zOwie Omega Discussion Forum

: Is she being over cautious or is this true?

While there is a bit of controversy about how significant the issue is, it is true that the chemical properties of soap are not beneficial to the health of the rubber seals.

Further, soap is an abrasive that can get caught down in the tight gaps of bracelet links and cause excessive wear. This is more an issue on gold watches than steel ones as the gold allow is softer then steel.

Remember, diving watches are designed for diving and swimming in oceans, lakes and pools. Even then, you should thoroughly rinse any chlorinated or salt water off your watch after swimming in such environments. But certainly, these are environments that normally never include either hot or soapy water!

For more detail, see the Chronocentric article on Water Resistance in the WATCHES section.

And yes, it would be a good idea to have your watch tested before taking it. Many local watchmakers should be able to perform the test. If you send it to Omega, you may not get it back before your trip!

Also, why risk an expensive watch diving anyway--leave it at home or in the hotel safe and wear a cheap water-resistant Casio digital when diving.

Besides, only James Bond and those wealthy enough to treat $1,000+ watches as disposable take expensive luxury watches into unnecessarily risk anyway. A simple Casio diving watch is *very* cheap insurance that your nice Omega will not come to harm from water leakage or damage from bumping into rocks or coral underwater.