A good Yacht Timer was essential kit if you wanted to win the race, and the Aquastar Regate was considered one of the best.

HOW DO WE DATE THIS WATCH?

From the production dates of the movement, 1973 to 1980, and the dial not featuring the word automatic as it was on the later watches, we think this watch was made circa 1975.

CONDITION

Aquastar didn’t write automatic on the dial of this watch until later in the production, which was a mistake.  The auto movement was the biggest advantage this yacht timer has over the VIP Memosail of the same period, so they should have mentioned it.  Aquastar started making yacht timers in the 1960’s and the big difference between the 1960’s watches and the 1970’s ones was the count down timer was extended from 5 minutes to ten, in line with the rule change.  If you are unsure about why you need a yacht timer, it is because a wind powered yacht in a race can not be lined up with the competition on the seas in a nice straight line.  Instead the organiser gives a ten minute warning, and the idea is you want to cross the start line going as fast as you possibly can as soon as the ten minutes is over.  Races are won and lost in this timing, so a clear and easy to read countdown timer was essential.

This Aquastar Regate has five holes punched in the top of the dial.  One you start the ten minute timer these all turn blue, and gradually over five minutes these blue holes become red.  The red turn to silver and once you can not see any red your ten minutes is up.  As these are counting down, the orange second hand shows the seconds.  Nowadays you would have a big LCD screen, but that wasn’t available in 1975.  The movement was invented by Lemania, well known for their chronographs, and this automatic 17 jewel calibre 1345 is running well.  The Aquastar case allowed for excellent water resistance, which is possibly why the dial is superb now.  The orange chrono ‘concorde’ hand hasn’t faded either, and the other hands are original and great.  The crown has the correct star logo, which can also be found on the case back.  The leather strap would have originally been a Tropic rubber one, but this rally style strap suits in our eyes – not as waterproof, but this is now a vintage watch and should not be used to race your yacht!

This watch will be supplied with our branded presentation box and our Certificate of Authenticity.

Please see the HD video for more detail.  All photos and videos are part of the description and are of the actual watch unless mentioned.  We do not photoshop any pictures, and the images are copyright of birthyearwatches.com and should not be used without permission.

​SIZE

Width with crown  41.8 mm

Width without crown  38.9 mm

Between lugs  19 mm

Lug to lug length  44.8 mm

Case Thickness  14.9 mm

All sizes are approximate.

Included with this watch is a 3 month guarantee and free delivery to UK addresses.  If you live outside the UK we can still deliver to most countries.  Please see our Worldwide Shipping information, or Contact Us.   Payment can be made by most credit or debit cards, bank transfer or PayPal.

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