The first diving watch

The need

Divers needed a watch that could go under water, not merely survive rain or a splash.

Made by

Omega, of Biel.

What was new

A case within a case: the watch slides into an outer shell that is clamped shut over a cork seal, so water pressure presses the closure tighter the deeper it goes.

Worth knowing

Omega tested it to 73 metres in Lake Geneva and later to 135 metres in the laboratory. It had no rotating bezel for timing a dive; that came twenty years later.

Historian’s noteThe depth figures come from Omega’s own tests. Water-resistant cases existed before it; the claim is the first watch made and sold for diving.

SourcesOmega