You have many ways to plan out your gear setup, I remember at one time I was trying to eliminate every hose possible, and I only had two, one to my regulator and one to my low pressure inflator. My octopus was on my LP inflator, and my air pressure and depth were integrated into a wrist mounted computer. Talk about streamlined.
Nowadays I am much more traditional and even have an analog air pressure gauge. I still use a computer even though I carry a dive table in my BCD pocket, and I always set my dive watch upon descent.
In planning missions, the US Navy Seals have a saying, “Two is one and one is none. ” Now we’re not warfighters, nor are we planning covert missions in far off places. It is nice to have a backup though. Enter the dive watch with a depth gauge.
For a long time I only carried one way to measure my depth, lately I like to have a backup. Whatever your reason for a dive watch with a depth gauge, as a primary depth gauge or a backup system, here is the entire list of dive watches that have a depth gauge. I scoured the internet to put this list together, so if you find one not listed here, please let me know via my contact page.
One thing to note if you are in the market for a dive watch with a depth gauge, most of these watches are huge. Mostly they’re meant to be worn over a wetsuit and not for daily wear unless you have an enormous wrist. Think twice about buying one of these to use as your daily watch unless you have a very large wrist.
Remember, if a depth gauge is your computer backup you do need to carry a set of dive tables with you and be prepared to use them.
Citizen Citizen Eco-Drive Promaster Aqualand Depth Meter BN2029-01E
For me this is the coolest looking watch on the list. Waterproof to 200M, this 53mm behemoth is not something you are going to wear on a night out on the town. It features a date, power reserve, current depth and maximum depth complications.
The handset is one of the neatest I’ve come across on a dive watch. If you like subtle, this is not the watch for you. I was going to mention something about compensating for something, but I’ll leave it at that. My only niggle with this watch is that is has a mineral crystal, come on Citizen, add a sapphire crystal.
Oris Aquis Depth Guage
One of many Swiss watch makers on this list, Oris has a long heritage of watch making.
This watch is one of the smallish watches on the list at 46mm, but still big. It’s WR to 500M, has a sapphire crystal and is very unique in the fact that the depth gauge is actually a meniscus that is pushed in from the water and where the meniscus lies is how deep you are.
The only thing it doesn’t have is a maximum depth feature. This is pretty important, so although this watch is beautiful, I’m not sure it has the functionality I would require.
Tissot Sea Touch
The Sea Touch is kind of a hybrid quartz digital chronograph. It is WR to 200M, has a sapphire crystal and is just over 44mm wide with 16mm of thickness. It has quite a stark look to it, and is not something I gravitate to. It is black, white and stainless steel. It is however sized for mere mortals, most men can wear a 44mm watch and get away with it unlike some of the 50+mm monsters on this list.
Casio G-Shock GWF-D1000-1JF
G-Shock watches are very rugged. Many military special operators use them in battle if that tells you anything you need to know about the G-Shock line of watches.
This watch is huge at 53mm wide. I think people fall in two camps with this watch, they either love it or hate it. It’s not an elegant timepiece like an Omega or Rolex, it’s not trying to be. This watch is more like a tank, functional and rugged. It has a depth meter, but for a digital watch you would think they would include a dive computer on board.
Although this is a hell of a watch, if I were going to go for a digital dive watch I would have to probably go with the Garmin listed below. The Garmin has a computer.
Blancpain X Fathoms
Blancpain started it all, they came out with the first dive watch, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms. The Blancpain X Fathoms is the pinnacle of their evolution in dive watches in my opinion, and probably the pinnacle in all dive watches.
The Blancpain X Fathoms is an automatic watch, with a proprietary Blancpain movement that incorporates a whopping 48 jewels. It has a power reserve of 120 hours. This watch is a beast at more than 55mm in width and 24mm thick. It has current depth and maximum depth features as well as a power reserve indicator. It’s water resistant to 300M.
Now don’t get too attached to this one, because it will set you back about the price of a nice car. This may be the coolest dive watch ever made.
Chris Benz Depthmeter
Chris Benz makes several variants of the Depthmeter, they are all well built and look very nice. One is even a partially digital watch and one is a chronograph. They have a sapphire crystal and a quartz movement. At only 41mm wide, it is one of the smaller watches on this list.
Favre Leuba Raider Bathy 120 MemoDepth
Favre Leuba can trace its roots back to 1737, they built their first dive watch in 1968. The Raider Bathy has everything you could want on a watch with a depth gauge. It has a Swiss automatic movement, current and maximum depth, power reserve indicator and is WR to 200M. It is still a luxury wrist watch with a luxury price tag.
Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Compressor
If you are looking into the Jaeger-LeCoultre Master Compressor, make sure you know what your are looking for. Not all of them have depth gauges, they’re not even all dive watches. I’m still trying to figure that one out.
The variants that are dive watches with a depth gauge are very interesting. Jaeger-LeCoultre makes very high end watches and the price tag reflects that.
Pyle Snorkeling
OK, this isn’t a dive watch. I included it on this list because it’s a really neat snorkeling watch. The Pyle Snorkeling watch has a ton of features such as automatically recording free dives, temperature, you can set it between fresh and salt water, this is a neat snorkeling and freediving watch.
Panerai Luminor Submersible Depth Gauge
Panerai is a widely known luxury Swiss watch maker that has been in business since 1860. It was founded in Italy, but all of their watches are now made in Switzerland.
The Luminor Submersible Depth Gauge is unique in its look. If you want a watch that doesn’t look like your normal every day dive watch, the Luminor fits the bill. The Luminor Submersible Depth Gauge is 47mm wide, has a titanium case, sapphire crystal, and its proprietary crown protection and security system.
The movement is mechanical, but the depth function runs off of a lithium battery and is technically it’s own separate function. Panerai really put a lot of thought into this watch.
Citizen Promaster Aqualand Eco-Drive
For some reason Citizen makes a lot of dive watches that resonate with me. I think the only thing I don’t like about this watch is that it has a mineral crystal, not a sapphire one. I love the look of the hands and face. I also like its simplicity.
This Aqualand has an analog depth gauge with a maximum depth indicator that is very simple and easy to read. This is an easy watch to like and compared to a lot of other watches on this list not very expensive.
Garmin Descent Mk2
I normally do not include digital watches on any list that I put together, nor do I review them. This is a different animal and I felt like I needed to include it on this list. The Garmin Descent is a dive computer that looks like a watch.
You can actually set the Descent to look like a normal analog watch, it’s crazy. It is a dive computer, GPS, gives you depth, tank pressure, temperature, etc. This thing does everything.