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For six years, French Navy combat divers coming up through Toulon were issued the Aquastar Benthos (third generation). Some of those watches are still on serving divers’ wrists.
Issued equipment.
The Marine Nationale, the French Navy, issued the Aquastar Benthos (third generation) to its combat divers from 1979 to 1984. The Benthos is Aquastar’s tool watch for working divers, rated to 500 meters and built in Switzerland since 1970. For the wider context, see our guide to military dive watches and how a navy contract is won.
Procurement records, serial-number ranges and the exact issuance period are held in the Aquastar archive in Bienne. Collectors and inheritors of M.N.-marked Benthos models who want to confirm provenance can contact the workshop directly.
The procurement record.
The Marine Nationale procured the Aquastar Benthos third generation through Toulon between 1979 and 1984. Approximately 3,200 watches shipped over the period. Procurement years confirmed in Aquastar archive records: 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984.
Each issue carried a case-back stamp reading MARINE NATIONALE followed by the procurement year, single-line, block letters, identical font across all years. The dial and bezel were the same as the civilian Benthos of the same period, there was no military-only variant.
The Aquastar Benthos, third generation. The model issued to the Marine Nationale from 1979 to 1984. The bezel scale, dial, and case are unchanged from the civilian Benthos of the same period.
What made the Benthos the navy’s choice.
The Benthos was selected for a small number of concrete reasons.
The first was a tested track record.
By 1979 the Benthos had been in continuous Swiss production for nine years.
Three generations had passed through civilian and professional dive use
before the French Navy specified the watch for its combat divers.
The Marine Nationale chose a tool with a verifiable service history,
not a new design.
The second was depth rating.
The Benthos 500, released in 1970,
was the first Swiss dive watch rated to 500 meters of water resistance.
That same year it was added to the U.S. Navy Diving Manual.
By the time French Navy procurement began in 1979
the Benthos had nearly a decade of documented service
in professional and military diving programmes.
The third reason was redundancy.
Early-1980s electronic dive computers were still entering service,
and they failed.
A bezel calibrated to read decompression stops directly
was the backup a combat diver could rely on
when battery-powered hardware quit at depth.
The Benthos was a mechanical solution to a problem
the electronics had not yet solved.
The fourth reason was continuity.
Aquastar had been supplying the Benthos to civilian and professional divers since 1970.
Issuing the third generation meant issuing a tool that was already proven,
already in use across the recreational and professional dive community,
and already manufactured in volume at the Geneva workshop.
Authenticating a Marine Nationale Aquastar.
Case-back engraving.
The case back reads MARINE NATIONALE
followed by a four-digit procurement year,
on a single line, in block letters.
The font is identical across all procurement years from 1979 through 1984.
Variations in font, multi-line stamps, or hand-engraved markings
indicate a later addition, not an issued piece.
Serial number ranges.
Aquastar holds the procurement records for the Marine Nationale issuance.
Serial number ranges per year,
including exact issuance lots,
are in the Aquastar archive in Bienne.
Collectors who want to confirm a specific serial against the archive
can contact the Bienne workshop directly.
Bezel pattern.
The bezel is identical to the civilian Benthos of the same year.
There was no military-only bezel insert,
no military-only graphic, no separate dial.
An M.N.-marked case back paired with a bezel
that does not match a civilian Benthos of the period
is a marriage, not an original issue.
Strap.
Issued watches left Toulon on a black rubber Tropic strap.
Examples seen today on a steel bracelet are later civilian conversions,
the bracelet was not part of the original issued kit.
Pastre service marks.
Yves Pastre, the Marine Nationale’s primary watchmaker in Toulon
from the 1950s through the 1990s,
engraved his initials YP and a service date or code
inside the case back of every watch he handled.
A Pastre mark on a Marine Nationale Aquastar
links the watch to the official Toulon service center
and is considered a hallmark of issued provenance
in the vintage military watch community.
From the records of the Marine Nationale watchmaker.
A page from the service register of Yves Pastre, the Toulon watchmaker who served as the primary technician for the Marine Nationale’s military-issued dive watches from the 1950s through the 1990s. His shop sat about a hundred yards from the main gates of the naval base. Tudor Submariners, Doxas, Auricostes and Aquastars from across the French Navy’s diving and ship commands passed through his bench.
The entries on this single lot, hand-written on or about 15 January 1981, list two Doxa references, two Aquastar reference 9650 watches, four Tudors and a Yema. The Aquastar 9650 is the Benthos third generation, the same reference the Marine Nationale procured between 1979 and 1984. The stamp at the lower right reads Y. Pastre Horloger, Service Technique Rolex, 83000 Toulon.
The register is not from the Aquastar archive. It is a contemporary third-party record, kept by the technician who serviced the issued watches as part of his ordinary trade. Two Aquastar 9650 references appear on the same lot as Tudor Submariners and Doxas, the other watches the Marine Nationale was simultaneously issuing to different diver populations during the same period. Pastre’s ledgers are today treated as primary references in the vintage military watch community for verifying Marine Nationale provenance.
Service register, Y. Pastre Horloger, Service Technique Rolex, 83000 Toulon. Two Aquastar reference 9650 entries on a single 15 January 1981 lot, sharing the page with Tudor Submariners, Doxa, and a Yema.
Further reference: a third-party documentary on the Aquastar Benthos covering both the civilian and the French Navy issued variants is available on YouTube.
Frequently asked questions.
When did the French Navy issue Aquastar watches?
The Marine Nationale issued the Aquastar Benthos third generation to its combat divers from 1979 through 1984. Procurement ran through the Toulon supply chain across each of those six years.
How many Marine Nationale Aquastar watches were made?
Approximately 3,200 watches were issued over the full procurement period from 1979 to 1984. Exact issuance lots per year are held in the Aquastar archive in Bienne.
What model did the Marine Nationale receive?
The issued model was the Aquastar Benthos third generation. The dial and bezel were the same as the civilian Benthos of the same period, there was no military-only variant.
Can I authenticate a Marine Nationale Aquastar?
Yes. Aquastar holds the procurement records and the serial number ranges for the 1979 to 1984 issuance. Collectors and inheritors of M.N.-marked Benthos models can contact the Bienne workshop to confirm a specific serial against the archive.
Are Marine Nationale Aquastar watches more valuable than civilian versions?
The Marine Nationale Benthos and the civilian Benthos of the same year share the same dial, bezel and movement. The difference is the case-back stamp and the documented military provenance. Market value reflects that provenance and the limited issuance volume, with the modern descendants of the issued watch still in production as the Benthos 500 II Founder’s Edition and the Benthos Heritage II.
The lineage
Five generations of the Benthos. 1970 to 2025.
The Aquastar Benthos has been continuously built across five generations. The third generation, in the middle of the line below, is the watch the Marine Nationale issued to its combat divers from 1979 to 1984.
Left to right: the original Benthos (1970), the second generation, the third generation (issued to the Marine Nationale from 1979 to 1984), the fourth generation, and the current production (2025).
The watch they wore
Same bezel. Same tables. Same maker.
The Benthos that Marine Nationale divers wore from 1979 to 1984 is the direct ancestor of the modern Benthos dive watches we ship today. The bezel hasn’t changed.
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