Fake designer goods

[idun]

[quote user="pachapapa"]

I got my Breitling from a Red Cross charity shop on the Costa Blanca in Spain.

No guarantee but very reasonably priced.

Problem it consumes button cells at a lightning speed.

I must admit in the summer at barbecues I sometimes wear two, one to radiate subtle ostentation, the other to tell the time.

P.S Rollies from Thailand are better than Rollies from Hong Kong.

[/quote]

 

My Dad used to tell me that a mate of his had a Rolex and it kept lousy time..... my Dad being the someone who'll buy a £3 watch and chuck it when it's batteries stops. His bargain watches keep good time. And then it came out that the 'Rolex' was from Thailand. His mate assured him that it was real, mon oeil, it was!

[Quillan]

I was sitting down by my river maudlin as one does when it's your birthday and took off my watch. On the back not only does it say"Water Resistant to 20M" but it also says "Made in Thailand", I thought Casio was Japanese for a start. I seem to remember that there is a difference between being "resistant" and actually "tested" when it comes to watches yet my memory is not so good these days. I was just wondering what the technical difference is. I am assume it is something to do with the time a watch is immersed in water and how long it takes to leak i.e. "tested" means it doesn't where as "resistant" means after a certain time. Does anyone know the definitive difference?

[Chancer]

Yes and its complete b******cks, worthy of a French company, in fact perhaps it was the French who wrote the norme!

The test is a hydrostatic test similar to how they epreuve dive watches and computers, its put in a water tank which is pressurised  to the equivalent depth, 1 bar (1 atmosphere) being 10 metres but then they say "oh but when it is on your wrist and you are doing something as strenous as swimming it is subjected to additional dynamic stresses which would cause it to leak.

de coup they say that a watch rated to 20 metres is OK to wear when you wash your hands or in the shower, for swimming but not water ski-ing, for diving to 20 metres you should wear a watch rated to 100 metres, for 40 metres one rated to 200 metres.

Its all a big cop out as in reality they cannot say with any certitude that once the battery is changed that it will seal again, although often they do, watch shops dont have the equipment to test them anyway, only dive shops/centres, proper dive watches generally do what they say on the back, and in my experience so do Swatches (usually) and definitely Casio G watches, but the risk with all of them is after a battery change.

[idun]

On the swatch watches I have bought, the access to the battery was directly from the back rather than taking the watch apart. Rightly or wrongly, I thought that this was why the ones we have bought have been fine in water. I have swam and bathed in mine with no ill effects to the watches.

[Salty Sam]

Here you are Q, all your questions are answered:

http://www.chealwatch.com/water.htm

[Chancer]

If the water does get past the seal it will be foutu!

Whilst they dont test every watch that leave the factory with their robotised assembly and statistiacl quality control they can be sure that 99.99% of them wont take in water at one fifth of the rated depth, most will perform equally well after a battery change but the seal may have degraded, a small bit of dust or grit may enter etc.

I had bought a really smart Swatch chronograph from an airport duty free shop and was very fond of it, it was only a few weeks old, battery compartment never opened, I forgot to remove it before doing a deep dive in Fiji, we descended to exactly 50 metres (the watches rated static depth) and were calmly holding onto the reef with our fingertips against a mild current to attract the sharks who were very interested in us, I realised that i still had my watch on my wrist, its OK to 50 meters I said to myself and promptly saw it fill up before my eyes!

result - foutu [:(]

[Quillan]

I did go diving with mine, do please bear in mind diving is something I really know nothing about. I went on one of these things were you swim around in the pool for an hour then you go off and dive in the sea. Trying think of the depth and it must of been only 10M or so for about 30 minutes and my Casio did not leak. That is however a lot less than 20M when it comes to pressure as I understand it.

[YCCMB]

I have a vast array of watches, many acquired more recently as my deteriorating eyesight means that a laydees watch is all but useless if I want to see the time. I couldn't wear my divers watch all the time (it's a Suunto, if anyone cares) because it's so big that I can't pull the sleeves of some of my t-shirts over it. My "posh" watch is a Dunhill, which I can't see...so I'm quite happy with the Storm watch that son#2 gave to me after he won it in a business studies competition at 6th form college.

[powerdesal]

[quote user="Quillan"]I did go diving with mine, do please bear in mind diving is something I really know nothing about. I went on one of these things were you swim around in the pool for an hour then you go off and dive in the sea. Trying think of the depth and it must of been only 10M or so for about 30 minutes and my Casio did not leak. That is however a lot less than 20M when it comes to pressure as I understand it.[/quote]

1 bar pressure per 10 metres.

Chancer, you are welcome to a 50m deep dive, having just once gone below 40m inadvertently ( before dumping the weight belt to start ascending) you can keep the deep stuff. Shallow is lighter, with no deco stops and lots of dive time.

