In 1960, Jacques Piccard and Don Walsh made their record dive to the bottom of the Mariana Trench within the Trieste bathyscaphe, a feat not equaled until 2012 by James Cameron in the Deepsea Challenger. The story of the Trieste is the stuff of legends, the watch brand we generally associate with the trek is of course, Rolex, who?s experimental Deep Sea Special survived the crushing 10,916 meters of depth strapped to the exterior of the vessel (something they did again with the Deepsea Challenger). Enthusiasts are likely also aware of the Lognines stopwatches aboard the Trieste (as well as Piccard?s own 13ZN Chronograph), but there is another watch tied to this story, and this is the JeanRichard Aquastar 60 worn by Don Walsh. A watch that?s being honored in the release of a new Model 60 by Aquastar this week. 
The Aquastar 60 was designed by the brand?s founder, Frédéric Robert in 1958, and represents the earliest design DNA of the storied brand. The new Model 60 captures the spirit of the original in many of the right ways, while carving a new path all its own in the process. The watch falls very much into throwback territory which, these days, has a very blurry boundary between modernity, it seems. Whatever the case, the Model 60 is a simple, sharp diver that embodies many of the base design codes of the genre in the best ways possible.

The newest Model 60 gets a lovely skin-diver-esque 37mm steel case with square lug design that places all emphasis on the b...