The Aquastar Deepstar II is the evolution of the original Deepstar from 1963 and is a result of recreation of one of the most influential dive watches of the 60s.
The rotating timing bezel bears the brand’s own “no decompression” table used to time repeated dives and also features the emblematic “cyclops” style mono-compax counter originally devised by Aquastar founder and innovator Frederic Robert. Unique to the Deepstar II, this detail now houses the running seconds register at 9:00. The Deepstar II bears 200 meters of water resistance, and is powered by a top-grade Swiss-made automatic movement.
Since 2023, Simona Auteri continues the legacy of the freediving Aquastar Brand Ambassadors.
Aquastar Early Ambassadors
Aquastar watches were worn by French freediver Jacques Mayol for its chronograph, which he could use to time breath holds on his deep apnea dives. Mayol was wearing the Aquastar watch when he set the depth record of 75 meters on a single breath in 1968.
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French freediving champion and icon Jacques Mayol (r) seen wearing an Aquastar Benthos 500 with director and screenwriter Luc Besson on the set of his film Le Grand Bleu (The Big Blue) in 1988. Inspired by Mayol's life story as a waterman and competitive freediver, Le Grande Bleu is one of France’s most commercially successful films in history, and a cult favorite in the modern era.
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It’s been said that legendary French freediver Jacques Mayol learned all the secrets of underwater life and breath hold techniques through his admiration of, and friendship with dolphins, earning him the nickname ‘Dolphin Man’. One creature in particular left a lasting impression on Mayol: a young dolphin named Clown, which lived at the Miami Seaquarium where this image was taken. And if you look closely, you’ll spot an Aquastar Deepstar chronograph on his wrist — indeed, Mayol was one of Aquastar’s earliest ambassadors.
Jacques Cousteau and his son Philippe Cousteau and their team chose the Aquastar Deepstar during countless expeditions as their dive watch of choice.
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Captain Philippe Cousteau wearing an Aquastar Deepstar in 1965
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A very young Philippe Cousteau, dive legend and son of Jacques Cousteau, photographed here in 1965 at the launch of the ambitious Conshelf III project. For three weeks, Cousteau and his fellow oceanauts would live 100 meters below the surface conducting groundbreaking research on human performance in underwater environments. And on his wrist? The unmistakeable Deepstar chronograph.
Best known as “Shark Lady,” ichthyologist Dr. Eugenie Clark built an incredible career around the study of all marine life, but became best known for her pioneering research on sharks, helping pave the way for future conservation of these misunderstood apex predators. And like many of her esteemed colleagues in marine biology around the 1960s and 70s, Genie chose an Aquastar as her timekeeping instrument of choice — shown here with an original Deepstar Chronograph, unmistakeable thanks to its “cyclops” register at 3:00.
Eugenie Clark aka The Shark Lady chose the Aquastar original Deepstar Chronograph as her timekeeping instrument of choice.
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