Like many watch enthusiasts, I’ve regularly checked out DOXA’s website since the brand and its SUB 300 series were relaunched at Baselworld five years ago. Likewise, I’ve always made time to visit this dive watch specialist to try on its latest models when it’s exhibiting in Geneva during watch fairs.
It's difficult not to be drawn in by DOXA, what with its celebrated history, instantly recognizable looks, colourful dials and straps, and more-than-fair price point. However, until now, I’ve never quite found the right DOXA for me.
Yet, from the straightforward SUB 200C, to the 1980s-inspired SUB 600T, to the 150-bar rated SUB 1500T, the Bienne-based brand manages to offer something for all tastes, budgets, needs and size preferences.
My problem is, deep down, I’ve always been hankering for the brand’s 42mm SUB 300 or 300T and everything they evoke – Jacques Cousteau and his crew backward diving off the Calypso, for example – but in a slimmer format to suit my chicken wrists. This week, DOXA has finally, uncannily read my mind, and released the SUB 200T.
Best of All Worlds
It might not be a SUB 300 in name, but the new SUB 200T gives DOXA fans the best of all worlds: The same look and feel with a highly legible dial and cushion-shaped case. The same time-and-date indications and patented unidirectional bezel with dual dive time and no-decompression scale. And, of course, a dive-grade water resistance. But it is all served up in a smaller, more wearable case that is 39mm in diameter.
On top of all that, the brand has used the SUB 200T’s launch to introduce a visually arresting new dial to its range – Sea Emerald Green – which comes with a smart sunbrushed finish, as well as gilded hands and hour markers.
Paired with a beads-of-rice bracelet or green FKM rubber strap, this latest option means DOXA now offers a total of eight different colored dials and straps – Professional Orange, Searambler Silver, Sharkhunter Black, Caribbean Navy, Divingstar Yellow, Aquamarine Turquoise, Whitepearl White and Sea Emerald Green. And they’re all available for the SUB 200T!
Origins of the DOXA SUB 200T
The SUB 200 “No T” has its origins in a 1970s DOXA line of smaller diameter dive watches that were aimed at females. Decades later, a SUB 200T, equally on the slim side, became available on the market, but it is only now that modern-day DOXA has chosen to launch a line bearing the SUB 200T moniker.
Like its SUB 200 predecessors, the contemporary SUB 200T is aimed at those who may like their watches on the slimmer side, as DOXA looks to cater to more female watch buyers as well as to collectors from regions into which the brand is currently making inroads, namely Southeast Asia and China.
Vital Statistics
Certainly, the step down in size and heft from the SUB 300 and 300T is the most flagrant difference about the SUB 200T. The SUB 300 is 42.5mm wide, 45mm lug-to-lug, and 13.4mm thick, while its sapphire crystal protrudes in a “box” style. On a beads-of-rice bracelet, it weighs 160g. Meanwhile, the SUB 300T has a 42.5mm diameter but a lug-to-lug distance of 44.5mm. It’s 14mm in height, though its crystal is flat. It weighs 194g on a bracelet.
Now, compare those stats to the new SUB 200T which boasts far more wearable dimensions and weight all round: 39mm in diameter; 41.5mm lug to lug; and just 10.7mm in height. What’s more, it weighs just 148g on a bracelet.
Same But Different
In terms of styling and proportions, the SUB 200T takes its cues from its bigger brother, the SUB 300T. That means its crystal is flat and flush with the bezel, and its no-deco scale is displayed in feet (rather than metres).
As for the movement, the SUB 200T is equipped with the same Swiss mechanical automatic calibre as the SUB 300 range, that’s to say the dependable and easily serviced Sellita SW200 with 38-hour power reserve. It’s been well regulated and tested in house, but hasn’t received a COSC-rating, which is reflected in the accessible price.
And as its name suggests, the SUB 200T, with its screw-in caseback and screw-down crown, is water resistant to 200 metres, approximately 660 feet. That’s a little less water resistance than the SUB 300 (300 metres) and a lot less than the 300T (1,500 metres, plus helium escape valve).
But 200 metres is still a dive-grade rating and it’s another small compromise made to allow for an attractive price tag. Indeed, the SUB 200T lists very competitively: CHF 1,490 excluding taxes on a beads-of-rice steel bracelet and CHF 1,450 with FKM rubber strap. That makes the SUB 200T CHF 400 and CHF 1,000 less expensive that the SUB 300T and SUB 300 respectively.
New Dial & Choice of Finish
We can’t sign off without mentioning the new Sea Emerald Green dial option, a welcome tone that will no doubt please many a DOXA fan who has been waiting for some kind of verdant hue to grace the brand’s offering.
It comes with a sunbrushed finish that, along with the golden hands and markers, catches the light and the eye nicely. The Sea Rambler Silver is also only available with this finish, while the Whitepearl comes with a smooth, glossy “iconic” finish. Within the remaining dial options, owners can choose the finish – sunbrushed or iconic – that they want.
Of course, the compact size and broad range of colourways and dial finishes mean the SUB 200T will look just as good and work just as well on dry land as in the salty brine. The only question that remains is: How will you have your DOXA SUB 200T?!
