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Best waterproof sea dweller or sub around $200?


UnLoOpY

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I know there are the trusted dealers but I have had a tough time figuring out what's the best when what I genuinely care about is the the bezel being about as resilient as the gen and it being actually waterproof for daily shower wear.  Less concerned with lumes and stuff.  Have been considering the toro offerings.

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A invicta pro diver should fit your bill with plenty of money left over ;)

Seriously, none of these reps come water resistant from the factory. Some do but it's just a luck of the draw.

Under $200 isn't gonna get you much.

You've been here since feb and you're asking who has the best sub?

Come on

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All my watches have been in the shower, unless they have an expensive leather strap that I don't want to get wet. -- Sub, DSSD-Blue, 382-Bronzo, GMT-II, U-Boat, Seawolf, Super-Avenger.......    I have yet to have an issue with any of them.   Lucky?   Maybe.

 

I might worry about going swimming with them, especially the chrono's.   

 

I did have my Bronzo serviced and water-proofed, so it has been in the ocean many times.

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Yeah I get that.  I meant the best buy of a sub though.  Like there are Noob v1 kicking around for $200 etc that sort of thing.  Relatively cost effective purchases I mean.  I've never had problems with run of the mill citizen watches in the shower until I broke the glass, even if they had chrono buttons.

 

Surely someone can say they bought a bp or noob sub off toro and haven't had any problems in the shower.  Is a DSSD just asking for it from the HE valve?  Was wondering if a bit of glue/epoxy on the stem before pressing or screwing down might do the job if the crystal and back are down tight enough.  I mean people change batteries in quartz watches all the  time and then go right back into the shower so really the only leakage should be the stem and buttons.  Any ideas?

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I did have an old noobmariner that did ok in the water swimming. But I doubt it could have gone diving. It had the lugholes drilled and had a relumed 16800 matte dial. But the noob crystal is just pressed into a nylon gasket

P1000185-4.jpg

 

I finally put the dial and movement in an ST case and feel much more confident about swimming in it- but this isn't a $200 watch!

photo-27.jpg

 

I guess if I were going for a WR Sub, I might buy a $100-200 vintage sub from Josh and then get out the silicone grease and maybe even glue the crystal on. But KBH is right- you can't put glue around the stem- only a light coat of silicone on the gaskets.

 

This William Marshall is a $200 dive watch- been down 125 feet with it- swiss eta 2824. But I got it 8 years ago!

WmMarshall.jpg

 

these days, I'd probably get a Seiko SKX007 or something like that for $160. 

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Nobody dives with submariners anyways, we've got suunto dive computers at the very least nowadays.  I literally mean for use in the shower and at most the beach.  

 

BP SD eh?  What does waterproofing involve with that, better gaskets covered in silicon?  

 

No glue on a stem but can I put some silicon gel or something or will that affect the movement?

 

Nice post alligoat.  Yeah well once i'm away from reps and thinking rationally the casio gshock is the best watch isn't it...  but I'm looking for the image too in the eyes of people who don't know watches at all of course and nothing but a rolex or omega will really do (aware there are better brands of course).

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I've had lots of Sub and SD reps that have all tested well enough for swimming and even skin diving. The BP SD is a great watch for the price and with silicone greasing of the case back and stem/tube it's almost guaranteed to be fine. As always though, it's best to have it tested if you have a local watch maker that will do it. When most replica dive watches leak, the most common area is the crystal gasket.

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Hey man look at torros no date sub. Its in your price range, not having a date saves you from two things 1 misaglined / justified date wheel. 2 crystal issues , no cyclops no anti reflective coating no worries.

Like the guys said above, take the watch when you get it to a friendly watch repair shop and have them pressure test it, $20. Just be straight with them, "hey I've got this watch its not real but would you mind pressure teasting it for me." If there cool, which i'm sure they will be later on down the road the may help you repair it or grease the o-rings.

Your at $208 for the watch & $20 for a pressure test. I'd absulutly email TC and get a new band, $55 ish shipped.

Your over budjet by $80 but will have a nice little rep, not to flashy (deep sea) just right.

post-11567-0-20761900-1417744681_thumb.j

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I have currently 44 reps. I also have a waterproof tester

 

So far for the 39 rep diver watches I have, 37 were waterproof to >50m from the seller (Joshua). The 2 that were not were because in one case, there was no O ring fitted and in the second case the O ring was mis-fitted

 

Basically with all divers, open the back, grease and refit the O ring, stick some grease in the crown and you are good to go

 

I wear a watch all the time, including to shower and swim (3m). Reps can easily take this (I don't dive with my reps though, I wear my Christopher Ward C60's for that)

 

Anyone near Heathrow UK that wants a watch checked, greased and depth tested just PM me

 

S

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