When you say a watch is water resistant, you’re saying that water can’t break the case or the seals around the function buttons.
Water resistance is measured in static, still water.
The manufacturer says that this many meters below the surface of still water, the water pressure alone will not break the case or the seals.
But if it were to be immersed in water, or spilled while water skiing, or found in fast-moving water, the pressure of the water hitting the device would be much higher than the static pressure under which the watch was tested.
For that reason, no watch can honestly be described as waterproof.
Water is potentially dangerous and the enormous range of its dangers cannot be dealt with at reasonable cost.
The US Federal Trade Commission requires that watches sold in the US be described as water resistant and not waterproof.
This hasn’t stopped online retailers from describing their watches as water resistant because
If Google search spies have registered a retail website for the keyword
then Google will only show that website to searchers who type
But if buyers just write
so if you are a retail website and you want those shoppers then that is the keyword to put on your site
However, watch manufacturers require their retailers to display ATM ratings.
The standard atmosphere at sea level is 1 ATM.
A watch described as 5ATM is water resistant to 5 atmospheres, or around 80 PSI. This translates to a water depth of about 50 meters.
3 ATM – Resistant to rain and splashes.
5 ATM – Swim without jumping off a diving board. Do not snorkel or dive
10 ATM – All of the above plus shallow water snorkeling. Don’t dive high.
20 ATMs – all of the above plus diving high
200 ATM – Diver’s watch water resistant up to 6600 feet
The higher the ATM rating, the more you pay for the watch
but to cater for dangerous events, you should purchase the highest ATM rating you can reasonably afford
If there are two devices that meet your needs, but one is rated at 10 ATM and the other is rated at 5 ATM, don’t think “I’m only going to use it for swimming, so I don’t need the 10 ATM”.
Think “Anything can happen. Can I reasonably afford the best watch?”
Jumping into the pool and common water sports can hit your watch (over time) as hard as or harder than deep sea diving
The buttons on a watch are difficult to seal
The more functions there are in a watch, the more buttons there will be and the more places water can get into the mechanism.
Therefore, an aquatic activity watch should be a metal-backed watch with minimal features and minimal buttons.
Please do not press any button when the watch is underwater.
Moisture may appear on the dial if a watch suddenly cools down.
After a while this moisture will disappear again.
However, steam is a different topic.
Steam can get into a watch where water cannot and can cause damage.
You should not wear a waterproof watch in the bathroom or while taking a hot shower.
And if you keep the watch on while washing your hands, use cold water