loud and noticeable. Especially under water, I have never had a problem with knocking it off of its correct slot and not either hearing or noticing it immediately.

So what your saying is that........

— It doesn’t really matter because it won’t cause your dive time to be off by THAT much

— Hopefully you will hear the inadvertent bezel shift underwater, so it makes it ok.

Geez

[yugxelor]

Originally Posted by Jason71

So what your saying is that........

— It doesn’t really matter because it won’t cause your dive time to be off by THAT much

— Hopefully you will hear the inadvertent bezel shift underwater, so it makes it ok.

Geez

I'm simply saying that, for me, I carry a dive computer that calculates nearly every aspect of my dive with respect to depth, time, ascent rates, etc. and while I use my SD for reference and as a redundancy, I do not rely on it *solely* for my dive timing. If that was my only way of knowing dive time calculations, I would probably opt to pay more attention to it than banging it around down there. The only thing that would make me say "geez" and bang my head on a wall is someone that only uses one reference for dive timing. From flying to diving, I always have multiple resources on hand.

Cheers

[Brian Page]

Shearwater perdix on right arm, dive watch on left, enjoy watching elapsed time on my watch, depth, non deco time and air on computer. If I was doing something deep, I'd have a backup computer along as well.

Sent from my SM-N960U1 using Tapatalk

[artschool]

Originally Posted by Sharkhandler

Interesting meme.

So tell me, why is the seadweller referred to by most members as a ‘ tool watch’

This’ll be good.




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

because people used to use them for diving before better equipment became available?

[fsprow]

My SD43, my favorite watch, has spent many hours underwater (and above) and the bezel has only moved when I turned it.