When conjuring up a mental image of early recreational SCUBA divers braving the deep during the first few post-War decades, several famed dive watches come to mind: The Rolex Submariner, the Blancpain Fifty Fathoms, the Omega Seamaster. These watches, ubiquitous and famous in their own right, are well known to collectors around the world, as are their companies’ histories.
Jacques Cousteau wearing a DOXA - (Image by Time & Tide Watches)
There’s one watch brand, however, whose wares are synonymous with diving and beloved by professionals and amateurs alike — but whose history, due to sale and purchase, shutdown and revamping — is murky as the bottom of the sea. None who is familiar with DOXA would doubt the company’s (or its watches’) bona fides, and for good reason: These are timepieces that had the express endorsement of none other than Jacques Cousteau, and the fictional endorsement of Dirk Pitt. (Which are equally important and significant, to our minds!) But little good information, presented with historical clarity and clear taxonomy, is available on the brand and its wares.
DOXA Army Watches of Switzerland Edition - IN THE SHOP
We thought we’d change that. At Analog:Shift, we have a longstanding passion for DOXA that stretches back decades: Our founder, James Lamdin, has been on a DOXA deep dive since reading Clive Cussler’s Dirk Pitt novels during his childhood — fast-forward many years, and Watches of Switzerland became the first distributor of DOXA in North America in over 40 years! (James has also personally designed special DOXA watches in conjunction with the brand. Check out the DOXA Army here.)
“Stories told about the development of the modern diver’s watch are often filled with exaggerations, false claims, and bluster — not so for DOXA,” Lamdin says. “Not as widely-known or as highly regarded as other Swiss manufactures, DOXA’s contributions are authentic and important, and their no-nonsense Sub series watches are at once kickass tools for the discerning diver, and fun, historically significant timepieces for the discerning collector who ‘gets it’."
Before plumbing the depths of the brand’s dive watch taxonomy, however, let’s examine the company’s backstory…
NOTE: A quick word on the DOXA color scheme is in order. The following conventions are used when referring to dial colors:
Orange = “Professional”
Black = “Sharkhunter”
Silver = “Searambler”
Dark Blue = “Caribbean”
Yellow = “Divingstar”
Light Blue = “Aquamarine”
DOXA Is Born
The DOXA watch factory at Le Locle - (Image by DOXA)
DOXA was founded by Georges Ducommun in Le Locle in the Swiss Jura, one of the historical homes of Swiss watchmaking. In 1880, at just 12 years old, he began an apprenticeship to an established watchmaker. In 1889, at the tender age of 21, the young Ducommun founded Fabriques DOXA, taking the name from the Greek word for “glory.” By the early 20th century, Ducommun’s creations were being honored around the world, first at the World’s Fair in Liège, Belgium in 1905, and then at the World’s Fair in Milan in 1906, where his anti-magnetic timepiece won a gold medal. In 1907, DOXA debuted a dashboard-mounted clock with an 8-day power reserve — the first of its kind — that was quickly adopted by Bugatti and featured in its expanding fleet of high-end automobiles. Other marques would soon adopt DOXA timers as well.
Upon Georges’ death in 1936, his son-in-law, Jaques Nardin (grandson of Ulysse Nardin) took over directorship of the brand. Jacques expanded DOXA’s catalog to include more than just sport timepieces, developing small ring watches, innovative alarm watches, jumping second hand watches, and more. The company continued to change with the times, debuting its square-cased Grafic dress watch collection in 1957. This timepiece, with its flat profile and unique date window placement in the upper-left-hand dial quadrant, couldn’t be more different than the robust tool watches for which the company would soon become known.
The Birth of the SUB
The SUB 300
DOXA Sub 300 'No-T' Thin-Case - IN THE SHOP
Indeed, 1967 was a watershed year for DOXA: At the Basel Watch Fair, the brand unveiled the SUB 300, a positively enormous, 45mm stainless steel dive watch with a whopping 300m water resistance rating. Available with a bright orange dial — orange being one of the last colors to fully disappear underwater — it features a hefty tonneau-shaped case, an expanding steel bracelet, and, most crucially, a special bezel marked with the U.S. Navy’s no-decompression tables. Using this bezel, it was now instantly possible to calculate the length of time one could remain submerged at a given depth without the need to make a lengthy decompression stop upon ascent. As the story goes, the no-deco bezel was developed with the cooperation of U.S. Divers, which was chaired by Jacques Cousteau from 1957 until his death in 1996. Cousteau subsequently adopted the SUB 300 for use by his diving teams.
