Water Resistance, Spring Bars, & Straps For The Use Your Tools Lifestyle
By Benjamin Lowry
Last week, W.O.E. wrote about the importance of integrating watches into our daily lives. Watches are a talisman of a life well-lived, and this can only be true if you wear them, not keep them in a safe. Summer is an opportunity to build lasting memories, and whether spear fishing off the coast of Kailua-Kona or (more realistically) splashing in the kiddie pool with your three-year-old, there are certain considerations and precautions you should take with your watches. Risk mitigation is about preparation, not risk elimination.
Use Your Tools - Summertime Edition
Use Your Tools is our ethos year-round, but the warmer months are when most watches encounter the types of risks that could see them irreversibly damaged. The beach, swimming, hiking, irresponsible firework usage, outdoor sports, and—for a select few—diving all pose existential threats to the welfare of our beloved watches. With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of recommendations and best practices for how to keep your watches dry, safe, and in action this summer. Because it doesn’t matter whether it’s a Rolex Sea-Dweller or a Casio Duro if the crown is unscrewed as you scream “watch this” and drunkenly cannonball into your local swimming hole.
If you came here for brightly-colored dials, you’re in the wrong place. This is about Use Your Tools.
If you came here looking for a hastily-constructed list of watches with orange, pink, or turquoise dials that complement your vintage Hawaiian shirt collection, this isn’t that. For buying advice, check out: What Should I Buy For My First Watch? and Best Military Watches. If you’re looking to Use Your Tools all summer long without an expensive trip to your preferred watchmaker, you’re in the right place.
Water Resistance - Myth vs. Reality
Whether you’re a “real” diver or not, understanding water resistance is important. (Photo Credit: Geoff Gerrits)
One of the most misunderstood aspects of watches is “water resistance”, which is typically spelled out on the dial or caseback as an amount of meters (or atmospheres) of water pressure your watch can theoretically withstand. You’ll commonly see 30m, 50m, 100m, 200m, or sometimes even higher ratings for “professional” dive watches. But does this mean you’re all good to take a 30-meter-rated watch almost 100 feet underwater? Not exactly.
A modern dive watch with 200 meters of water resistance, like W.O.E.’s black Tudor Pelagos FXD, should have no issues with even the most aquatic summertime activities. (Photo Credit: James Rupley/W.O.E.)
According to the International Standards Organization (ISO), a 30-meter-rated watch is “suitable for everyday use” and “splash/rain resistant,” but “not suitable for showering, bathing, swimming, snorkeling, water-related work, fishing, and diving.” Ouch.
Though you’d probably be fine with a 100-meter rating, it is not until the 200-meter mark that ISO says you’re more universally good to go diving. There is also a separate standard, ISO 6425, that defines the minimum standards for a professional diving watch. If your watch conforms to ISO 6425, you’re more than likely good to go. Learn a lot more about what constitutes a dive watch HERE
Not every watch is a dive watch. (Photo Credit: James Rupley/W.O.E.)
This is also all assuming your watch is in good working order and has been pressure tested recently by a competent watchmaker who understands you intend to take the watch underwater. When it comes to water resistance, to quote De Niro in Ronin, “Whenever there is any doubt, there is no doubt.” Bringing a flooded watch back to life is an expensive and time-consuming ordeal, and it’s better to err on the side of caution.
Crown Check
Even the most water resistant watch still needs its crown screwed down to do the job. Always check. (Photo Credit: Benjamin Lowry)
Ask any watchmaker or brand customer service representative, and they’ll tell you that, beyond misunderstanding water resistance, the most common reason watches flood is human error. The modern screw-down watch crown was designed to keep water out, but it can’t perform its purpose if its not screwed in. Virtually all modern dive watches have screw-down crowns, but that doesn’t do you any good if you don’t bother to check before entering an aquatic environment.
If your screw-down crown looks like this, you are not ready to enter the water.
This straightforward operation, coined by friend of W.O.E. James Stacey as the “crown check”, is exactly as it sounds, giving a screw down crown that little bit of a clockwise twist just to be sure. If you’re taking a 100-meter-rated watch with a non-screw-down crown into the water, the risk is inherently greater, and you’re definitely still going to want to check that the crown is in its innermost pushed-in position.
Straps & Spring Bars
A pull-through nylon strap is one of the best options for aquatic use. (Photo Credit: Brock Stevens)
Another important consideration for being active in or around the water is the strap or bracelet, as even the very best watches aren’t very good if they fall off at an inopportune moment. To start, the idea that any tool watch not secured by a pull-through strap is destined for total loss following spring bar failure is overblown, but straightforward nylon straps do provide an additional measure of security while also being inexpensive and convenient. When I was working as a diver, I wore a pull-through nylon strap most of the time. For more on the W.O.E. strap collection, click HERE.
After pull-through straps, I would argue a bracelet with solid end links is the next most secure method of attachment. However, bracelets are not necessarily the best move in the summer, when sweaty, swollen wrists might make a bracelet less comfortable than a more flexible rubber or nylon option. If you have a slick micro-adjustment system like Rolex’s Glidelock or Tudor’s T-Fit, a bracelet is likely to work well all summer long with some adjustment while also being impervious to water.
A CWC SBS Diver (with fixed lug bars) paired with a Glomar Explorer strap, a secure summer combination. (Photo Credit: James Rupley/W.O.E.)
