The Benthos Boys – A Dive Into Time

It probably will be no surprise to anyone when I say that I get asked lots of questions about Aquastar watches. After numerous reviews and two books and considering myself as the “Aquastar Guy”, questions come with the territory. Many of those questions are about the Benthos. The Benthos family has grown considerably. Initially comprising of the vintage watches: Benthos 500 (2 versions), Benthos I and Benthos II, the modern versions: Benthos H1, Benthos 500 Founder’s Edition and now the Benthos H2 have been added. With the release of the new Limited Edition Blue version of the Benthos H1, I thought it was time to answer some of the questions I have been asked in a more formal and enduring way. I will consider the vintage Benthos 500 and the modern Benthos versions. I’ve already done full reviews of all of them on this site so I won’t be going into detail. If you do want to know more about the watches here, then when you have finished with this go and read my reviews. There are lots of photos and who doesn’t like lots of watch photos! I’m not including the vintage Benthos I and II here. One, because I don’t have them and, two, they are a different case design. So, grab a coffee, sit back, relax and enjoy the read.

Before starting I’ll get some weights and measures out of the way.

	WIDTH (mm) (without crown)	LENGTH (mm)	HEIGHT (mm)	LUG WIDTH (mm)	WEIGHT (with bracelet for 6.75″ wrist) (grams)
BENTHOS H2	40	45	12.3	20	157
NEW BENTHOS 500	42	47	15.6	22	191
BENTHOS H1	42	47	16	20	178
VINTAGE BENTHOS 500	42	47	16	20	178

The following image shows the watches with the oldest at the bottom and the newest at the top. I’ve included the new blue H1 because there are a few subtle differences to the H1 from 2023. I’ll show the first one here. The new H1 crown has changed. Look at the image below. You will notice that all the crowns are polished except the one on the top watch. If you look closely you will see that the crown is brushed and it is only the Aquastar star that is polished.

Here is a close up comparing the crowns from the two H1 generations. You will also notice that the upper case brushing on the new blue H1 is finer than on the first version. There are other differences but I’ll leave them until later.

So, the first question I’ll answer is one I’ve been asked a few times: If I had to chose between the vintage Benthos 500 and a modern version, which would I chose? The answer really has two parts. The first part is easy as is the reason behind it. The second part is more difficult. The answer to the first part is: NOT, yes that’s right, NOT the vintage 500.

The vintage Benthos 500 is a fantastic watch. It is an iconic dive watch. It looks fantastic and wears really well and the Totalizer is what sets it apart from most other vintage watches but it is actually that Totalizer that is the reason I wouldn’t chose it. Sadly, the Totalizer is now almost unrepairable. It can be done but in many cases parts would have to be made and that starts to become expensive. I consider the vintage Benthos 500 a collectors watch, not a wearer’s watch. My days as a collector are pretty much over. I want a watch I can wear and know I can get it fixed if I damage it. The vintage 500 is not that watch.

If I was being honest, I would admit that I keep it because of reviews and for comparisons against other watches. I still wear it but after smacking it against a door frame a while ago and needing a clean pair of underwear after the loud bang it made, I decided that it could retire back to the watch box. Luckily the 500 survived unscathed. It did more damage to the wooden frame, but it was a scary moment.

The second part of the question leaves me with a choice of four modern Benthoses or is that Benthae…hmmmmm, not sure what the plural of Benthos is, and its a tough one to answer.

I would never chose a watch based on it’s luminous properties. If I did, it would pretty much be the Seiko Monster every time. I really have no need for lume on a watch. I never use one in the dark. But lume is a big thing for most people and it’s always a topic for discussion. The above image shows the H1, 500, H2 and Blue H1 after 10 minutes sitting in bright sunshine and about 40 minutes later. They are pretty much equal. Maybe the 500 is slightly brighter and the original H1 slightly dimmer after the 40 minutes.

There is however on aspect of lume that I would base a watch choice on and that is the unenergized lume color and from that perspective the blue H1 gets the win.

Aquastar has been fairly consistent in its use of “Light Old Radium” color lume on its watches. Some people like it, some people don’t. I’ve definitely moved into the second group. If you have my: Anatomy of a Design, Aquastar book you will have read the chapter on luminous material and it’s development. The later part of the chapter revolves around the following image. It shows many of the colors that Super-LumiNova is available in and their relative brightness. “Light Old Radium” is not shown in the table but would sit near to the C1. It has an slight orange hue in daylight which gives it a vintage look. The afterglow turns into a yellow-green hue. It is around the C1 level of intensity.

The new Blue H1 uses C1 lume instead of the Light Old Radium. However, it is the newer X1 formulation which is said to provide a brighter and longer lasting glow. It’s unenergized color is white and for me it is the best look of all the modern Benthos watches. As noted above it has a similar intensity and similar afterglow color to the Light Old Radium lume which is why the energized dials all look the same. I didn’t leave the dials long enough to check if the X1 did last longer than the others. After 40 minutes it became very difficult to take a clear photo of the lume so I gave up. Personally, I would have liked to see the Blue H1 go with BGW9 as it is also white but has a much higher intensity blue light when energized.

So if the Blue H1 gets the win based on the white lume, which watch would I chose based on functionality? Well that is an easy one, The Benthos 500 Founder’s Edition.

The Benthos 500 Founder’s Edition replicates the vintage Benthos 500 but also improves on it. The vintage Benthos 500 movement incorporated a 60 minute flyback Totalizer module. The new Benthos 500 movement is a full chronograph with stop / start / reset functionality all controlled from a single pusher. There really isn’t anything else like it out there.

