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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

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

 

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...

 

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.

 

Someone talk me out of putting down a deposit

https://aquastar.ch/benthos-500-chronograph/

 

Do it

 

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 just paid the deposit. @Anthony Lane I blame you. I'll see you in the sales section as I free up funds

 

Nah

Though I see you already paid it, so

 

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.