What are modern day professional divers reaching for these days?

Interesting. I am no diver but when I bought my first Seiko PADI watch, I did some reading on the subject. True that divers these days uses dive computers. The watches they wear serve as a backup. Also the brands they wear are all personal preference and to their liking.

I’m a certified rescue diver (not professional). We don’t use watches, we use dive computer. Mine are Garmin and Suunto.

But sometimes I dive with my dive watches too just for fun.

Yeah mostly cheap citizen watches

There some dudes on here who are professional divers, so they can probably chime in more. Mostly dive computers these days.

Some of the Navy cats I've talked with still wear an analog piece, but funnily enough, it is for when they inevitably get out of the water and need to check time, or track something. Or they need to note time/track a specific thing while doing something in the water, by this I mean specifically Navy EOD running underwater disposal operations.

Thanks you I’m not a rescue diver just been an enough dive shops to know I have never seen one mechanical dive watch in one lol

check this one out 🤯

I actually really like how busy it is! No it just needs to be above 43mm and I’d love that tank!

It's all digital now. The dive watch of the 1950's was the best they could do technologically at the time, but since their survival literally depends on it they have adapted with the times.

I’ve been watching a programme on BBC called Coastal Defenders about Dive Engineers doing underwater repairs and maintenance, none of them seemed to be wearing watches at all. Although they were connected to the service by umbilicals where the surface teams monitored everything. Lots of the people on the surface were wearing proper dive watches though.

I’ve done some recreational diving myself, just have my PADI open water ticket for pootling anround but never worn a watch, more because I don’t have a dive watch though!

NAUI Diver, certified for mix gas in the 1970s just for the fun of it, but never worked as a diver. Hundreds of hours underwater before the dive computers. That was when Rolex Subs actually went on dives, as did Doxa, Zodiac,... Now mechanical dive watches are just for the rugged style which is fine with me. The below is my trusty sub from those days.

Though I think the below Deep Sea is awesome, there is no actual application for it. Not sure my arm could lift it.

Yeah, if I somehow found myself alone on a submersible 2km down, I'd prefer if the watch imploded along with me to establish time of death rather than just keep on ticking after me