The Benthos 500 Founder’s Edition is the most expensive of the four watches featured here, but it really is a case of you are getting more than what you are paying for. I guarantee if you wear a Benthos 500, you will not see anyone else with one. There were only 500 made. It is a watch that if someone does recognize it, and most people won’t, they will know what it is and the dive watch history it represents. They will probably just smile and nod their head. Both the vintage and modern Benthos 500 embody what a diver’s tool watch is all about. It’s more than a “3 hander”, unidirectional bezel, waterproof watch. It fulfils exactly what Frédéric Robert set out to do; create underwater instruments for divers. The Benthos 500 is such an instrument and that is why I really like wearing it. It is the modern version of a wristwatch that was designed to be far more than just a wristwatch and harkens back to a time before dive computers and an era of innovation and invention in dive watches that will never be seen again. The Benthos 500 Founder’s Edition really is a time machine in every sense of the expression.

Although the Benthos 500 Founder’s Edition is very close to the dimension of the vintage 500, it is definitely the heaviest of the four watches discussed here and that always brings the question about how it wears, which leads to which watch would I chose for wearability?

Obviously my answer is totally subjective. My wrist is 6.75 inches and is very flat. I also can’t wear any kind of strap for very long as they cause my wrist to itch and I’d end up with a rash so it’s bracelets for me and my favorite is the cheap $20 Amazon one you see in most of the images here. Also as I’ve got older my preference for watches has changed. I’ve always been the flat caseback guy but I’ve added: make it thinner to that now. It may not come as much of a surprise but all four of the modern Benthos versions wear similarly well but if I wanted one that wears as close to the vintage Benthos 500 as you could get then it has to be the H1.

And because the original H1 was a Limited Edition watch and is no longer available then that leaves only one option; the new Blue Benthos H1.

Are they exactly the same watch? Well, obviously one has a black dial and bezel and the other has a blue dial and bezel but there are also other subtle differences. I already mentioned the crowns and the lume above and if you flip the watches over you will see the casebacks have different lettering. The original says: 50 YEARS 1970 – 2020 and the new one says: 55 YEARS 1970 – 2025. Another change is in the minute hands. The Blue H1 has a slightly longer minute hand. And another change is the dial finish. The original H1 dial has a duller matt finish which mimics that of the vintage Benthos 500, whereas the blue H1 is a glossly finish matching the ceramic bezel insert. The last change is one you wouldn’t notice unless you had both versions of the H1 in your hands. The Blue H1 has a new bezel ratcheting system equipped with a Japanese steel ratchet spring. There is definitely a noticeable difference. The Blue H1 bezel action is smoother.

The blue H1 is not a new color for the Benthos. There were a number of vintage 500’s made with a blue dial and bezel insert. They are very rare.

I know that I previously said that I’m not a strap guy, but I do like the look of a nice leather strap on watches and I do have some straps lying in a box. I had a trawl and found a blue one with white stitching.

I think it looks fantastic. It turns out I bought it on Amazon in 2013. They are not there any more.

But wait a minute, some of you will be thinking, Pete said earlier that he was the flat caseback and make it thinner, guy and you would be right and that leads me to what I consider the wearability king of the Benthos range: the new Benthos H2.

The H2 is the smallest and thinnest and lightest Benthos and not surprisingly it hugs the wrist.

I also like it because of the symmetry of the two crowns which gives it the Benthos 500 look.

Is it perfect? No, I don’t think any watch is perfect. Actually I think it would be very difficult to describe the perfect watch but does the Benthos H2 sit near the top of the list of watches I think of wearing every day? Yes it does, but then so do the 500 and H1 and the Blue H1 is such a nice color that it really is calling me the most at the minute.

I like the look of the Benthos design and I’d like to see a 6 o’clock date version and one with the BGW9 lume, but these are just my personal thoughts. Other people don’t want a date as it throws of the dial symmetry and others are quite happy with the Light Old Radium lume. See what I mean about defining the perfect watch. What may be perfect for me, may not be perfect for you.

It’s the same with straps and bracelets. I love the look of the $20 bracelet and flat non faux BOR endpieces on a BOR bracelet, but the great thing about the flat lugs on the Benthos case is that they are perfect for straps. The Benthos range of watches ships or did ship with a choice of the Isofrane or Tropic straps but now Aquastar has a Beads of Rice bracelet for all the modern watches. The Benthos 500 Founder’s Edition used male endpieces but the H1 and H2 bracelets use the more traditional female endpieces. The new Blue H1 bracelet is also different in that it uses a new sliding wetsuit extension as opposed to the old style folded extension. I believe it should be shipping shortly after you read this.

I hope this has been entertaining reading and answered a few questions people may have had. It’s a tough call as to which modern Benthos I would chose if I could only have one. The H1 and H2 are almost the same price and I’m sure some people will consider that I’m just being my usual shill when I say this but I truly believe it. What Rick Marei is doing both with Aquastar and Synchron is that he is trying to make a watch that is as good or better than other Swiss made offerings but at a very competitive price. Just take the Blue H1 as an example. A reimagined historical dive watch, 904L stainless steel, 500 meters depth, X1 Super-LumiNova, an élaboré grade Selitta SW200 and all from someone who has a 20 year track record of making darned good dive watches for $1090. Not a bad deal!

As to the question, which one….the cop out answer is one…… of each!

More details on all the Benthos models can be found in my reviews here or at the Aquastar webpage