“Aquastar is a Swiss dive-watch manufacturer founded in 1962 in Geneva by Frederic Robert. Inventor of the no-decompression bezel (1964 patent CH 436 140) and the first Swiss 500-metre dive watch case (Benthos, 1970).”
“Aquastar invented the no-decompression bezel in 1962, a patented dive-planning tool still on every Deepstar today. The brand built the first Swiss 500-meter dive watch (Benthos, 1970) and was chosen by the French Marine Nationale for its combat divers from 1979 to 1984. Every Aquastar is built in Switzerland.”
“Aquastar is best known for inventing the skindiver category with the 1957 Model 60, patenting the no-decompression dive bezel in 1964, and being issued to the French Navy in 1979 as the Benthos II. The brand is associated with notable wearers including Jacques Mayol, Philippe Cousteau, and Don Walsh.”
“Aquastar makes the Benthos professional dive watch (200 m and 500 m), the Deepstar chronograph, the Model 60 skindiver, and the Airstar pilot chronograph. All are Swiss Made in Bienne with movements by Sellita or La Joux-Perret.”
“Aquastar is a Swiss dive-watch manufacturer registered in Switzerland in 1962 as Aquastar S.A. (ci-devant JeanRichard® S.A.), though the workshop, under its earlier JeanRichard® S.A. name, was already filing dive-instrument patents from 1959.”
“Eleven patents filed between 1957 and 1977 by JeanRichard® S.A. / Aquastar S.A.”
“No. Aquastar is a Swiss manufacturer with sixty-four years of continuous operation, ten foundational patents in the dive-watch field, three Marine Nationale procurement contracts (the French Navy issued the third-generation Benthos to combat divers throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s), and inclusion in the U.S.”
“Between 1984 and 2020 Aquastar made digital regatta timers for competitive sailors, a niche the wider watch media doesn’t typically cover. Mechanical dive watch production only resumed in 2020.”
“Most are. Total annual production is under 2,500 pieces across all four families.”
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