Worn & Wound
Jacques Bianchi Introduces the JB200 Aquastrike Collection
I don’t know this for a fact, but I imagine it’s a real challenge to be a brand focused on dive watches in 2025. The dive watch is ubiquitous, and transcends the sport of diving. It’s become a shorthand for “sports watch” or “everyday watch” among many (but certainly not all) people who consume watches. And they are so simple, by design. The whole point of them is to be incredibly legible, reliable, and easy to use. Over decades, that’s translated to certain design codes that are just standard across the genre. Big lume filled hour markers, an easy to grip bezel, a robust and sporty case. Once you incorporate these necessities, it’s got to be tough to find ways to insert creativity and brand identity into a finished product. And then, of course, there’s the simple fact that many dive watch customers don’t even want brand identity or creativity in their dive watch, hence the enormous archive or articles on this very site and many others that seek to highlight innumerable watches that all kind of look alike. This is all a big windup to say that Jacques Bianchi has figured out a way to put their own unique spin on the genre with every release. Their watches have a playfulness and romanticism to them that feels very much their own, whether it’s a fully lumed dial (which, OK, is common enough) or a SCUBA diver motif, there’s a sense of whimsy to their releases that is hard to ignore. Their latest collection, a reintroduction of the JB200 Aquastrike, ...
