Solar Aqua is a historic marque that began its first life in the late 1930s as a Swiss company focused, commercially, on the North American market, and particularly Canada.
Its owner, Timothy Eaton, was primarily a retailer who created the Eaton chain of department stores in Canada where early Solar Aqua watches were sold.
The watch business was mothballed in 1960, but has been revived under new management and is producing timepieces inspired by models from the 1950s.
The Prima Abyss collection, which is new for this season, is based on a Prima 7951 model from 1958, but with a thoroughly modern makeover that creates a bridge between past and present.
The watch has the same style of steel case as its 1950s original, but in a larger 42mm form.
That gives more space for its intriguing guilloché dial that fans out from its centre to an inner ring for hours and an outer ring for minutes and seconds.
There is a second time zone displayed at 10 o’clock and a date display on the opposite side of the dial at 4 o’clock, all driven by a customised Peseux F328 movement, made in Neuchatel, Switzerland.
The watch’s minute hand is in the shape of a lightning bolt, a nod to Canada’s Mount Zeus (named after the lightening-hurling Greek god).
There are models in black, military green, navy blue, and deep red that can be worn on matching leather straps or steel bracelets.
Each is a limited edition of 300 pieces priced at €1,200.
