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From: pfeiffer@uwvax.UUCP (Phil Pfeiffer)
Newsgroups: net.rec.scuba,net.consumers
Subject: Null Statements (keywords: Casio Watches, 50M/100M Water Resist)
Message-ID: <247@uwvax.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Jul-85 16:02:11 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwvax.247
Posted: Fri Jul 26 16:02:11 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 28-Jul-85 08:07:07 EDT
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Q:  When does "50M water resistant" not mean "50M water resistant" ?
A:  When it refers to Casio watches.


My wife and I don't do a lot of scuba diving, but we do dive regularly when
we're on vacation.  We average between ten and twenty dives a year, at depths
heretofore not exceeding 50'.

I have an older Casio watch, stamped "water resist 100 meters" ( 328' ).  My
wife had a 50M ( 164') water resist Casio, which died after a dive to 25M
( 82' ) two Sundays ago, during an advanced certification course.
Sunday evening Linda noticed moisture inside the crystal; by Tuesday, her
Casio was zombied.  

Yesterday Lin dug the Casio watch user's guide out of a dresser drawer.
Rereading the guide, she discovered a table detailing "proper use" for
Casio watches which we had somehow missed.  I reproduce the part of the table
that's relevant to this discussion below:


Case designation       Splashes,    Swimming, car    Snorkeling,    Scuba
                       rain, etc.   washing, etc.    diving, etc.   diving

     WATER RESISTANT    Yes          No               No             No
   (--> Lap swimmers beware !!)

 50M WATER RESISTANT    Yes          Yes              No             No
   (according to the guide, this watch "does not permit underwater button
	operation".  We never had any problems with operating the buttons,
	however, in previous dives down to 50'). 

100M WATER RESISTANT    Yes          Yes              Yes            No
   (according to the guide, the 100M watch "permits underwater button
	operation (except where buttons are countersunk)" )

200M WATER RESISTANT    Yes          Yes              Yes            Yes


Note that "50M water resistant" and "100M water resistant" doesn't mean 
what divers might think these terms mean.  Note, however, that Lin's 50M water
resist watch worked fine down to 50'.  My 100M watch still runs as well as it
ever did ( i.e., reasonably well, if you don't mind a watch that resets itself
to "Sunday, January 1, 12:00 midnight", several times a year, for no apparent
reason).


P.S.:  According to the user's guide, the watch might have survived, had it
been overhauled immediately after we had noticed the condensation.

-- 

-- Phil Pfeiffer

"Fundy's long, and Fundy's wide, Fundy's fog, and rain, and tide,
 Never see the sun or sky, just a green wave rolling by."      [Gordon Bok]