Aquastar Welcomes the Deepstar II Silver Star

Earlier this year, Aquastar made a big splash with the release of their Deepstar 39mm Chronograph. The release would prove to be significant being that it took the slightly larger 41mm Deepstar Chronograph and compressed the case proportions, making the watch more appealing to a wider range of wrist sizes. Aquastar followed up the introduction of the Deepstar 39mm Chronograph by recently adding the popular sunburst green Greenwich dial to the 39mm chronograph line. As the year comes to a close, Aquastar announced that they had one more release up their sleeve. This time around, Aquastar is introducing a brand new dial color to the range, but instead, it’s the Deepstar II that gets the call with the Aquastar Deepstar II Silver Star.

The Deepstar II takes all the unique traits of the Deepstar chronograph and incorporates them into a more compact package. Unlike the 41mm Deepstar and its 39mm sibling, the Deepstar II 37mm case size is authentic to the Aquastar watches produced in the 60’s and 70’s. The dial initially gives the illusion that the Deepstar II is a chronograph as well, but looking more closely, this is an entirely different watch. The subdials have flipped positions and the case no longer sports a set of chronograph pushers making the DSII a time only model. Overall, the Deepstar II is an interesting reference within the Aquastar catalog since it’s a representation of what the brand would have produced before the company changed hands and ultimately went in a different direction.

The Deepstar II Aquastar Silver Star remains exactly the same aside from the new dial color. The model is still equipped with a split steel bezel based on the French Navy Diving Table. The inner scale indicates what depth to make your decompression stop during your first dive, while the outer scale indicates how long you would need to stay topside before completing your successive dive. If you want a more in-depth explanation of how the bezel works, go check out my review of the Deepstar 39mm Chronograph.

The new dial gets a dynamic silver colorway that seems to have a different look based on what type of light hits the dial. The dial looks to have a stark metallic appearance, but when hit with a certain amount of light, displays a more vintage champagne tone. The dial furniture remains the same as well. Distinct trapezoidal markers are positioned at three, six and twelve, while a small seconds dial fills in at nine. The Aquastar and Deepstar wordmarks round out the peculiar, but balanced dial.

I used to own a Aquastar Deepstar II and I can confirm that the watch is a pleasure to wear on the wrist. The 37mm diameter x 46mm lug to lug x 12mm thickness case proportions all come together cohesively to wear like a true vintage diver. The H lug design was also a plus in my books since it easily accepted a wide array of straps and mesh bracelets. The Silver Star however is a different aesthetic from the steel gray variation I owned. The warmer tones of the dial that are seen in the images provided by Aquastar are akin to that of vintage silver dials that have been exposed to the sun the moment it was unboxed.

The Aquastar Deepstar II Silver Star is currently available for pre-order at the price of $1,490 and will ship on a gray seatbelt fabric NATO. Once the pre-order window is up, the Aquastar Deepstar II Silver Star will retail for $1,890. Delivery for the new model is expected in January 2023. Aquastar