SPECS:
Diameter: 42.5mm
Water Resistance: 300m
Price (Current Model): $2,550-$2,590
The SUB 300T
DOXA Sub 300T Professional - (Image by Timeline Watch)
In 1969, Doxa made history with the release of the SUB 300T Conquistador, the first commercially available dive watch fitted with a helium escape valve, or “HEV.” The technology behind such a system — patented by Rolex and used by that company on its Sea-Dweller in 1971 — is said to have been co-developed by both Rolex and Doxa. The HEV is what gives the SUB 300T Conquistador extreme “tool watch” bona fides: The bodies of professional divers living and working at depth become saturated with gasses such as nitrogen and helium, and must undergo decompression before returning to the surface. Before the invention of the HEV, tiny helium molecules would enter dive watches at depth and, upon decompression, build up beneath the watch crystal, sometimes blowing it clean off the watch. The helium escape valve was developed to allow these tiny molecules to escape during decompression.
Notably, the SUB 300T did not feature a 300m depth rating, as one would expect given DOXA’s convention for SUB model names. In point of fact, the SUB 300T had a 1,200m water resistance rating — which it retains today — meaning it could dive to four times the depth of its thinner-cased predecessor.
SPECS:
Diameter: 42.5mm
Water Resistance: 1,200m
Price (Current Model): $1,950-$1,990
The SUB 200 T. GRAPH
DOXA Sub 200 T.Graph 'Sharkhunter' - IN THE SHOP
1969 was a momentous year for DOXA, which was sold to the Synchron Group at that time. This conglomerate, which also owned and operated brands such as Eberhard, Borel, Cyma, and several others, would prove to be the first of several owners outside the original Ducommun-Nardin family. Access to technologies available to the group would — as it does within the modern-day Swatch Group and other large conglomerates — allow DOXA to build watches it might not have otherwise developed on its own. Case in point is the SUB 200 T. Graph, the brand’s first diving chronograph.
Launched in 1969, its dual-register chronograph was powered by the Eberhard Calibre 310-82, a manually-wound chronograph movement with quick-set date at 6 o’clock — the first movement of its kind. Just 300 pieces were made in each of the famous DOXA colors: orange, silver, and black. Its no-deco bezel was made in two versions: calibrated in feet for the American market, and meters for the rest of the world. Distributed in the U.S. by U.S. Divers and equipped with a mineral crystal, it retailed for $179, or roughly $1,591 in 2025.
SPECS:
Diameter: 43mm
Water Resistance: 200m
Price (Current Model):$5,160-$5,200
The ‘Aubry’ Era and the SUB 600T
DOXA Sub 600T 'Aubry' - IN THE SHOP
1978 proved to be the next big milestone in the history of DOXA: That year, Aubry Frères acquired the company, shifting production from the tonneau-cased divers of its 1960s output to a blockier look with slab sides and case depths measuring up to 14mm thick. The Doxa Calibre 5910 — a rebranded, automatic ETA Calibre 2782 or 2783 — was easily maintainable and readily available, and 600m water resistance ratings were commonplace, such as on the 600T. Relatively few of the 600T were made, and Doxa’s output began to dwindle as the 1980s wore on and the Quartz Crisis gutted mechanical watchmaking.
SPECS:
Diameter: 40mm
Water Resistance: 600m
Price (Current Model):$1,350-$1,490
The Rebirth
But DOXA, unlike many other marques, would live on: In 1997, the company was purchased by Jenny, a dive watch manufacturer famous for producing one of the first timepieces with a 1,000-m water resistance rating. Rick Marei, a dive watch enthusiast of the first order, left a career at Microsoft in order to resuscitate DOXA’s SUB output, convincing the brand to begin making the SUB 300T once more. He stayed on with the company for nearly two decades, ending his formal relationship with DOXA in 2019 after having breathed new life into old classics via a series of vintage reissues. Jan Edöcs, CEO of DOXA, continues this work, offering DOXA models via the brand’s own e-commerce channels in a pioneering model — championed by Marei since 2001 — that many other storied marques were slow to adapt.
The SUB 1500T
DOXA Sub 1500T - (Image by DOXA)
Launched in 2011 and designed in the spirit of the ‘60s-era SUB 300T, the SUB 1500T is an extreme, deep-diving take on the SUB platform, able to withstand 1,500m of water column. Measuring 45mm in diameter, it’s among the brand’s largest SUB models, but the helium escape valve; rotating ‘no-deco’ bezel; matching steel beads-of-rice bracelet; and iconic dial design are all present and accounted for. (Like most modern DOXA production, it comes in many different colorways — seven of them, at present — and is also offered on a KFM rubber strap.)
