Editor’s Note: Watches & Wonders (formerly SIHH) has moved online and Baselworld 2020 is canceled, but that hasn’t stopped watch brands large and small from debuting their new wares. Stay on top of this year’s best new watch releases here.
The Doxa SUB 300 is a legend among serious divers. With its signature chunky case, highly legible dial and no-decompression bezel, it’s difficult to miss, and even land lubbers and desk divers know its silhouette.
In the late 1960s, not long after the SUB 300 made its debut, none other than Jacques-Yves Cousteau himself signed an exclusive distribution agreement for the watch via his company, US Divers, leading to a longstanding collaboration between the company and Doxa. An initial batch of these Sub 300s features the Aqua Lung logo in black and yellow, which were eventually replaced by watches with a more legible version of the logo. These originals, dubbed the “Black Lung,” are highly collectible.
In seeking to celebrate the history of this collaboration, Doxa has released a new, limited edition version of the SUB 300 with a forged carbon case and black rubber strap. Limited to 300 pieces, the watch features a COSC-certified movement and the famous black-and-yellow original Aqua Lung logo on the dial. Lightweight, high-tech and simultaneously stealthy and legible, the 42.5mm SUB 300 has a pressure-resistant titanium inner chamber to protect its movement, a screw-down crown, 300m of water resistance, a scratch-resistant, anti-reflective domed sapphire crystal and plenty of Super-LumiNova. A soft black rubber strap with a black PVD folding clasp rounds out the watch.
Doxa collectors, divers, fans of blacked-out watches and anyone who appreciates serious, utilitarian kit should be excited by this watch. We’re inundated by collaborations by modern brands whose connections are tenuous at best, but the SUB 300 celebrates a partnership that saw two companies at the top of their game coming together on a product that was meant for hardcore use and abuse beneath the waves. The price on the new watch is $4,790, with delivery expected in August.
