A Dive Into Time
In 1964, Aquastar patented the bezel that would save divers’ lives.
The pre-dive computer didn’t exist. Decompression tables lived in laminated cards strapped to wrists or sewn into wetsuits. Mistakes weren’t corrected by an app, they ended in the bends.
The solution was mechanical: a unidirectional bezel marked with the actual decompression times for repeated dives. Filed at the Swiss patent office as CH 436 140 by Aquastar S.A. of Geneva, inventor Marc Jasinski. Rotate, count, surface. The Marine Nationale issued it. Mayol wore it past 100 meters on his Benthos 500. Cousteau filmed in it.
Aquastar still makes it. The bezel hasn’t changed.