SPECS:
Diameter: 45mm
Water Resistance: 1,500m
Price (Current Model):$2,450-$2,490
The SUB 200
DOXA Sub 200 - (Image by DOXA)
In 2019, DOXA — already a value play in a luxury space — made a move downmarket by offering a simplified take on its tonneau-shaped diver in the form of the SUB 200. Measuring 42mm by 13.8mm, it does away with the brand’s famous no-deco bezel in favor of a simplified count-up type, but its steel case still boasts an impressive 200m of water resistance. Paired to a NATO strap for $920, a rubber strap for $1,050, or a beads-of-rice bracelet for $1,080, it’s one of the best values in mechanical dive watches, and comes in seven different colorways.
SPECS:
Diameter: 42mm
Water Resistance: 200m
Price (Current Model):$920-$1,090
The SUB 200 C-Graph
DOXA Sub 200 C-Graph - (Image by DOXA)
In 2020, DOXA expanded the SUB line to include a triple-register chronograph in the form of the SUB 200 C-Graph. Measuring 45mm by 17.25mm thick, it was a return to form for large-and-in-charge DOXA divers. A count-up bezel and 200m of water resistance make it a bit more conventional than the T.Graph, but its place within the modern DOXA catalog means that it’s available in six different colorways on the brand’s comfortable beads-of-rice bracelet ($2,790) or rubber strap ($2,750), and features a sapphire crystal as well as plenty of Super-LumiNova.
SPECS:
Diameter: 45mm
Water Resistance: 200m
Price (Current Model):$2,750-$2,790
The SUB 200 C-Graph II
DOXA 200 C-Graph II - (Image by DOXA)
Two years later, DOXA followed up the C-GRAPH with the C-GRAPH II, a downsized version measuring “just” 42mm x 15.85mm. A handsome sunburst dial available in six colors, a a fully hashed count-up bezel, a reworked bracelet, and a hand-wound movement with 56 hours of power reserve help this chronograph stand out, while a retail price of $2,850-$2,990 offers excellent value.
SPECS:
Diameter: 42mm
Water Resistance: 200m
Price (Current Model):$2,850-$2,990
The DOXA Army
On a roll, DOXA released the Army, a reissue of a rare, mil-spec DOXA diver, in 2022. Working with DOXA CEO Jan Edöcs, James Lamdin took what was originally an oil-dipped, blacked-out steel watch and recreated it in ceramic, retaining the tactical look while offering modern materials. Measuring 42.5mm and powered by the automatic Sellita SW200-1 movement, the DOXA Army Watches of Switzerland Edition shipped on a black FKM rubber strap and a camouflage NATO strap, and a short run of 100 pieces quickly sold out.
Thankfully, DOXA released a stainless steel version in 2022 available in one of three iterations: a black bezel insert with a steel case; a green bezel insert with a steel case; and a green bezel insert with a steel case and a bronze bezel. Each features the same dial of an ultra-rare DOXA made in the 1970s: A two-tone, black-and-sand-colored design with a signature, oversized orange minute hand, plus an oversized, matching hour hand and an arrow-pointed seconds hand. With its fully hashed count-up bezel, it’s water resistant to 300m and lists for between $2,050-$2,290, depending on whether it ships on FKM rubber or a stainless steel beads-of-rice bracelet.
SPECS:
Diameter: 42.5mm
Water Resistance: 300m
Price (Current Model):$2,050-$2,290
The SUB 200T
DOXA Sub 200T - (Image by DOXA)
The latest, most exciting development in the history of the DOXA SUB is the launch of the SUB 200T, which hit shelves in early 2024. For many years, fans of the SUB 300 — who love that model for its robustness, interesting aesthetics, and history — have wished for a smaller-wearing model. In the 39mm SUB 200T, collectors got their wish: Retaining all the characteristics of a 200m DOXA, it features the SUB collection’s classic ‘no-deco’ bezel; beads-of-rice bracelet; and idiosyncratic handset, but measures just 10.7mm. Available in myriad colors (including both matte and sun-ray finishes of several classic DOXA colorways), the SUB 200T was an instant hit upon its release. At $1,550-$1,590, it’s almost a no-brainer, and even makes for an excellent gift.
SPECS:
Diameter: 39mm
Water Resistance: 200m
Price (Current Model):$1,550-$1,590
BONUS: DOXA — A History of the Vintage SUB by Dr. Peter Millar
For those looking to take a more substantial, in-depth look into the history of both DOXA the brand as well as the SUB more specifically, DOXA — A History of the Vintage SUB is just the ticket. Penned by noted DOXA authority Dr. Peter MCGlean Millar, it serves not only as an illustration of the model's evolution throughout time, but also calls upon famed DOXA personalities — Clive Cussler, Rick Marei, and others — for context and comment. If you love DOXA and its dive watches, then this book is an indispensable resource.
