Best Watches with Depth Gauge for Freediving in 2026

A depth gauge on the wrist replaces a guess with a number: how deep you went and how long you were down. The question for a freediver is whether a gauge is enough, or whether the session tools of a freedive mode are worth paying for.

This page covers four watch-format instruments, three freedive computers and one scuba computer with a gauge mode, using the makers' manuals and listings. For the full shortlist across price points, including Garmin's dive watches, see the best freediving watch roundup.

A depth gauge shows current and maximum depth, usually beside a dive timer. On scuba computers the same job is done by a gauge mode, such as GAGE on the Cressi Newton, which switches off the decompression model and shows depth, dive time and maximum depth. The catch on scuba computers is a lockout: the Newton makes no decompression calculations for 48 hours after a GAGE dive.

A freedive computer such as the Cressi Nepto does all of that and more: it counts dives within a session, shows the surface time in minutes and seconds, sounds depth, dive time and surface alarms, and logs every 0.5 to 2 seconds instead of every 20. The gauge mode vs freedive mode guide lists the differences model by model.

Max depth display

The deepest point of the dive, shown after you surface and kept in the log. On a short dive its accuracy depends on how often the computer stores a reading.

Surface interval timer

Time since the last dive. In DAN's Alert Diver, Neal Pollock writes that the surface interval should start at twice the dive time and increase with depth. A surface alarm or recovery countdown, as on the Nepto and Smart Apnea, turns that into a prompt.

Depth alarm

A tone at a depth you set, used as a cue for the turn or for a point on the way down. The Nepto has five, the Smart Apnea six, and the D4f five depth notifications plus a depth alarm.

Log interval

How often depth is stored. A one-minute dive gets 120 points at 0.5 seconds, 30 at 2 seconds and three at 20 seconds.

Freediving only, buying in the US

Suunto D4f ($449.00) or Cressi Nepto ($399.95). Both are freedive-only computers listed by their makers in the US; the Nepto logs more finely and adds Taravana guidance, the D4f is the simpler instrument.

Finest dive profiles

Mares Smart Apnea, with logging down to 0.25 seconds and speed alarms, if you can buy it locally; Mares' US site does not list it.

Already own a scuba computer

Use its gauge mode for occasional breath-hold dives, time your rests yourself and check the lockout in the manual. The discontinued Cressi Newton is an example of this approach, not a freedive computer.