But just as any watch is only as good as its ability to stay on your wrist, any strap or bracelet is only as good as the spring bars that secure it to the watch case. Different types of spring bars and lug formats also make a difference where security is concerned. Watches like the Tudor Pelagos FXD or CWC’s collection of military watches utilize fixed lug bars that add a heightened level of peace of mind. If your watch has drilled lugs, you can use shoulderless spring bars that also decrease the likelihood of an unfortunate “oh shit” moment no matter what type of strap is being used.
Three Watches For A Use Your Tools Lifestyle
As promised, we’re not here to argue that your entire watch collection needs to shift to brightly-colored dials on 01 May, but certain watches do lend themselves to use during the warmer months for one reason or another. Dive watches are the easy answer, but we will include another option that also gets the job done while being easier to wear in more refined settings. We’ll also keep this brief list on the more attainable side, as the primary watch of your summertime Use Your Tools adventures might take a beating.
Citizen “Fugu” Promaster Dive Automatic - $595
Sometimes overshadowed by Seiko, the Toyota of watches, Citizen is another Japanese brand that has been reliably producing inexpensive yet great tool watches for decades. For summer use up to and including professional diving, the “Fugu” Promaster Dive Automatic is Citizen’s entry-level mechanical dive watch conforming to the ISO 6425 standard. If you’re still interested in getting a silly color, the Fugu collection includes dozens of variants while offering a hacking and hand-winding Miyota caliber, 200 meters of water resistance, and a surprisingly solid bracelet with solid end links to alleviate any spring bar failure fears.
Hamilton Khaki Field Titanium Auto 38mm - $995
Hamilton is a formerly American brand that has been supplying the US Military since the First World War with watches that have inspired virtually all modern field watches. For summer use, we’d recommend the Khaki Field Titanium Auto, a newer introduction to Hamilton’s collection that feels more versatile than the OG Khaki Field Mechanical with 100 meters of water resistance, a Swiss automatic caliber with 80 hours of power reserve, and a lightweight titanium case. Available in either 38mm or 42mm, all the titanium Khaki Field Auto needs to be the field watch of summer is a Five Eyes Nylon Strap.
CWC Ti300 Quartz Divers - $1,350
CWC is another brand with deep military roots, having been founded for no reason other than supplying the British Ministry of Defense (MOD). In 1980, CWC introduced its Royal Navy Diver, a dive watch designed to replace the legendary Rolex Military Submariner or Mil-Sub. Since then, there have been several iterations of the design, including the PVD-coated SBS introduced in 1987 and the more recently released titanium Ti300, which takes the core RN Diver design and adds a grade five titanium case with integrated lugs similar to the Tudor Pelagos FXD. With 300 meters of water resistance and fixed lugs that mean the watch isn’t going anywhere, CWC’s new titanium diver is another great option for summer use.
Final Thoughts
No matter which watch you choose for the warmer months, keeping a careful eye on the water resistance, strap options, spring bars, and completing the obligatory crown check will help keep your watch in place and running its best. With that being said, this is your reminder to spend the summer with a watch on your wrist, whether you’re hiking, swimming, scuba diving, or deploying overseas.
Use Your Tools is our ethos year-round, but summertime allows even more opportunities to get out there and create some memories with your watches. For a lot of us, winter is always waiting around the corner, making summer days a precious resource. Don’t waste them.
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Read Next: Best Watches Under $1,000 - Ask the Experts
16 comments
Great article. Thanks, Mr Lowry.
I’m in an African nation (US Foreign Service). I don’t wear a shiny chrono-diver here for lots of reasons. I swim, boat, and dive often. The locals wear a variety of digital and mechanical watches that are all over the spectrum in price and taste.
My EDC watch is a Suunto Core All Black. I also have the no-nonsense, low-key, innocuous Casio GW5000u which does the job in the water as well as at a formal dinner at the Embassy.
Thanks again for some great reading. When I bought my first CWC from Silvermans it came with a gray Nato strap. This was before everyone produced them and with the fixed bars on the CWC it was the only option. But I have had a problem finding a Nato strap with the same quality and robustness as the original one. Most of the ones I bought tend to get looser or some millimeters wider when they get wet… But then I found a brand called Phoenix, the make the original MoD straps. Just a tip, such great quality and the right length also for the strap to reach all the way trough the loops for securing it. Until next time – Use your tools and stay frosty.
Though I no longer dive (last time down was in 2003), I only ever took my DW-5600 & DW-6900’s
with me strapped to my BCD as back-up. Left my Crowns, Shields & Omegas at home for fear of watching one of them descend into the unreachable darkness.
I’m very happy to see the CWC Ti300 listed here! I initially ordered it as a grab and go quartz option(mostly for work) when I didn’t feel like wearing a G-Shock or my SBBN033. I work in a freezer 10-12 hours a day, and the grade 5 titanium effectively negates the -20 degree conditions. I opted for the “destro” configuration to keep the crown from digging into the back of my hand throughout the day. It’s been in the freezer and out into the South Texas heat and hasn’t missed a beat. Accuracy is spot on. No fogging. What started as my “another option” watch has quickly become my everyday watch, much to the dismay of about 30 other really badass and capable timepieces. Now I just need some fun summer activities to throw at it.
Hey Heath,
WOE edited the article after I posted my comment. Pacino was there originally.