Jaeger-LeCoultre

BDLJ
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A question for you, John

Hope I did not come across as a smart-alec with the maths. It's something I have heard and seen before, but never calculated myself. And we know stuff on the internet is not to be trusted ;-).

A question for you as a watchmaker who has opened far far far more watches than I:

All but a single watch that I have encountered that has demonstrated water damage has had water ingress via the crown. Not via the crystal nor the caseback. Does this tally with your experience?

And a last note on WR from my humble perspective.

It is completely unscientific and does not apply to all watches, but to a large degree, it is the intent of a watch that determines my bravery in wearing it in water. Take the case of a dress watch. Even if it is given a 30m rating, it is likely that the seals are not optimally designed, that is, the seals are there as an aid to the general longevity (dust ingress, splashes) of a watch, not to provide "fitness to purpose". They are likely to be very thin and fragile seals, that just happen to meet a test specification that rates them to 30m.

Conversely, a dive watch need not be of massive proportions to cope with the pressure. To me if a watch is sold a professional dive watch (not a 'styled' dive watch) then it should be capable of being worn on a dive on a daily basis, getting banged up and covered in corrosive salt, day after day. Oh and rarely serviced. It is in the interests therefore of the manufacturer to make something robust.

The depth rating, to my mind is relatively easy. All of which is cancelled out if the seals are shot, or pinched etc.

But in the end, I guess, it's economics. There are those that could afford to flood a $10K watch. I would not spend over a few hundred dollars (though that buys you some very very good kit) on a watch for dive back-up.