# New Arrival - Tissot Aquastar Regate



## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Im not a yachty person but I do like clever watches that were made to time specific things. Aquastar did this in spades back in the day with the dive timers and, of course, their Regate model.

You quite often find the Regate under the Aquastar and Heuer names but very rarely under the Tissot branding - I dont think it was a big seller and to be honest by the time these came out people were looking for a quartz alternative, although this is one of the best designs available.

The way it works is that when you push the button the 5 'minute' dials all go blue and the seconds hand resets to zero and when you let your finger go the secs hand starts running. As it advances each of the mins hands in turn also slowly turns red - the same amount as the secs that has elasped - ie half blue/half red in a circle equates to 30secs and sure enough the secs hand also says 30secs gone etc. When theyre all red then 5mins has elasped. The watch keeps running and times another 5mins turning the circles silver again to match the dial.

The reason this is needed is that its hard to line up yachts on a start line so you have a 10 and 5mins hooter which blows to let you know the countdown start and then you cross the line to start the race at the alotted time. Obviously youre more likely to win if you time it perfectly to cross the start line at the start of the race....

Yacht timers are a bit of a niche market, which also seems to have been dropped by the major manufacturers these days. Omega do offer one and there is the new Rolex Yachtmaster. That has the option to countdown any number of minutes using a mechanical memory to store the desired minute to start from... but you can also do pretty much that with a normal Regate like this by just using less 'spots'... but then you could argue you could just use a normal mins and secs hand on a normal watch I guess - its levels of accuracy... and of course, most yacht racers arent short of cash so the new Rolex is probably within their budget.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

I was very lucky to find this watch. It was reasonably local to me and was bought some 15 years back by a lady as a present for her yachting husband. He didnt want to scratch it so never wore it! Its mint as you would expect for an unworn watch and has the same stunning sunburst case graining as Omega - back in the day Tissot and Omega were close partners. It also has a wonderful back that tells of its Aquastar heritage and even the Aquastar crown, but has the Tissot "Blue Peter" sailing ship. It also came on a bracelet that I think may have been supplied with the watch but is unbranded - and a bit '80s cheap imho. It even came in its original box and ive been promised the papers if they find them...

Its not a huge watch but wears larger due to its dial colour and chunky case. All up its 41.5mm with crown. And being auto its a nice thick case.









The other thing you always see with these Regates is that the secs hand has a huge counter weight, I think thats to off set the weight of the coloyred disks, I cant see any other reason.... and everything with the Lemania movt has this...

One other thing to note is this watch has the fluro orange of the Rotary Aquadive that often looks wishywashy in pics but hopefully in the shadow pic you can see how vivid it is.


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## jasonm (Nov 22, 2003)

I really like that Jon, and the condition is amazing!!

Nice catch......

Great photos too..

But......

I know people have divers watches that dont dive, pilots watches but dont fly, but you have to go one better







or are you going to start racing boats? Rub a dub dub....


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## strange_too (Feb 19, 2007)

Very nice









You do keep finding them.


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## mach 0.0013137 (Jan 10, 2005)

A very interesting & good looking watch Jon, well done


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## blackandgolduk (Apr 25, 2005)

That's fantastic! I'd very happily wear that...


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## knuteols (Feb 22, 2006)

Stunning watch - stunning pics!!! Well done JonW, an excellent find


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## Agent orange (Feb 11, 2006)

Simply beautiful watch Jon, I'm in love. Fantastic pictures too. I've seen a few of those Regate's (I've been looking to add one to my modest collection of Tissot's) but never in that condition, stunning, what more can I say.

Enjoy it, hell why not get the yacht to go with it.

Cheers,

Gary

P.S. I'm taking a liberty here and I'll apologise in advance, but if you ever want to flip it, please get in touch







.


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Thanks guys!

Jase - nah im not really a fan of the water, unless ive got an engine... still them V12 lambo engined speedboat jobbies would be great... happy to give one a try! 

Howard / Knut / mach / blackngoldster - cheers!

Ron - Its the only movt with that counterweight ive ever seen, so its all I can think of... happy to hear from anyone who knows better of course...

Gary - LOL, well you know me... Im amazed youve seen others Tissots, I had never found one... (apart from a black dial on ebay that was well used)


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## Bladerunner (Jun 4, 2006)

Nice watch, something different & in great condition. Well done Jon


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## DaveE (Feb 24, 2003)

Very nice







I'd heard of the Heuer and Aquastar models, but never a Tissot. Presumably it's a Lemania movement?

cheers

Dave


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Alan, Thanks mate, yes its a beauty isnt it. youd have never guessed from the scary photos I was sent of it before I bought it... LOL

Dave, Yes I believe so... I reckon if it was opened it would say Aquastar on the rotor, I just dont believe Tissot made enough of them to brand the innards...


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