In recent years, we’ve seen a refreshing rise in revivals of watch brands that fell victim to the Quartz Crisis of the 1970s. One such brand is Swiss-made Aquastar, who essentially just made regatta timers for 35 years until getting revived in 2020. Since then, fans have been loving the reissues of its Deepstar diver but wanted a faithful revival of their Benthos line. And this week, Aquastar has responded with a reissue of the Benthos 500 just like it was when it first debuted in the late ‘60s.
Back in January, Aquastar introduced the Benthos H1, which had the design language of the ‘60s diver but lacked the original watch’s unique central-mounted chronograph hand. Fortunately, with the latest Benthos 500 Founder’s Edition, the complication has been revived as well. Powered by an Aquastar Calibre 1MPS automatic movement, the orange fourth hand moves along the outside of the watch like a GMT hand would, but simply serves as a 60-minute chronograph timer activated by a monopusher on the outside of the case at the 2 o’clock position.
Almost a replica of the original, the reissue is housed in a 42mm stainless steel case, albeit a bit thinner than its progenitor thanks to the reduced dive rating (200m instead of 500m). Surrounded by a 120-click ceramic bezel, the black dial is covered by a triple AR-coated sapphire crystal and given lots of Super-LumiNova lume for nighttime visibility. Thanks to the faithful aesthetic, this piece could easily be mistaken as a vintage piece purchased on eBay. On the other hand, the crown has been moved from the 2 to the 4 o’clock spot on the case.
Limited to just 300 pieces, the Benthos 500 Founder’s Edition is expected to arrive starting this May and can be purchased for the pre-order price of $2,790. Head over to Aquastar’s website to learn more.
