Benthos Professional

I was hyped for this thing to show up, and after a month on the wrist, it completely delivered. It’s got that heavy, bulletproof vintage aesthetic that immediately makes your standard modern divers feel a bit boring by comparison. What blew me away almost right away is how cleverly it wears. You look at the thick, squared-off 1970s case in pictures and expect a wrist-anvil, but the short lug-to-lug length completely changes the game. It sits incredibly flush on the wrist. Tucking the crown up at the 2 o’clock position is absolute genius—no matter how much you bend your wrist or move around, there is zero crown bite. It just anchors itself and stays put. The dial and central totalizer setup are where this watch really shines in daily life: • The legibility is insane. The contrast on the dial is so sharp you can read the time from across the room, and the lume stays torch-bright long after you turn off the lights. • The central minute hand is addictive. Once you get used to tracking elapsed time with a big, central hand instead of tiny sub-dials, you’ll wonder why all chronographs aren't made this way. It’s effortlessly useful for everyday timing. • Pure mechanical confidence. The bezel click is ridiculously satisfying—stiff, tactile, and locks in with zero play. The whole thing feels like it could survive being thrown off a cliff. The stock ISOfrane-style rubber strap fits the retro-tool character perfectly—super pliable, comfortable, and keeps the watch head perfectly balanced. It’s bold, unapologetically retro, and has way more personality than another safe, cookie-cutter dive watch clone. A month in, and it's easily become my favourite grab-and-go weekend piece.

I'm a fan of Doxa style watch, and a big fan of Synchron watches. So far I've purchased Synchron Poseidon Black Edition, Sealab 300Ti, and this Aquastar Benthos Pro Black DLC. I've been wearing Poseidon for nearly full two (three?) years on various straps. I really love the faithful Synchron-era Doxa case shape and the dimension of the the Poseidon, but found it to be too thick (approximately 15mm) and hefty in my daily use, so I purchased this Benthos Pro right after its initial release. The Benthos Pro has similar Doxa-esque vibe, but it has more wearable shape with slim case, and discrete, stealthy feel of black DLC finish, just like its name "Professional" suggests. The ceramics bezel and the deep black lacquer dial beautifully contrasts to the matte sunyay case, adding a depth to the entirely black visual. The combination of rounded case and blocky indices, rehaut, hands makes this watch very bold and unique. It's got a vintage roots, but the implementation is very modern and stylish, and is quite opposite from my other collections of Synchron and Doxas, which has funky old school vibe. I am totally happy with all these similar but uniquely different watches in my collection. Finally, the case thickness is approximately 13mm if I remember correctly, but due to streamlined case side profile, it feels super slim and fits VERY well on my 6.5 inch wrist. It feels similar to the Synchron Sealab, which has less than 12mm thickness. The only drawback is that the watch has very tight space between lug and the case, so strap options are limited. However, it looks so good with the standard Isofrane Vintage strap, which also needs to push and squeeze to fit in the lug space. Highly recommended!

I have several of the Aquastar diver models. H1, 500 and the professional. They look similar but feel different. The professional has a more modern and slim feeling compared to the H1 that is closer to the vintage 500. If you want a modern version of the 500 Benthos I can recommend the professional! Great build quality at a great price!

I love my Benthos Professional in brushed stainless steel. I also own a Benthos 500, this model is a more low profile being a few mm thinner but you're still getting 300 metres of water resistance which is way deeper than most mortals go under water. The case brushing is next level and the dial lume is bright. Overall, an amazing dive watch from a revived watch brand that focused on dive watches during the golden age before the Quartz Crisis.