Is my watch water resistant?

Yes, within limits. Every current Hampden model, the Sullivan, the Algren, the Sandburg and the Dixon, is water resistant to 50 meters, which protects the watch against humidity and everyday splashes such as hand washing or light rain. You should not swim with your watch or submerge it.

What 50 meters does and doesn't allow

A rating describes how the watch performs under pressure in a test, not a depth you can take it to. Treat 50 meters as protection against water that reaches the watch rather than as permission to put the watch in water.

Rain, hand washing, washing up and getting caught out in the weather are all fine. Swimming, diving, showering and hot tubs are not. Heat, steam and soap work on the gaskets that do the sealing, and a gasket that has softened or swollen will let water in at a depth the rating would otherwise cover. Gaskets also age, so a rating is a description of a watch in good order rather than a guarantee for the life of the watch.

If moisture ever appears under the crystal, stop wearing it and write in rather than waiting to see whether it clears. My watch stopped working covers what to do next.

Before any water exposure

Make sure the crown is fully pushed or screwed in. If the crown is pulled out, water can enter the case and cause damage that no rating covers, and this is the single most common way a watch gets wet on the inside.

Rinse the watch with fresh water and dry it if it meets salt water or chlorine, both of which are harder on a case and a bracelet than plain water is. How do I clean my watch covers doing that without harming the finish.

Updated on: 21/08/2026