brandon.c
89
I don't envy their marketing comms team, but I welcome precise and accurate water resistance claims
Apr 17, 2024,22:52 PM
I think a lot of the discussion has been based on misunderstandings of what has changed. Reading the press release, the change is now there is a clear definition of what 30m water resistance means (e.g. you can swim at a depth of 30m) and they are testing all watches that they claim are water resistant to this standard. There is no indication that they made a change to the cases but they are changing their testing, marketing, and (presumably) warranty guarantees around water resistance.
Reading over comments I've seen posted on many sites, I think a lot of the discontent comes down to people not believing that Patek dress watches actually meet the claimed 30m of water resistance and that those watches should avoid contact with water. I see this change as Patek stating that as of now, when they say "30m water resistance" they mean exactly what they said and they are testing the watches to that standard.
Water resistance claims have always been treated with suspicion by owners with it commonly thought that 30m=washing your hands, 100m=surface swimming, 200m=skin diving, etc. I have always found this embarrassing for a hobby and industry that has precision and accuracy as core tenets. I assume the main reason this is an issue is that marketing wants big numbers for their depth rating specifications while accounting and legal don't want to make grandiose guarantees so they can minimize warrantee claims.
Now, why is the Aquanaut and Nautilus downgraded from 120m to 30m water resistance? Is it because the prior claims were not accurate and their reliability at 120m was questionable? Is it because they want to simplify their testing procedure and they didn't want to add the complexity of testing 120m in addition to 30m?
I don't know, but my guess would be a combination of 120m was an optimistic rating and they want a single testing regime. Probably not fun for the team who has to explain this to customers, but I doubt many people will pass on an Aquanaut or Nautilus because of this.