Tudor watch's "left-handed" Pelagos diving watch has a helium gas exhaust valve at the three o'clock position of the case.
Helium is light and volatile, and its molecular volume is the smallest in the world. Therefore, in the decompression chamber, helium will gradually penetrate into the watch from the apron, so that the pressure inside the watch case will continue to accumulate. When the diver returns to the flat ground with less pressure, the mirror is easily broken. Therefore, COMEX, a French professional deep-sea operation company, began to cooperate with Rolex to study the technology that can release the internal pressure of the watch case.
The Rolex deep-sea watch, which is waterproof to 3,900 meters, has an automatic helium gas exhaust valve at 9 o'clock.
Therefore, oysters are a permanent reference for marine residents. 1967 1665, not only the waterproof depth is 6 10/0m (2000m), but also the patented helium gas exhaust valve (gas exhaust valve is used by Rolex, and helium gas exhaust valve is another name) on the left side of the case. When the pressure inside the watch case exceeds a certain level, gas can be released from the watch case through this device without affecting the waterproof performance of the watch. This is the first time that the helium discharge device has appeared on the watch.
This is an exploded view of Rolex's helium exhaust valve, with a spring and waterproof apron in the middle, which allows helium molecules to exit the case, but moisture and gas cannot enter.
However, not every diving watch needs helium discharge. Usually professional diving watches over 300 meters will use this device. For example, Rolex's diving watches, green ghosts and niggers are not equipped with helium exhaust valves, because most users are snorkeling or swimming and can't do scuba diving (diving with helium oxygen cylinders); But of course, there are also watch factories using helium exhaust valves on 300-meter diving watches. But real professional divers may go deeper into the sea, so many watch manufacturers will install helium exhaust valves in watches that are waterproof for 500, 600 meters or even deeper.
At present, the structure of helium discharge valve is mainly divided into two categories: automatic helium discharge and manual helium discharge. Among them, the automatic helium discharge valve is the main one, and the most famous ones are Rolex's Sea-Dweller and Breitling's Superocean watch, all of which are thousand-meter diving watches. The left shell of the watch case has a helium gas exhaust valve. When the pressure inside the watch case exceeds a certain level, the gas can be released from the watch case through this device without manual operation, which is very worry-free.
Omega's professional diving watches mostly use manual helium exhaust valves, which are the operating steps in the manual.
In addition, Omega is the main manual helium exhaust valve. Whether it is a 300-meter or 600-meter seahorse diving watch, its watch case has a convex manual helium gas exhaust valve at the position of 1 1. When divers leave the water or decompress, they need to turn the crown to exhaust the internal gas. However, some people may ask, if it is not locked, will it not cause water pouring? Rest assured! Even if the helium exhaust valve is not locked, it is waterproof in daily life, so don't worry; As for divers who want to dive, they will also check it once, so this problem is very easy to solve.
So the next time you buy a diving watch, you can have a look to see if there is an exhaust valve device on the left side of the watch, whether it is automatic or manual. It shows that the waterproof performance of this watch is very good, and it can be more than 500M according to the manufacturer's standard. Of course, this function may not be used by most people, but it is always right to know this little common sense. Want to know more about watch knowledge and watch playing skills, you can read the e-book "Zou Sanshan's Watch Playing Tips".