When I was 6 my grandpa gave me a disposable starter Timex. It lasted about 4 months. It died on my wrist from a heavy rain leaching into it. Watch #2 was a Star Wars red led digital watch. It was pretty expensive and didnt keep time for shit. Pure collectors item piffle. The way it was made didnt allow for easy changing of the battery... after all.. it was a cheap ass Chinese sweatshop knockoff. I went without for a few years. Watch #4 was a castoff decent sports Casio shockproof from my uncle. It lasted all of 3 months before the brand new band disintegrated. I replaced it. It disintegrated in about as much time. It eventually died in the shower as the bezel just decided to no longer be waterproof. I wasn't all that rough with it. It just seemed that every single plastic body and band... leather ones even, were just so cheaply made that my mere body heat and sweat made them age and dissolve super fast. At 16 I plunked down 89$ for a G Shock 100m water watch. I went to the beach a week later and did some body surfing. When I got home I noticed that the watch was 100% full of seawater. I was pissed. I replaced it with something that was a little more solid in the body and had a clothish band. The band died in 90 days. I replaced it. I managed to hook a doorframe and rip the band completely off all of two weeks later at the pin. The pin was fine, the band was fine, the part of the body where the pin went was ripped away from the watch altogether. I cant believe that I had managed to crack the edge of the (aluminum? steel) casing. I just carried it about in my pocket for 2 weeks plotting and planning. I then bought a roll of velcro tape and just made a band by hand. I had to replace it every two weeks as it to would get dirty and weak. After 6 months of that it dropped off of the band at work. I slipped it into my pocket...and sent it through the wash. It didnt survive. I then bought another 100m watch. I can't think of the brand to save my life. It did a good job for 18 months except that it lost a minute a month and ate batteries fast. I was working at top speed one day and somehow managed to smack that wrist into a building support upright while holding onto a 100lb load. The watch took it full force and just exploded. I dissected the watch and tried to understand how it was made.. the qualities... the weaknesses.
I went without a watch for a few weeks until I had a Christmas bonus in my hand. I was determined to find a watch, regardless of cost, that could take a G damn pounding. I quickly determined that watches made to 200m pro simply had to be made thicker to take the pressure, built better to prevent leaks, and have a thick scratch resist crystal. The only watch that caught my eye was in the Tag Heuer family. They were an old company that were making better and better watches and striving to eventually rival Cartier and Rolex in sheer value and name recognition. I bought a simplistic strudy beast of a 200m prodiver for about 300$. Its band was made from that tough vulcanized divers wetsuit stuff. They lasted 3 years instead of 3 months. I put it through hell and it never failed me. I had finally found my baby.
After 9 years and the 3rd band blew out I took it to be replaced only to find out that they didnt make that type of band for it anymore. I had to resort to putting a junker band on it. It didnt survive. I had to go out and search for another watch. I was so sick of replacing bands that I was: a. going to get one with a metal band, and b. get another Tag. The bad side of it was that Tags had gone up up up in $. Low end ones were 700$. Mid range was about 1200$ all the way up to several thou. I slapped down my 1600$ and walked out with a watch that I knew would last unto the afterlife. This thing is a tank. I could toss it into a blender and end up with a junked blender.
Its not that I'm an expert on divers watches. I'm just a severe stickler for sheer hardcore quality. Divers watches are made from the sturdy stuff... or they are supposed to be in order to keep their ratings. I'm convinced that certain companies use midling materials in order to just get past initial specs. They start decaying after a few years. Some companies us only the best so that they last for 30 years. After all... Better ingredients make a better pizza.
