Hi ladies , Don't ya just love auctions at Watches of Knightsbridge ?
Every hyped up watch described as rare or extremely rare. Most are only rare because nobody wanted them in the first place. The others come up regularly on ebay.
On offer exclusively to the DDK horology dept. today is something really rare. As rare as a real rare thing.
In fact, possibly as rare as a northward bound quick galloping T bone steak.
With its rotating bezel and stainless steel case rated at 100 meters, the Deepstar also features a huge chronograph dial, making it the first chronograph capable of diving 10 ATM .That added chronograph function soon attracted the attention of professional divers, including the worlds most important diver and co inventor of the Aqualung, Jacques Cousteau.
Although Cousteau was a proponent of the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms and the Rolex Submariner and later became a vendor of the DOXA Sub300t through his company, U.S. Divers, Cousteau and his crew were not married to any particular watch brand. However, his relationship with the Aquastar Deepstar was long-lived. Cousteau and many of his crew on the Calypso could often be seen sporting Deepstar's in his landmark TV series,The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau. Aquastar elected to use a single large distinctive 30 minute register at 3 o clock with a moving boat propeller at
9.00 o clock which continuously marks the elapsed seconds. As the propeller isn't a part of the chronograph complication,the watch is best described as a single register chronograph.
Most of these watches had black or grey dials .This watch is the much sought after midnight blue version powered by a Valjoux 92 - the same movement used in the Heuer Autavia 3646 (Andretti). This version sports the larger hour lume plots and looks most like the style used by Cousteau's crew.
Originally the watch would have come with a decompression table to be used with the external bezel on the watch.
Never seen a Deepstar offered for sale with these and I'm offering the watch only.
The Deepstar was marketed in Spain as Duward and in Italy as Lorenz . I believe Heuer marketed the Deepstar in America without changing the Aquastar brand name.
It's the Aquastar branded watches that are most prized by collectors.
Company. Aquastar Geneve
Model. Deepstar
Country of origin. Switzerland
Year. Circa 1966
Size. 37.5 mm without crown
Type. Single register chronograph.
Dial. Midnight blue with faded peppermint green hands and lume
Movement. Valjoux 92 . 17 jewel column wheel chronograph
Case. Stainless steel with Aquastar trademark serrated cog back
Crystal. Acrylic
Lug width. 19mm
Bezel. Bi directional and perfectly weighted
Waterproof. Not now.
Box and papers - No
These Deepstar's are super desirable and rarely come to open market,with the best examples selling under the radar.
They've tremendous wrist presence without being overwhelming in size.
£ 12.8k firm
Kindly contact Richard by pm or
coachhouse.fourfields@gmail.com.
