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Aquastar archival
Heritage  ·  Worn by

Four wrists. Four reasons we’re still here.

Aquastar has been worn by the people who do the things that the rest of us write about. Three of them are in the brand’s direct history; one of them is writing the brand into the present.

Don Walsh

1931 · 2023

Don Walsh

U.S. Navy · Challenger Deep  ·  Aquastar Model 60

The first human to reach the bottom of the ocean. 10,916 meters in the bathyscaphe Trieste, 23 January 1960. Wore an Aquastar Model 60 on the descent, personally verified with a photograph he sent to the brand.

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Jacques Mayol

1927 · 2001

Jacques Mayol

Free-diving pioneer  ·  Deepstar (first generation)

The man who proved 100 meters was possible on a single breath. The wrist that wore an Aquastar Deepstar through every record dive of the 1970s.

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Philippe Cousteau

1940 · 1979

Philippe Cousteau

Marine documentarian  ·  Deepstar and Benthos 500

The wrist that took the Benthos 500 onto the deck of the Calypso for the second half of the 1970s. The only Cousteau ever filmed wearing a watch.

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The French Navy

1979 · 1984

The French Navy

Marine Nationale combat divers  ·  Benthos (issued, 3rd generation)

For six years, every French Navy combat diver who came up through Toulon was issued an Aquastar Benthos (third generation). About 3,200 watches over the procurement period.

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Jason Heaton

Contemporary

Jason Heaton

Writer, novelist, technical diver  ·  Benthos 500 (vintage and modern)

Co-host of The Grey NATO. Author of Depth Charge. The wrist that wears his father's restored 1972 Benthos 500 at depth and writes about it afterwards.

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On the wrist today

Where Aquastar is right now.

The people in the section above wore Aquastar because there wasn’t anything else like it. The people in this section wear it for the same reason.

Commercial diver performing underwater welding while wearing an Aquastar Benthos
Underwater welding · North Sea. Benthos H1 on the wrist of a commercial saturation diver cutting in a wreck-recovery rotation. 2025.
Commercial diver in full drysuit and brass helmet on a boat in the Norwegian fjords
Norwegian fjords · before splash. Drysuit and 18-bolt brass helmet for a saturation rotation. Aquastar issued.
Aquastar Benthos H1 dive watch on a workbench beside a vintage Spirotechnique diving helmet
The bench. Benthos H1 on the workbench next to a Spirotechnique mark-IV helmet, the same gear class Cousteau’s team used. 2025.

Aquastar isn’t paying anyone to wear these watches. The people in the field who do, do it because the bezel works the way they need it to, and because the watch can be serviced for the rest of their career.

Heritage

Read about the patent that made it possible.

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