Huh?

[Swiss Man]

Water Resistant 3 ATM or 30 m   

Suitable for everyday use. Splash/rain resistant. NOT suitable for showering, bathing, swimming, snorkelling, water related work and fishing.

Am I thinking wrong?
 
A 30 m shower or bath tub?   My thought is as long as you don't submerge it past 30 meters it should be fine.

What gives?

[sawman]

Does it have any buttons that can be accidentally pushed during a bath or shower? Many watches' water resistance is void if the buttons get pushed under water...

[Swiss Man]

Water resistance rating
Water Resistant 3 ATM or 30 m   

Suitable for everyday use. Splash/rain resistant. NOT suitable for showering, bathing, swimming, snorkelling, water related work and fishing.   NOT suitable for diving.

Water Resistant 5 ATM or 50 m   

Suitable for swimming, white water rafting, non-snorkeling water related work, and fishing.   NOT suitable for diving.

Water Resistant 10 ATM or 100 m   

Suitable for recreational surfing, swimming, snorkeling, sailing and water sports.   NOT suitable for diving.

Water Resistant 20 ATM or 200 m   

Suitable for professional marine activity, serious surface water sports and skin diving.   Suitable for skin diving.

Diver's 100 m   Minimum ISO standard (ISO 6425) for scuba diving at depths NOT suitable for saturation diving.   

Diver's 200 m or 300 m   Suitable for scuba diving at depths NOT suitable for saturation diving.   Typical ratings for contemporary diver's watches.

Diver's 300+ m for mixed-gas diving   Suitable for saturation diving (helium enriched environment).   Watches designed for mixed-gas diving will have the DIVER’S WATCH L M FOR MIXED-GAS DIVING additional marking to point
this out.

Just a water resistance table I found on Wiki

[sawman]

With the advice they provide, I would not get the watch wet at all. Sorry for the bad news... 

[nate j]

The depth rating on the watch face is actually a static pressure rating.  This means that they put the watch into a test chamber and increase the chamber pressure while monitoring for leaks.  This is convenient for the watch companies, and does provide a degree of consistency between manufacturers.

However, this approach isn't particularly helpful for watch consumers, who want to know what activities the watch should be able to withstand.  Part of the answer is that the introduction of motion changes the situation drastically.  For example, when you dive into the water, swim, or even hold the watch under the spray of the shower, the movement is generating temporary pressure spikes on the watch to much higher pressures that the actual submersion depth.

Hope this makes sense.  To switch gears from the technical/theoretical to the practical, if you want a watch you can confidently wear swimming and or in the shower/bath, you should be looking at watches that are rated to a minimum of 200 m.

[Swiss Man]

Thanks that makes more sense.
I was thinking pressure at a certain depth
and didn't take into consideration movement etc...


We are family

[RamoN]

I tend to pay more attention on how the watch is made to have an idea of how reliable it is the depth rating. If it has a pushback, screwed or screw down back, if the crown screws in, etc.

[nate j]

While it is true that virtually all serious diving watches have a screw down crown and case back, the depth rating of the watch is useful information, provided you understand how to interpret and apply it your needs.  That said, I doubt many of us would notice any real difference in performance between, say, a 200 m watch and a 300 m watch for everyday wear.

[Swiss Man]

I always wondered why a divers watch only rotated counterclockwise now I know.

A divers watch bezel should only turn counterclockwise that way if bumped it subtracts time from your dive and not adds to it.
(Paraphrased from Watchsnob article).

http://www.askmen.com/fashion/trends_600/600_the-dive-watch-build-the-ultimate-watch-collection.html



We are family

[RamoN]

While it is true that virtually all serious diving watches have a screw down crown and case back, the depth rating of the watch is useful information, provided you understand how to interpret and apply it your needs.  That said, I doubt many of us would notice any real difference in performance between, say, a 200 m watch and a 300 m watch for everyday wear.

I agree with that, i was talking, for example, about the timex expedition that is rated 100m with a push down back and non screw crown and my seiko sportura that is also rated 100m/10bar but with a screw down back and crown. Of course i dont have any real test info to support this but i feel safer with some features than others.

Nice info swissman didnt know the reason for that either. Damn some day i will go crazy, sell a lot of things and buy a rolex or an omega just to feel good with myself 

[nate j]

some day i will...buy a rolex or an omega

I've definitely thought about that too.  But besides not having the funds to spare ATM, though, I'm just not sure I could spend $5,000+ on a watch when there are very good Citizens, Seikos, etc. for 1/10 of that or less.