Paraphrasing David Saletan in his "Creative troubleshooting in the chemical process industries": certain totems of the engineering profession block rather than enhance our understanding of mechanisms, such as the bureaucratic SI system of units. Atmospheres and cyles per second, as an example, promote our physical feel for problems; pascals and hertz do not. The large number of measuring units is indeed confusing.
Nowadays, by convention, atmospheric pressure is 1 atm abs = 760 mm Hg @ 0oC = 760 torr = 14.696 psi = 29.92 in. Hg @ 0oC = 1013.25 mB = 101.325 kPa = 101,325 N/m2. We see that 1 bar = 100,000 Pa = 1,000,000 dynes/cm2 = 100,000 newtons per square meter or N/m2.
The right interpretation of the present thread is whether dideyjohn speaks of a manometer, and means a barometer thus its reading is absolute pressure:
(25 in x 25.4 mm/in) /750 mm/bar = 0.8467 bar = 846.7 mB abs.
Otherwise, if it is a vacuum reading, then it is {[760-(25x25.4)]/750}1000 = 166.7 mB vacuum.
The more accepted SI unit nowadays is the Pa = 1 N/m2 = 10 dyn/cm2 = 1 kg/(m.s2). Thus 1 atm = 0.101325 Mpa = 101.325 kPa.
Units as mm Hg, or in. Hg, or in. H2O must be given in reference to temperature. 1 in. H2O @ 60oF = 248.8 Pa.
1 in. Hg @ 60oF = 3,377 Pa.
It is always advisable to add the words "absolute pressure" or "vacuum", or their abbreviations, as befits the case in hand.