Diving with the New Aquastar Deepstar II

The Quartz Disaster was the good upheaval within the watch trade brought on by the arrival of quartz watches within the Seventies. Aquastar was one of many manufacturers that held on via the disaster by making large adjustments, transitioning away from mechanical dive watches into making largely quartz watches themselves. In 2020 they have been relaunched by Rick Marei, the person well-known for the rejuvenation of the Doxa, Aquadive and Tropic strap manufacturers. You’ll be able to learn all concerning the model’s relaunch and their first launch right here and right here. As we speak, the model is again with its sophomore providing, the Aquastar Deepstar II. Smaller and with a time-only motion, that is the watch that might have existed if the model had steady exercise. We obtained our fingers on an early mannequin for some scuba diving and preliminary ideas, so let’s get into it.

The 2021 Aquastar Deepstar II

“What if the quartz disaster had by no means occurred?…” That’s the easy query behind the design ethos of the brand new launch from Aquastar. Aiming to choose up the place they left off after being derailed by quartz 60 years in the past, this new watch is a religious successor to not solely The Deepstar 2020 chronograph, but in addition to the unique Aquastar watches from the early Nineteen Sixties.

There are two issues you’ll discover instantly when placing on the Deepstar II for the primary time. The primary is the similarity that this piece has with the Deepstar chronograph from 2020. It options the identical beautiful sunburst dial, accessible in Classic Black, Blue Ray or Metal Gray colourways, the big, metal artwork deco-ish hour markers at 12, 3, 6 and 9 o’clock, and the “cyclops” model, single subdial, this time getting used as a operating seconds counter. The baton-style fingers and a small pip at each 5-minute mark are amply lumed with high-density Previous Radium model Tremendous-LumiNova, and there may be additionally a pip on the bezel on the 60-minute marker, for ease of establishing your timing in low-light circumstances.

Additionally carried over from its predecessor is the distinctive, dual-scale bezel, patented by Aquastar manner again in 1962. The internal scale has the usual 60-minute count-up markings for use for timing a dive with the watch’s minute hand. The outer ring was for use along side a French Navy dive desk to calculate required floor intervals for consecutive dives, and was the primary watch to characteristic such performance. It’s value noting that the tables that have been used to calculate the maths on this ring are lengthy outdated and, as such, ought to NOT be used to truly calculate floor intervals for contemporary diving. However, it’s a cool novelty, and enjoyable to experiment with, for leisure functions solely.

The second factor you’ll discover concerning the Aquastar Deepstar II is its measurement. Measuring in at a svelte 37mm, this watch simply oozes classic appeal. If there was one criticism I heard concerning the 2020 Deepstar chronograph, it was that folks discovered its fashionable sizing a bit of too large after they have been on the lookout for a vintage-inspired dive watch. It seems Aquastar has heard these issues and brought them deeply to coronary heart right here. In a watch panorama that’s slowly retreating from the “larger is healthier” thought course of that outlined most of the final decade or so, the Deepstar II will see your 40mm vintage-inspired sizing, and lift you one other 3mm. 

Full disclosure: I’ve what we name within the biz, “small wrists”. Clocking in round 16cm, I could also be a bit of biased in direction of a smaller-sized watch, however 37mm in diameter (in actual fact, 36.75mm to be exact) and simply 12mm thick looks like an ideal candy spot. Simply wearable by women and men alike, it’s the definition of what a software watch needs to be; as large because it must be to get the job achieved, no extra, no much less. No filler, simply enterprise.

Beneath the long-lasting, engraved, screw-down caseback you can find the beating coronary heart of the Deepstar II, the Sellita SW-290. It is a Swiss-made, automated motion, beating at 28,800vph with a 38-hour energy reserve. Aquastar has kindly eliminated the date operate from the motion so there is no such thing as a pesky, ghost place of the crown. Talking of the crown, it’s a sturdy, screw-down quantity with the Aquastar emblem engraved. The watch has additionally retained the 200-meter water-resistance of its large brother, a should for a severe dive watch.

