1970s

In 1970, Aquadive introduced what would become its most famous watch — the Time-Depth “Model 50”. It was a gargantuan watch, especially for its era, at 47 millimeters across and 20 millimeters tall with a huge rotating bezel and 24-millimeter strap width. The Model 50 was big for a reason. The watch incorporated an oil-filled depth gauge, with a cutting edge Dynatron electronic movement. At a time when divers normally had to wear a watch on one wrist and a depth gauge on the other, the Model 50 combined the two in one instrument. It was a sensation among divers, and would go on to become a dive watch icon, coveted today by collectors.

The rise of inexpensive battery-powered quartz watches in the 1970s and ‘80s finally spelled doom for Aquadive, like it did for so many of the Swiss watch companies. The name Aquadive laid dormant for decades until 2011, when Rick Marei, a devoted dive watch collector, revived the brand, releasing several new models. The first watches in the reborn Aquadive lineup included those with new old stock cases pulled from the company archives, fitted with updated crystals, dials, and seals. There was also as an entirely new watch known as the Bathyscaphe, which was based on the original design of the iconic Model 50, but with a Swiss automatic movement. The Bathyscaphe remains the flagship of the current Aquadive family.

Today, Aquadive is a thoroughly modern watch brand, with steel and bronze cases CNC machined in Germany, ceramic timing bezels, and assembled in Switzerland using cutting edge materials and techniques. But Aquadive remains a company devoted to the same codes as it did in the 1960s and ‘70s—robust, highly water resistant, accurate dive watches for adventurers.