Brief History of the Dive Watch
Watches created to be waterproof have existed since the early 1900s; however, they did not become more popular until after World War II. Some of the most popular brands of the first functional dive watches were Rolex, Omega, and Blancpain.
These began to boast great depth capabilities of 100 meters or more. One well-known professional diver called Jacques Cousteau contributed to the popularity of the dive watch in documentary movies like The Silent World from 1956. He is known to have worn the watch below called the Fifty Fathoms, from Blancpain.
These watches eventually became more robust and had the ability to go to even greater depths and were capable for use in saturation diving. Many brands like Omega and Rolex incorporated helium release values used to just that, release helium during decompression at lower depth. In the 1970s, another company called Seiko created a special diving watch that utilized a special monobloc case instead of a helium release value. This particular watch was capable of depths of 600 meters or nearly 2000 feet.
Today, most dive watches are used for “desk diving” and not for professional use. They are mostly appreciated for their robust nature and intent of capabilities.