Mechanical depth gauge is an essential element of professional diving watch.
Traditionally, divers use diving watches and depth meters to calculate the decompression time at a certain depth. Nowadays, many divers choose to use diving computers, but many will still carry mechanical depth meters, even if it is only as a backup.
Favre Leuba Bathy 160 in the 1960s is one of the earliest diving watches equipped with mechanical depth meters, which can record the water depth of 160 feet (about 49 meters).
In the1960s, some watchmakers, including Favre-Leuba, Nivada and Aquadive, developed watches equipped with mechanical depth gauges. These depth gauge watches are made for practical purposes to replace independent depth gauges or diving computers. Their design and architecture are so charming that even a diver will fall in love at first sight. From a technical point of view, these watches have many solutions. Here are some examples:
Universal watch ocean clock GST deep sea 1 diver watch, equipped with mechanical depth gauge.
Bourdon tube was invented in about 1850, and it is still widely used to measure liquid pressure. It is made up of a flat circular tube rolled into an arc. When pressed, the tube straightens, thus activating the pointer. 1999 IWC Universal Watch Ocean Timepiece GST Deep Sea No.1 Diving Watch uses this system. The Deep Sea No.1 diver's watch has two hands, one for displaying the wearer's current depth and the other for recording the wearer's deepest diving depth.
Universal Watch Ocean Timepiece Deep Sea 2 and Deep Sea 3 diver watches are equipped with mechanical depth gauges.
Another solution to convert pressure into reading is pressure film or no tank. Pressure membranes have been used in IWC ocean timepieces and deep-sea diving watches. Unfortunately, IWC IWC recently decided to remove Deep Sea 3 from the current series, which means that the brand no longer offers diving watches with depth meters.
The perspective view of Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Compressor Dividing Pro Geographic Watch shows how the pressure membrane is connected with gears, racks and pinions, which can sense the propagating pressure and drive the pointer.
Blancpain x mechanical depth meter diving watch
In the recent development, Bumper X Fathoms mechanical depth meter diving watch also uses a thin film made of amorphous metal. This concept watch has a diameter of 55.65 mm and is equipped with a mechanical sounder with a maximum depth of 90 meters, which can record the dive depth. In addition, there is a mechanical sounder, which works at 0-15m in a single operation, and the measurement error of water depth at15m is only 30cm. In addition, X Fathoms is also equipped with a 5-minute anti-jump stop timing function, which can be used when doing diving and decompression stay.
Favrele Uba Attacker Bathy 120 Memorandum Deep Diving Watch
2018 Baselworld2018, Favre-Leuba introduced the Raider Bathy MemoDepth diving watch without tanks. The back of the watch is equipped with a grid, which allows water to establish contact with the airless water tank. As the pressure increases with the depth, no tank shrinks. Linear motion is transmitted to the gear mechanism and converted into rotary motion. The watch shows the depth through two scales: the blue central pointer (coaxial with the minute pointer) shows the current depth, and the sub-dial at 3 o'clock records the maximum dive depth (the deepest is 120m), which can be reset by the button at 4 o'clock.
Hollysys Aquis depth meter diving watch is simple and practical.
Another simple, practical and reliable method to make the diving table of depth gauge is to use capillary tube. The diving watch of Hollysys Aquis depth gauge has an entrance hole at the mirror 12 point, and a channel is embedded along the outer edge of the mirror (50% thicker than the conventional mirror). When the diver dives with his watch on, the small hole lets the water into the channel. With the increase of pressure, the air volume in the channel is continuously compressed. With the yellow mark on the dial, the depth information can be read.