The model was type sufficient to ship us the Blue Ray model just a few weeks early, so we took the 2021 Aquastar Deepstar II all the way down to the Florida Keys for a weekend of sailing and diving some deteriorating shipwrecks to see the way it fares as an all-around, maritime companion.

On the boat

There’s a sure attract to a classic dive watch, and the Aquastar Deepstar II has it in spades. Positive it really works simply tremendous as a each day timekeeper or espresso brew timer or door body hammer (can’t be solely me, proper…?). However, very like a Mogwai, get it anyplace even close to the water and the magic begins to occur. You’re immediately transported again to a less complicated time when being on the water both meant you have been incomes your dwelling or exploring and adventuring, however both endeavour introduced with it an unlimited sense of freedom.

Steering a ship with the wind in your hair and the Deepstar II in your wrist, it could as nicely be 1962 once more. You attain in your pocket to scrounge $0.15 for one more litre of petrol, as you solely have three extra lobster traps to verify earlier than you possibly can clock out and at last go see Dr. No on the drive-in. Getting a bit of carried away? Most likely, however that’s the enchantment that these tiny items of metal and brass can maintain.

The Aquastar Deepstar II Underwater

Beneath the waves is the place this watch actually belongs and the classic charms are solely amplified. Only a look on the dial and the splendidly classic Aquastar font, and you’re feeling like a member of Crew Cousteau, headed down from the Calypso to verify Conshelf I is prepared for testing. And who doesn’t need to really feel like that when diving?

Everybody is aware of that mechanical watches are usually not usually used as the only timing machine for diving as of late. Now we have lengthy since moved into the pc age for that activity. Because of this, the dive watch has shifted to being a dual-purpose machine for the fashionable diver. First, as a backup timer, within the uncommon case {that a} dive laptop dies and the diver would nonetheless wish to know the way lengthy they’ve been respiratory from a can underneath tonnes of water. The second use, at the very least for me, is a little more esoteric. They function one thing of a totem; a connection to the previous and a static reminder that beneath the entire computer systems and high-tech respiratory equipment and space-age supplies retaining me heat, that I’m not in actual fact an underwater cyborg, that I’m nonetheless only one man, on the market exploring the ocean, fully at its mercy. And that straightforward reminder is humbling and liberating, all of sudden.

In observe, the Aquastar Deepstar II does every part you might desire a dive watch to do and it does it with class and elegance. The NATO strap that mine got here on is comfy and lots lengthy to suit over any type of publicity go well with you is perhaps sporting. And with a NATO strap you’ve the added bonus of two connections to the watch that must fail earlier than you lose the watch perpetually. The dial is very legible and the identical goes for the bezel. I had issues that the polished shininess of the bezel could be troublesome to make out at depth, however fairly the alternative is true. The engraved digits, whereas a bit of on the small facet, are fairly contrasted from the bezel itself and really straightforward to learn. As for the 37mm measurement, it’s simply as good underwater as it’s on shore. It’s nearly like our diving forefathers 60 years in the past knew what they have been doing. If it ain’t broke…

So what if the quartz disaster had by no means occurred? Who is aware of? However merely asking the query is an effective train for watch manufacturers and fans alike. Possibly time itself ceases to exist, or perhaps mechanical watches evolve to the purpose that we’re all sporting Seiko quadruple tourbillons that we paid €15 for. This evolution/alternate timeline from Aquastar goals to reply the query by choosing proper up the place the model left off within the Seventies, and I say hold it coming. Higher late than by no means to search out out what may have been.

Availability & Value

The Aquastar Deepstar II is accessible in three completely different dial choices; Classic Black, Blue Ray or Metal Gray. Every colourway will probably be restricted to 300 items. It comes geared up with a colour-matched cloth NATO strap. Choices for Tropic of ISOFrane rubber straps are additionally accessible. It could actually now be pre-ordered from the model’s web site, at aquastar.ch. The pre-order worth is USD 1,490, with a future retail worth of USD 1,890.