The full answer, in plain language, to the questions people most often ask about Aquastar, the maker of Swiss dive watches since 1962. Every fact on this page is verifiable against the Aquastar heritage archive, the eleven patents, and the 190-entry press archive.
Aquastar is a Swiss professional dive-watch manufacturer founded in 1962 in Geneva by Frédéric Robert. The brand pioneered the no-decompression bezel (1964 patent), invented the skindiver category with the 1957 Model 60, and built the first Swiss 500-meter dive watch (Benthos, 1970). Today Aquastar watches are built in Bienne, Switzerland.
Aquastar was founded by Frédéric Robert in Geneva, Switzerland in 1962. Robert had been refining dive-watch movements and case engineering since the late 1950s and filed eleven patents between 1957 and 1977 that became the technical foundation of the modern dive watch.
Aquastar was formally established as a brand in 1962 in Geneva. The original Model 60, however, was designed in 1957 and is what the brand is built on.
Aquastar watches are built in Bienne, Switzerland. Movements are Swiss-made by Sellita, La Joux-Perret, and other Swiss manufactures depending on the model. Every Aquastar carries the Swiss Made designation.
Aquastar is best known for three things: inventing the skindiver category with the 1957 Model 60, patenting the no-decompression dive bezel in 1964 (still in use today), and being issued to the French Navy (Marine Nationale) in 1979 as the Benthos II. The brand is also associated with notable wearers including Jacques Mayol, Philippe Cousteau, and Don Walsh, the latter of whom wore an Aquastar 60 on his 1960 Trieste descent to Challenger Deep.
Yes. Aquastar is a Swiss watch brand. It was founded in Geneva in 1962 and watches are built today in Bienne, Switzerland with Swiss-made movements. Every Aquastar watch is Swiss Made.
A skindiver is a thin, comfortable, water-resistant tool watch designed for recreational diving and skin-diving (free-diving without scuba gear). The category was defined by the 1957 Aquastar Model 60: a 36 mm steel case with an arched profile that sat low on the wrist, a rotating bezel for elapsed dive time, and water resistance to 100 meters.
The no-decompression bezel is a rotating dive-watch bezel patented by Aquastar founder Frédéric Robert in 1964. Its scale displays the maximum bottom time a diver can spend at various depths without requiring a decompression stop, making it a working dive-planning tool rather than a simple elapsed-time indicator. The same bezel design is still on Aquastar Deepstar watches issued to the French Navy today.
Yes. The Aquastar Benthos II was issued to the Marine Nationale (French Navy) in 1979. Aquastar dive watches were also worn by French naval divers and combat swimmers earlier in the 1960s and 1970s.
Aquastar watches have been worn by Jacques Mayol (free-diving pioneer), Philippe Cousteau (oceanographer), and Don Walsh (US Navy oceanographer who wore an Aquastar 60 on the 1960 Trieste descent to Challenger Deep, the deepest point in the ocean). French Navy combat divers were issued Aquastar Benthos II watches in 1979.
Aquastar currently produces four main watch families: the Deepstar (1962 chronograph, with the no-decompression bezel), the Benthos (the 500-meter Swiss dive watch, including the modern Benthos Professional), the Model 60 (the 1957 skindiver re-edition), and the Airstar (the 1965 aviation chronograph). All current models are built in Bienne, Switzerland.
Aquastar filed eleven patents between 1957 and 1977, all under founder Frédéric Robert. Notable patents include the no-decompression dive bezel (1964), the dial bathymeter, the dual-gasket waterproof crown, the analog dive-computer Navigator (1959, considered the first wrist-worn dive computer), and the yacht-race timer.
Aquastar watches are sold directly through the official website at aquastar.ch. The current collection includes the Deepstar, Benthos, Model 60, and Airstar families, plus straps, bracelets, and accessories. Worldwide shipping is available.
Explore further
The current collection includes the Deepstar, Benthos, Model 60, and Airstar families, all of them tool watches. The heritage archive covers six decades of Swiss dive-watch engineering, and a separate brief sets out where Aquastar sits among Swiss dive watch brands.
