Are you looking for a water proof watch and are not sure if you have found one?  The term “Water Resistant” has come to replace the term water proof.  It is only water proof to a certain extent though. The degree to which it is water proof can be summarized by 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.

If you are truly looking for a watch to go diving with be sure to look for a sport watch that does say Water Proof.  Also, if you’re going to be taking your watch underwater, make sure it can withstand the depths you like to dive. Sport diving is generally only to 35 or so feet but some divers prefer to go even deeper when exploring various ship wrecks and reefs.

Always remember, no watch is 100 percent waterproof.

When it comes to watch movement there are two types of movement, Automatic and Quartz. You will also see a lot about something called Analog movement. I will tell you what the difference is between them in this article.

Automatic watches are self-winding, for example, they need no battery and are wound by the slightest movement of the owner’s wrist. The automatic watch was invented back in the 1930′s by Rolex.

A quartz watch is powered by a battery. It keeps time by pulsing electrical current through the tiny quartz crystal, which oscillates at a predictable rate and hence keeps very accurate time. Quartz watches can be either analog or digital, analog with the traditional hands. Quartz could also be both analog and digital.

Analog movements can be either quartz or mechanical, but all digital watches have quartz movements.

When you think about Analog, it refers principally to how the time is displayed, by use of hands. However, Analog watches are mostly digital these days also, using a quartz crystal to generate pulses, counting those pulses digitally with bit counters, then electrically triggering the mechanical movement each second. Analog watches are also Mainspring watches. What that means is that they use a mechanical clock movement driven by a mainspring to move the hands. Accuracy in these watches is determined by the period of a hairspring flywheel spinning back and forth, allowing the movement to progress a fraction of a second with each half cycle. Automatic movements use an unbalanced flywheel to wind the mainspring automatically as the watch is worn and moved on the wearer’s arm.

When you receive your watch, if it has a leather band, you’ll find that you can most likely tighten it to a perfect fit. If your watch has a stainless steel band, it may not fit perfectly when you first put it on, but don’t worry. If you look at your owner’s manual you will find tips on how to remove links. If you need to add links, you can contact the watch manufacturer directly to receive additional links.

If you are on this site you are probably thinking about buying a wristwatch. Whether it is for yourself or for the man in your life there are a couple of things to think about.

I once went with a friend to get a new watch. He spent an hour looking at the watches just to pick the same watch he had gotten the last time. Men poke fun at women for all their footwear. However, if you have ever gone with a man shopping for watches as I did you would find it to be like the pot calling the kettle black. A man, who ordinarily could pick out the right pair of shoes in under 5 minutes, may spend hours trying to decide on the right watch. Men have their own obsessions.

If you are a woman considering the purchase of a watch for a man in your life; whether it be a husband, boyfriend, father, brother of friend, here are a few things to consider when shopping for
men’s watches:

First, there are two basic kinds of watches: quartz and mechanical. A quartz watch is simply a battery powered electronic watch. Quartz watches are practical, extremely accurate and relatively inexpensive. Mechanical watches have been around for more than 300 years. Sophisticated mechanical movements sometimes have hundreds of tiny moving parts including gears, pinions, springs, wheels and levers held together by many more screws, plates and bridges. The moving parts are all driven by a mainspring. The mainspring is wound up by turning the crown back and forth, or in the case of automatic watches, it winds itself automatically with movement. Mechanical watches are not as accurate as quartz watches. They are somewhat more delicate and may be damaged if dropped on a hard surface. They are typically more expensive and they may also require expensive maintenance every few years. One more thing: most men who really appreciate watches love them.

A second consideration should be the crystal, or glass which covers the dial. At the very least, you should select a good hardened mineral crystal.

Whether you are looking for Dress, Casual, or a Diving watch choose well, and you will give him a gift he will treasure and have with him for a long time.