DIVER WATCH BEZEL

So, what is a Diver Watch anyway?
TLDR, a watch with timer feature that can help diver to tell how long he or she already under water.

Usually, Divers need to tell on how long they are already under water. In modern era, may be the diving equipment already has timer, but in the old day, it might not. Also, it is more practical to see the time directly from a watch.

One of Diver Watch with Rotating Bezel ring.

But, if I’m not a Diver, should I get this watch?
If we only considering this, you should not. If you love the design, you should.

And, is it only usable for Diving?
No, you can use for other thing, like: Cooking timer.
May be you need to tell how long you had already boiling some egg in a pan? Or other timing activity that only use minutes as the smallest measurement.

If you need seconds or even micro seconds, use StopWatch or Chronograph watches.

So, how do we use it?

A Diver Watch usually has unidirectional Bezel.
It mean, the watch Bezel can only rotated in one direction, counter clock wise.

But why?
I will explain you along the way.

Current time is 12:33

To start timing your activity, rotate the watch Bezel counter clock wise. Diver watch bezel will have a noticeable marker at 12 o clock area, and usually got pip or small minutes marker too. Mine is the weird surfing board shape between H and 5 on the outer ring (we call this Bezel).

How far do I need to rotate the Bezel?
Rotate the Bezel until the 12 o clock mark is aligned with your minute hand. And voila, you just set your starting time. So, whatever minute position of your minute Hand, it will be your starting position. Just ignore the minutes marks on the watch’s Dial.

Rotate the Bezel counter clockwise to hand position that currently pointing at 33 minutes.

How to read the timer?
You should ignore the minute marks on the watch’s Dial. You only need to look at your minute hand and the mark on your bezel.

In my case, I will use this to time how many minutes it would take when I’m riding a motor cycle from my home to a Mall.

Remember, ignore the minutes marks on the watch Dial because you are not locking for what time is it now. But you are looking at a time elapse, and this can be achieved on the bezel marks.

Why should I use the Bezel? I could just use the minute marks on the Dial too, right?

Right.
Let’s just say you want to go from point A to point B. The start time is 12:33.

But here is the problem that usually happen.
During your journey, you might or might not doing another thing. And when you are look back at your watch, you forgot your starting time (12:33). Now you are start to panic because you can no longer able to tell how long the time already pass since your first time putting your eggs in the pan.

This is why, using the Diver Bezel is the effective way to tell the elapse time.
Your starting time did not related to the current time that you use. You can start at any minutes and you don’t have to remember what is your starting time.

It already 1:19 PM when I arrive at the Mall. While the minute hand is pointing at 44 minutes on the Bezel.

In this example case above, you don’t have to remember if 12:33 is your starting time. You only need to look at the zero marking or 12 o clock position on your Bezel that you already rotated and alighted with your current minute hand position.

If the minute hand already pointing at 5 minute mark on the Bezel, then it is already pass 5 minutes. In my case, the current minute hand is pointing at 19 minutes. But we are ingoring this.

If I look back at my bezel, the minute hand is pointing at 44 minutes position. It mean, to go to the Mall from my home is taking 44 minutes.

There you go.
Of course, my watch bezel design is pretty mess up because all of the marking and letter on it. In more diving oriented watch, the Bezel is much more readable.

Okay, then you might ask why I can only rotate the Bezel counter clock wise?
It’s a safety mechanism feature.

Diving can be dangerous if not prepared well. Like how long the oxygen tank will last, or for how long you are planned to dive under water.

Let’s just say, the starting time for your diving activity is 12:33, you rotate your bezel mark to this position and then start diving. After several minutes in the water, you are accidentally rotate the Bezel clock wise without realizing it.

Now let’s say your Bezel mark is changed into 12:50 due to this incident.

At 1:19 PM I have arrive to my destination. Now I’m thinking that I are already diving for 24 minutes. But NO! I are actually already diving for 44 minutes!

For this reason, Diver watch Bezel are designed to only rotated one way, counter clock wise.

But what if I accidentally rotate the Bezel counter clock wise during my diving activity? Wouldn’t be bad too…?

Yes, it is still bad. But a lot safer.
Let’s say you rotate the bezel during the 12:33 mark and then start diving. And now you accidentally rotate the Bezel the 25 minutes mark on the Dial without realizing it (remember, you can only rotate the Bezel counter clockwise).

Accidentally rotate the Bezel CCW to 25 minutes mark.

At 13:19, you are looking at your watch Bezel. And now you are thinking if you already diving for53 minutes! While the actual elapse time during your diving activity is at 44 minutes.

And at the end of your diving time, you rise to the surface 9 – 10 minutes earlier than your scheduled time. This is alright, because in Diving, better be safe than sorry. It much better to go up tot he surface early than late.

Of course, you could use water resist stop watch, or Chronograph watches. But remember, in the old day, those two things are too damn expensive! Rotating bezel is the efficient way to tell your diving duration.

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