Pre-Owned Aquastar Glasstar --

Why We Love It

There is no doubt that diving watches hold a special place in the hearts of many collectors, ourselves included. In fact, Analog:Shift was founded nearly a decade ago with its eyes set firmly on vintage divers.

With their simple, legible designs and reliable and robust movements, the tool watches of the 1960s and 1970s were built to accompany the adventurer across the globe and to keep time at its great heights as well as its dark depths. For every Rolex Submariner, Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, or Omega Seamaster, there were scores of other lesser-known names that nevertheless merit consideration from the vintage watch enthusiast.

Aquastar is one of those names.  And this particular watch offers something very, very different...

This particular model, a Glasstar, features a 45mm fiberglass case which -wait for it- floats. Yes, it floats! The ultralight buoyant case houses an automatic-winding movement with a date, a gloss black Tritium dial with a matching handset, and a matching fiberglass unidirectional timing bezel. 

While vintage Aquastar watches appear periodically on the vintage watch market, they’re rarely in such excellent condition as the one we offer here, due to the hard use that they were invariably subjected to throughout their lives. 

Watches such as this one are fun and wonderful timepieces, and there's no telling if and when one of these in any condition will surface again, so don't wait!

The Aquastar Story

Aquastar is one of the many watch companies that proliferated just before the Quartz Crisis. Founded in 1962 by veteran SCUBA diver Frédéric Robert, Aquastar—as the name suggests—took the needs of aquatic sportsmen as its guiding principles. Drawing on a patent filed in 1958 by Aquastar’s parent company, JeanRichard, Aquastar introduced the brand’s first dive watch: the JeanRichard Aquastar 60.

Watches produced by JeanRichard under the Aquastar line were retailed under many brand names, from JeanRichard to Duward, which was primarily used in Spain; however, the line became so successful that it became the brand name by which the watches are best-known.

The company would go on to produce a varied line of purpose-built aquatic timepieces (including the first regatta timer), but there’s another watch that attracts the attention of vintage chronograph collectors, not least of all for its connection to Jacques Cousteau.