[pachapapa]

[quote user="powerdesal"][quote user="Quillan"]I did go diving with mine, do please bear in mind diving is something I really know nothing about. I went on one of these things were you swim around in the pool for an hour then you go off and dive in the sea. Trying think of the depth and it must of been only 10M or so for about 30 minutes and my Casio did not leak. That is however a lot less than 20M when it comes to pressure as I understand it.[/quote] 1 bar pressure per 10 metres. Chancer, you are welcome to a 50m deep dive, having just once gone below 40m inadvertently ( before dumping the weight belt to start ascending) you can keep the deep stuff. Shallow is lighter, with no deco stops and lots of dive time.[/quote]

Play catch up!

The Pascal is the unit of pressure in the Système International.

[Chancer]

67 metres is my maximum depth on air, an unlogged dive of course,  I have seen people do very silly things beyond the 40 metre range which would have been fatal had they not been well encadréed and I know sure as eggs is eggs that one day it will be my turn so am less tempted by the allure of the deeper dives than I once was.

Why did you dump the weight belt? Were you worried? If so its a good thing, it shows that you were not being affected by nitrogen narcosis, its the ones, myself included, who can become euphoric who present a danger to themselves and others.

I have recently started plongée en apnée, Free diving I think in English (you just hold your breath) its a whole new exciting personal challenge for me which brings about its own dangers of syncope in the last metre or so of ascent, I have witnessed this in our swimming pool (only 3 metres deep) and had to be the impromptu lifeguard and was so morbidly curious of this strange phenomenon that I just had to take up the sport myself.

I currently free dive to 15 metres in the fosse at Amiens but with a very experienced monitor always on hand, I no longer have the reflexive urges to breathe and in fact always enter into the euphoric state towards the end of the dive, when I surface and breathe I feel very very light headed, often I lose vision in the left eye, I think that I am very close to syncope.

Its very re-assuring to know that the instructor/lifesaver is close to hand and now that I have the knowledge,and perhaps soon experience of the event I will never take risks while swimming on my own, it scares me that I (and most other people) just didnt know about shallow water syncope which kills many people in their own swimming pools.

There are some good articles on the web although the Wikepedia one is just plain incorrect, the important message is never ever hyperventilate before swimming underwater.

Editted. Powderesal, I should have precised that it was a good thing that you were worried, a very bad thing to dump the weight belt but clearly you survived the possible consequences [:D]

[idun]

On tv the other day they mentioned someone free diving to 101m. I cannot even imagine that, getting to 101m is one thing, but that is actually 202m as they have to come up again.

I have watched Le Grand Bleu and lots of things about Jacques Mayol in the past, I find it all fascinating, but stupid.

 

When I used to swim a lot, I used to try and swim the length of the pool underwater, I never managed more than about 30 yards without having to come up for air, it always disappointed me. Maybe I have a low lung capacity, my Dad does, in spite of his running career.

[Chancer]

The problem is the bodies natural reflexes to the build up of CO2, which of course are there for a reason, ignore them or overcome them at your peril. We are all capable of far more than we think we are or what our body/mind tells us, I have been amazed at what I am capable of with the right training.

Before it was all I could do to manage one 25 metre length underwater, one of the key things is to do it as slowly and as relaxed as possible, I can hold my breathe 3 minutes whilst floating with my hands on the edge of the pool, there is no reason why I cannot do this swimming underwater very calmly.

The other thing perhaps I was doing wrong was to empty my lungs before descending, its a divers self taught reflex, I dont believe having static air in ones lungs does anything, I think to oxygenate the blood it needs to be moving by breathing, but the mind certainly seems to be more secure with the lungs full.

In free diving I have had to unteach myself to empty my lungs when descending and it has made a great difference, you have to swim much harder to descend with the lungs full but after a certain depth you just sink like a stone, and equally you have to swim very hard on the way back up until you reach the same point and then you can stop and enjoy the free ride [:D]

 

[powerdesal]

Editted. Powderesal, I should have precised that it was a good thing that you were worried, a very bad thing to dump the weight belt but clearly you survived the possible consequences

It was a dive off Khasab (Oman) and two of us on a free ascent were hit by a down current, we went from 12m to 42m even on full boost on the stab jackets. Both of dumped our weight belts before we got a positive buoyancy. So yes, I was worried, a tad more worried a bit later when my buddy ran out of air and was using my octopus - I then ran out. I was very glad to hit the surface, complete with unconscious, blue faced buddy.

[Chancer]

Wow!!

Always be prepared for the unexpected, or **** happens!

A good example of when to dump your weight belt, good job you kept a clear head.

I will make sure I never dive beneath you [6]

[powerdesal]

'' good job you kept a clear head.''

Good training pays off when you need it.

edit: The sad bit was it was a new lead shot filled belt, really comfortable, better than the lumpy weight ones. I really missed that belt afterwards.