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Aquastar benthos 500 Sea monster

Solexelos
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good evening
everyone here is my latest acquisition, an aquastar benthos 500, the first diver's watch of the world that can reach 500m. I bought it from the first owner who bought it in a Parisian department store in the 1970s. Interesting feature, the orange chrono hand. as soon as you press the pusher, this hand rotates for 1 hour, after one hour it stops, if you press it before the hour, it restarts at zero and continues its timing like a flyback. it has never been overhauled and still works perfectly. only fault he lost insert bezel.
I am therefore looking for this insert in blue, if you have don’t hesitate to contact me.
 
AB8E61F3-3FE4-441D-85C3-9484CC0D880A.jpeg 9CA518CC-A88A-4178-BC68-DF893CA54574.jpeg 9213130A-4EBA-4E6C-9789-C6EE29450EEF.jpeg E0385CB8-6620-4F09-9960-0B667C84E082.jpeg 22F1B243-7EC7-4B88-BDB9-1C0BAB71528A.jpeg
Dsloan
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I saw this news today and was immediately ready to slap down money on the pre-order.... but then I realized they dropped the central chronograph function???!!

Why couldn't they just reissue it properly. 😡

20210516_Aquastar_039-Edit-scaled.jpg
 
river rat
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Only thing wrong the orange hand I think works like a GMT hand see no pusher for the dive timer to work like the original a shame. On the remake.
 
Scarecrow Boat
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river rat river rat
Only thing wrong the orange hand I think works like a GMT hand see no pusher for the dive timer to work like the original a shame.
It’s a running seconds hand in the style of the original totalizer.
The seconds hand uses the same hand as the vintage Totalizer. The winding crown was in the same place, there was just no start / reset pusher.

There is talks of this watch on WUS
Photo from the WUS thread
IMG_5769.jpeg
 
Dsloan
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Scarecrow Boat Scarecrow Boat
It’s a running seconds hand in the style of the original totalizer.


There is talks of this watch on WUS
Photo from the WUS thread
IMG_5769.jpeg

Thanks for finding that! It makes total sense. I get that building a similar movement for a reissue of a relatively niche reference would be an expensive risk for their business. Bummer though, as it would tick a lot of boxes for me.
 
alane24
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Dsloan Dsloan
Thanks for finding that! It makes total sense. I get that building a similar movement for a reissue of a relatively niche reference would be an expensive risk for their business. Bummer though, as it would tick a lot of boxes for me.

Hold your breath, I have a hunch it's coming...
 
Scarecrow Boat
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alane24 Anthony Lane
Hold your breath, I have a hunch it's coming...
The discussion starter in the above linked thread has inside knowledge of this whole project, and has hinted that a new movement is (very possibly) in the works. However, there is no indication of timeframe as the new movement seems to be a joint project for various brands/watches.
 
Dsloan
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Scarecrow Boat Scarecrow Boat
The discussion starter in the above linked thread has inside knowledge of this whole project, and has hinted that a new movement is (very possibly) in the works. However, there is no indication of timeframe as the new movement seems to be a joint project for various brands/watches.

That would be awesome. I'm increasingly of the opinion that a center minutes chronograph hand is the superior approach, as compared to subdials. Maybe not as tasteful from a design perspective, but definitely more legible for me. I really like the old Lemania 5100s that had this layout.

I've been thinking about picking up a Sinn EZM 1.1 or 140 for this reason, but a proper Benthos reissue could be really cool, depending on the price point.
Edited:
 
alane24
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IMG_7698.jpeg


I’d be curious to know what limitations there were with this new version that didn’t allow the crown to be at 2 o’clock like the original (my mark 2). Other than that it’s pretty bang on…not really a deal breaker for me.
 
Dsloan
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alane24 Anthony Lane
IMG_7698.jpeg


I’d be curious to know what limitations there were with this new version that didn’t allow the crown to be at 2 o’clock like the original (my mark 2). Other than that it’s pretty bang on…not really a deal breaker for me.

I read through all the reviews and Hodinkee seemed to imply that it was a conscious choice to make the ergonomics better for right handers - i.e. operate the pusher with index finger instead of thumb.
 
sotelodon
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Congrats on the re issue and the original one.

I was waiting years on this one, they told me around mid 2020 that this re issues was coming lol, after 4 years finally they release this. Keep us updated with wrist pics
 
Dsloan
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First pic after unboxing in the UPS parking lot. Will share more later.

PXL_20240514_205556023~2.jpg
 
Dsloan
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A few more pics:

Looking nice on the wrist!
PXL_20240514_213015083~2.jpg


It's tall, but not ridiculous
PXL_20240514_201801482.jpg


Big, but not wildly out of proportion on my wrist:
PXL_20240514_220435892~2.jpg


Full lume bezel!
PXL_20240514_220350969~2.jpg


Overall, I'm happy 😀
 
Scarecrow Boat
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Ooohhh that looks nice! I like the size of it and it looks perfectly at home on your wrist. Congrats on this!
 
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