The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello.
I am very impressed with my Navitimer II - model A13322

Anyhow... the accurancy is amazing...... the next thing I want to ask about is the waterproofing.....

They make mention in some language about 30m..... I assume the watch is therefore 30m waterproof?

Is this true?

Does that mean I can also use the chrono functions underwater?

I am a little scarced about trying this without talking to you guys first.....

I know my Rolexes were always very water tight... HOWEVER.... my Breitling Navi does not have a screw in crown or pushers.....

Advice please.....

Do NOT use the chrono pushers under water.

http://www.breitlingsource.com/articles ... ance.shtml

don't do it.

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The full story - originally posted here by Ron O2A


The Water Resistant mark is a common mark stamped on the back of wrist watches. It is usually accompanied by a rating in terms of meters or feet of pressure which the device is supposedly able to resist.

The "Water Resistant" mark has come to replace the "Water Proof" and is now described by two ISO Standards: ISO 2281 and ISO 6425

Watches are usually marked with one of the following ratings:

30 Meters/100 Feet
50 Meters/160 Feet
100 Meters/300 Feet
150 Meters/500 Feet
200 Meters/660 Feet
1000 Meters/3300 Feet
These however, do not generally indicate the point at which a watch's resistance to pressure is expected to fail. For example, a watch rated 30 Meters would not be expected to survive Scuba Diving to 30 Meters, but would be expected to survive light splashing, for example wearing in the shower.

The reason is that the rating describes the static water pressure that the watch will survive. However, any motion of the watch underwater will increase the water pressure on it. Consequently, water at pressure coming from a tap directed onto a watch that is water resistant to 30 metres may leak into it, as will diving or swimming vigorously at any depth.[1]

A watch rated 50 Meters is expected to survive immersion without pressure such as being worn while washing up dishes.
A watch marked with 100 Meters should be able to survive surface swimming.
A watch marked with 200 Meters should be able to survive Scuba Diving to a depth of 30 meters.
A watch marked with 1000 Meters should be able to withstand pressure greater than 500 Meters which is at the edge of the limit of human endurance(why buy one?).
Because of the historical disparity between what watch makers claim, and what watches are actually expected to be able to survive, the ISO Standard specifies a complex testing procedure for each mark. For example to receive the "Water Resistant 30M" mark, the watch must be able to survive 30 minutes under water at a depth of 1 m (3 feet) followed by 90 seconds under a pressure corresponding to 20m (66 feet).


So just to confirm, don't even wash your hands wearing a Navitimer!

Well I've learnt something today!

I didn't know that the rating is nothing like the actual resistance of the watch - can't believe there is such a disparity

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Hercules

It's not the rating that's inaccurate, it's the real world.

A 30M waterproof watch will resist pressure of 3 atmospheres - the pressure that water inflicts on an object at a dept of 30M. The problem is that any movement of the object relative to the water (or vice versa) will increase that pressure.

Therefore in the real world you can easily excceed water pressure of 3ATM even in the shower.

Fair point, what I really meant was why aren't we told this? I'm a bit of a watch n00b so thought that if it says 30m, you can go swimming to around 30m, I simply didn't realise that moving it about will increase the pressure.

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Hercules

Well, they have to draw the line in the sand somewhere, and static water pressure is about all they can do.

Otherwise you'd get into ridiculous descriptions like, "Water Resistant to 30m static water pressure, but only WR to 5m while moving your arm at 5 miles per hour, and only WR to 1m if moving your arm at 10 miles per hour".

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Static water pressure is the industry standard for water resistance. You could argue that a resistance in ATM would be more appropriate, but I guess the thinking is that not as many people would know what that meant.

I tend to think that people underestimate the WR of a watch. While I wouldnt wear a navi swimming or in the shower, I would be 100% confident that it could survive the water from washing your hands, or even being quickly rinsed under the tap.

I totally agree.

Years ago I used to regularly swim and dive (as in from a board and not scuba) in a 50m WR Casio and it was fine. I'm pretty sure the pressure exerted when diving was considerably higher than 50m static water pressure.

That said, I'm not going to start diving in my Navi, but likewise I'm not going to panic about washing my hands with it on!

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Driver8

Site Moderator