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Oct 05, 2023

Only Genuine Badasses Need These Rare Sport Watch Features

Every product is carefully selected by our editors. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Altimeters and depth gauges are useful if you're using your dive or adventure watch the way it was

Every product is carefully selected by our editors. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission.

Altimeters and depth gauges are useful if you're using your dive or adventure watch the way it was intended.

Timekeeping might actually not be the most practical feature a rugged adventure watch can offer: In some situations, knowing your altitude or depth underwater might be as useful or even more critical than timing. They're rare and a bit exotic, but watches with altimeters and depth gauges make a lot of sense if you're actually doing the things many sport watches were designed for.

It's even more fascinating when these features are purely mechanical — and when you realize that they first appeared on watches back in the 1960s, back when they might have actually been relied upon. Today, there are all kinds of gadgets and tech that do the same jobs, but sometimes it's nice if this all just fits on your wrist. You can get advanced digital watches with altimeters and depth gauges, but there are also watchmakers offering these features in old-school mechanical watches with Swiss craftsmanship.

Altimeters and depth gauges indicate altitude and depth, respectively, but they're both actually using atmospheric pressure translated into feet or meters. There are different ways of measuring pressure, but watches usually use capsules, diaphragms, bellows or something called Bourdon tubes which flex, contract or otherwise change shape in response to pressure. This principle works in air and in water, but altimeters and depth gauges each have their own specific considerations.

Let's start at sea level.

Oris's Aquis Depth Gauge watch uses a wonderfully clever system of indicating depth without involving any hands or mechanics: The thick sapphire crystal has a hole at 12 o'clock and an empty capillary (tube) that runs around the dial's periphery. As water increases, the "bubble" of air inside shrinks due to pressure, and you read your depth at the meniscus. It has a whitish look underwater and is surprisingly legible.

For its modern Bathy 120 MemoDepth watch, Favre Leuba uses a copper membrane (partially visible from the case back where water enters) to measure pressure and drive indications of your current depth (dial periphery) and deepest depth (3 o'clock subdial). The watch itself is rated to 200m of water resistance, but the depth meter measures down to 120 meters and includes a system that prevents the gauge from being damaged if you happen to go deeper.

The 2021 member of Citizen's Promaster family has just about all the diving-related bells and whistles that could cram into its monstrous 50mm case. That includes an analog depth meter and maximum depth display — and the watch automatically enters "dive mode" as soon as it senses that you've entered the water. It's also made of titanium, powered by a quartz movement with a battery that's recharged by light using the brand's Eco-Drive tech.

Depth gauge watches measure your depth underwater, so you'll naturally find them on dive watches. Such watches were once made by major companies like Girard-Perregaux, Jaeger-LeCoultre, IWC, Blancpain, Panerai, Bell & Ross and others (even Timex!), but today they're rare. There are only a couple notable companies that currently offer mechanical depth gauge watches: Oris and Favre Leuba (and they're the same companies that offer mechanical altimeter watches).

As is the case with other features, watchmakers have developed different solutions to the incorporation of depth gauges. In any case, one needs a method of registering water pressure outside the watch and a mechanism inside the watch that translates it into a display — and the watch also has to remain water-tight the whole time. (Further, depth gauge watches will sometimes indicate your current depth as well as record the deepest you've gone on the current dive.)

Before starting a dive you'll often need to "activate" the depth meter, resetting the maximum depth reading as well as calibrating the gauge so you get an accurate reading while underwater. Just don't forget to make sure all crowns are fully screwed in again and your watch is nice and water-resistant before jumping in. Digital watches also use similar ("aneroid") sensors and also need regular recalibration.

The Oris Big Crown ProPilot Altimeter is different from its depth gauge counterpart in that it uses a more traditional aneroid system for measuring barometric pressure. Intended as a pilot's watch, it'll get much more use from the likes of skiers or adventurers. It measures up to around 4,000m and is available in versions with displays in meters or feet.

Favre Leuba is has been making mechanical altimeter watches longer that many people realize, and you can find vintage examples also called Bivouac from the 1960s. Its modern version displays altitude measured in increments of 50m via the large red central hand — and it also includes a subdial at 3 o'clock for showing changes in air pressure separately from the altitude.

Citizen makes some serious tool watches with robust quartz movements, solar charging — and an altimeter here and there. The brand's Promaster Altichron measures over 9,000m and includes a handy compass which would surely be appreciated in any situation where you're using an altimeter. Its chunky 47mm steel case is water-resistant to an impressive 200m.

Casio's "ABC" (altimeter, barometer and compass) and Triple Sensor watches offer relatively more affordable options for those who might actually find use for an altimeter. You'll find these in the brand's outdoor activity-focused Pro Trek line as well as in some G-Shock watches. They're lightweight, functional altimeter watches that are genuinely built to be used and abused.

Altimeter watches are traditionally associated with aviation, but commercial pilots today have much more sophisticated technology for measuring all the things that watches used to be used for (and more), so they don't find much use in altimeter watches — and passengers will also be disappointed that their altimeter-equipped watches won't be of much use since cabins are pressurized, of course. One might come in handy if you're flying small aircraft, but altimeters are perhaps most useful today for activities involving mountains like skiing or hiking.

Altimeters are historically even more rare in watches than depth gauges, but today they're more common thanks to brands like Casio offering them in digital form and within affordable packages. Just like with depth gauges, altimeters will often need calibration in both mechanical and digital form. Altimeter watches are technically interesting for watch nerds, but for people in mountainous regions or with adventurous lifestyles they also might prove useful on a day-to-day basis.