Diver Watches, Microbrands

[willis68]

For those of you who know me in the real world, I have over 20 years ROV experience. Nowadays I run ROV projects for Oil and Gas Companies.

I have always loved products made in the USA.  Recently I purchased my first Ocean Crawler Dive watch. I like it so much that I reached out to the owner of Ocean Crawler and offered him my Ball watch for 3 future releases, he accepted, and I could not be more pleased.

As I said American made. The Ocean Crawler Core Diver watches are guaranteed to 2000 feet, this is overkill I know but they actually have very expensive pressure   machine and put them through the ringer before they leave their facility. The Black and Orange dial watch pictured on my wrist I am wearing now. The Blue Dial Ocean Crawler with the leather strap in the picture is coming to me after Jan 31st, and is one of the 3 I get for my Ball 

Oceaneva is another Micro Brand here in the USA. These folks make a diving watch that is guaranteed to 3000 meters. I reached out to them and asked if they would like me to test their 3K meter watch. The Gold one pictured on my wrist. I wore this throughout the Holidays. It is a great watch. Currently the ROV boys have it and we will strap it to the frame of the ROV and video we will be working at 5137 Feet, and see what happens. Oceaneva gave me the watch to keep, and is sending me a personal one for doing this.

I will try and put the video and results on here in the next couple of weeks

 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 9 by willis68

[patrick0685]

i do like that black and orange face

[MacGyver]

Love some smaller brands.

I’ve got two Maratacs that have absolutely been through the wringer over the last 15 years and have been dead reliable the whole time.  I bet my TSAR has been in the saltwater 100 full days in the time.  

[FrankD]

those oceanevas are pretty affordable as well.  Looking hard at the titanium options

[willis68]

2 hours ago, FrankD said:

those oceanevas are pretty affordable as well.  Looking hard at the titanium options

Yes they are, they are sending me a Red Titanium one that I requested, that stainless one is very heavy

[willis68]

well today was the day, I actually thought we were going down to 5137, we went to 5470 the watch stopped working just after passing 5400 feet. While this is not the 3k meters it was rated for, this is still quite impressive. At the moment the watch looks fine at depth, the second hand stopped so 

when we bring the Sub on deck Ill take pictures of the watch and uodate this

[Mason]

I'm intrigued:   The oceaneva brand now has my attention and the testing process along with your ROV.

If you don't mind me asking... What is the primary mission of the ROV? Inspections,  exploration, PM's, etc.  Additional details on the capabilities would be interesting.  Max depth, range, mods, additional uses etc.?  

If you ever need a good used EHS guy look me up.  LOL

[willis68]

On 1/12/2024 at 9:04 AM, Mason said:

I'm intrigued:   The oceaneva brand now has my attention and the testing process along with your ROV.

If you don't mind me asking... What is the primary mission of the ROV? Inspections,  exploration, PM's, etc.  Additional details on the capabilities would be interesting.  Max depth, range, mods, additional uses etc.?  

If you ever need a good used EHS guy look me up.  LOL

ROV’s can be used for any deep water operations, Science, exploration Subsea construction and maintenance, a whole industry of Oil and Gas is what I do. 

[i1afli]

Cool.  Can’t wait to see what it looks like when you get it on deck. 

[willis68]

Watch survived ovet 9.5 hours at over 5400feet Seawater I Let the ROV Boss keep it, he winded it put it on his wrist, and it works keeping perfect time 

 

 

Edited January 15 by willis68

[Smith]

The Oceaneva intrigued me. May have to pick one up while they're pretty reasonably priced.

[willis68]

Next Watch to test, this one I will keep afterwards, the Mother of Pearl white caught my eye, this one will go to 3k meters when I get back to deepwater 

[willis68]

So, Oceaneva are the ones I test their watches, but my favorite Micro Brand American made watch company is Ocean Crawler. I bought the one pictured below Core Diver with the Orange band. I liked it so much that I traded the owner of Ocean Crawlers watches my Ball watch for 3 new watches of my choice. The First is a blue one Core Diver that I put a picture up of already with the leather band. The second is the full Lume Bolt model pictured below, ones shot of the watch before and one after lighted to show the Lume ( the high resolution picture shows it much better) I willl use my 3rd watch credit for something they come out with later.

I absolutely love Ocean Crawler watches 

 

Edited February 10 by willis68

[BlindRanger]

When it comes to diver watches and microbrands, there’s a lot of cool stuff out there. I’ve been diving into the world of microbrands lately; some offer fantastic quality for the price. You get that unique, personal touch you don’t always find with the more prominent names.

If you're a fan of something classic yet distinctive, you might want to check out the clone rolex daytona. It’s a great example of how microbrands can give you that high-end look without the sky-high price. It’s all about finding that sweet spot where quality meets affordability. What’s your take on these microbrands?

Edited September 6 by BlindRanger

[DJTC45]

That's a good looking watch. Very impressive test also, I have a few Swiss made dive watches and they are all Swiss Automatic Movement's. I'm going to check out the Oceaneva brand they look great.