HISTORY OF DIVE WATCH
The earliest dive watches were developed for the military and professional needs. The Omega SA probably deserves the honour of having created the world’s first diving watch, with the Omega “Marine, ” introduced in 1932.
As supplier to the Royal Italian Navy, Panerai offered underwater diving watches since the 1930s, the early models were not only waterproof at 650 feet, but luminescent as well too
In addition, a large number of “canteen” style dive watches were made to military specification during and after WWII. These watches were made in small quantities as they were made solely for military use.
In 1953 Lip-Blancpain’s Fifty Fathoms waterproof watch came on the market in France. Various models were issued by Blancpain in small quantities to the military in several countries, including US and French Navy combat diver teams. The fifty fathoms was worn by Jacques Cousteau and his divers during the underwater film “Le monde du silence”.
The Rolex Submariner dive watch was introduced at the Basel Watch Fair in 1954 which coincided with the development of self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, known as scuba. In 1961 Rolex had two versions of the Submariner, one water resistant to 200 meters/660 feet, the other, less expensive version, to 100 meters/330 feet. It was the choice of watch for the character of 007 in the first ten James Bond films, causing the “Sub” to achieve an iconic status.
During the 1960s commercial work in the oceans and seas created the professional diving organisations that needed dive watches designed for conducting safe diving operations at greater depths. This lead to Rolex developing of the first ‘ultra water resistant’ watches like the Rolex Sea-Dweller Submariner 2000 (2000 ft = 610 m) that became available in 1967 and was produced in several variations and the Omega Seamaster Professional 600m/2000ft also know as the “Omega PloProf” that came available in 1970.
Nowadays the vast majority of divers now use electronic, wrist-worn dive computers by manufacturers such as Suunto, Uwatec, Mares, Pelagic and Seiko. Diving watches are however still commonly used by divers as a back-up instrument for overcoming dive computer malfunctions.
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