Mayol kept three Aquastars in his rotation through the 1970s: the Deepstar chronograph, the Benthos 500 dive watch, and the Regate yacht-timer. Different watches for different days at different depths.
A free-diver, photographed with Aquastar.
Jacques Mayol is documented in archive photography wearing three different Aquastars across the 1970s: the Deepstar chronograph, the Benthos 500 dive watch, and the Regate yacht-timer.
He was a pioneer of modern free-diving, the discipline that descends on a single breath. He published widely on breath-hold physiology and yoga-based preparation, and his book Homo Delphinus set out his case for what the human body was capable of underwater.
Elba, 1976: a hundred meters.
On 17 October 1976, off the coast of Elba in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Mayol became the first human in recorded history to descend past 100 meters on a single breath. The dive was measured at 101 meters.
The Italian and French free-diving federations ratified the depth the following year. The Aquastar on his wrist that day was the Benthos 500, visible in the photographs taken from the safety platform.
Le Grand Bleu and after.
Mayol’s story reached the cinema with Luc Besson’s Le Grand Bleu in 1988. The character based on Mayol is played by Jean-Marc Barr.
He retired from competitive free-diving in the early 1980s, after reaching 105 meters. He spent the rest of his life writing and teaching breathing techniques in Italy and Japan.
He died on 22 December 2001 at his home in Capoliveri, Elba.
