When You Go To The Well One Too Many Times

Now in fairness, I will be the first to admit that I am biased. I did work indirectly for DOXA (Via Synchron) for three years. I was an active participant in two (one very notable) efforts to diversify the DOXA collection in North America beyond the SUB. In fairness, the DECO was pretty popular. A flieger was mooted, but removed from the site after only a week. The less said about the ill-fated Ultra Speed the better, that was a vanity project that simply did not pan out. I would be fair to say that, at least 15 years ago, the DOXA buying public had spoken, and they only wanted the SUB.

Courtesy of DOXA

Now back then, there were some sorta' clumsy efforts at branching into dive watches styled and sized for women. One squib was the Coralline. If memory serves it utilized NOS cases and was more of a miss than a hit. But it is also important, gentle reader, to bear in mind that those of us trying to sell DOXAs direct (Synchron) between 2000 - 2018 did so without the benefit of the largesse of the owners providing marketing monies or assistance. The partnerships with Project AWARE (via PADI), the Cousteaus via Ocean Futures Society in Santa Barbara -

When I bumped into Mr. Cousteau in downtown Santa Barbara

We did that on our own.

We had this absolutely crazy idea that relationships with our partners did not necessarily have to be transactional.

But it seems I've veered off topic. Let's right the ship! Today's topic is the DOXA SUB 200T Diamonds. I mean, c'mon! People love the DOXA SUB, and everyone loves diamonds...

Courtesy of DOXA

Now in fairness to the brain trust in Biel/Bienne - they have managed to expand their retail network beyond Watches of Switzerland. Although I will say it was a bit odd to see the DOXA booth at the Wind-Up NYC show not being manned by actual DOXA (or even DOXA adjacent) employees, but rather, they farmed it out to a third party - Analog Shift...

But again, back to the matter at hand -

Courtesy of DOXA

Now as far as jewel set watches go, if this is in your wheelhouse, then by all means on you go!
But this is where the DOXA strategy, in truth, leaves me somewhat baffled. In the (I believe) 5 years since the owning family took back the rights to the SUB, that is ALL that they have put forward. And in fairness, if that is the strategy, and the strategy is working - then more power to them. But with that said, it is sort of tragically ironic that if this is the "new" strategy? It was always the strategy of Synchron. 

Courtesy of DOXA

The SUB 200T Diamonds is available in 7 different colors. It is priced at $9,400 USD.

Here are the pertinents -

MOVEMENT

Swiss mechanical automatic, self-winding
Power reserve 38 hours
Frequency 28,800 vph (4.0 Hz)
Decorated by DOXA

CASE

Stainless steel case
Diameter 39.00 mm x 41.50 mm
Height 10.70 mm
Screw-down crown
Water resistance 20 ATM / 200 meters / 656 feet
Stainless steel, screw down case back

INDICATIONS

Hours, minutes, seconds
Date

FEATURES

Sapphire crystal
Unidirectional rotating bezel

DIAMONDS SETTING BEZEL

107 white diamonds – round / VS 1.30mm-1.50mm / F color
13 black diamonds – round / VS 1.30mm-1.50mm / F color

BRACELET / STRAP

Stainless steel bracelet "Beads of Rice", folding clasp with ratcheting wetsuit extension
Lug width 18.00 mm

DIAL

Mother of pearl dial

DOXA and Fabien Cosuteau

DOXA will be partnering with Fabien Cosuteau on his 31 day mission -

Courtesy of DOXA

PR Memories - Bob Roll Revisited

I still really treasure my DOXA days!    This was back when the dinosaurs walked the earth, and Facebook was just getting rolling.  We were smaller, and had to try harder, and did not have LVMH style advertising budgets.

It was a great job!

I had the opportunity to meet the folks at PADI, get the Project AWARE watch made, and later helped negotiate the partnership with DOXA and Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society here in Santa Barbara.  Pretty fun stuff!  But perhaps my favorite was one that while not producing the "INK" we were hoping for, did give me a chance to meet one of my cycling heroes.  So as Boxing Day is a day for leftovers, I'd like to re-heat this one today -

Giving Stuff Away

Perhaps one of the best parts of working in Public Relations is that every now and then you get called upon to give stuff away.  In my first year with DOXA I got to meet one of my cycling idols - Bob Roll and present him with a DOXA SUB 1000T Divingstar - yellow of course! For those of you not up on cycling, that is Bob on the right ; )

While many people know about Bobke from his cycling commentary covering the Tour de France, Tour of California and other notable races - I urge all of you to check out his two cycling collections - Bobke and Bobke II.  There is particularly great story on his Tag Heuer.  For Bob, this was the definitive answer to the question - when is a watch more than just a watch?

In his own eloquent words Bobke answers that question -

The Watch
When I signed my first pro contract, I got two things: a passport and a wristwatch. I vowed to race until all the pages of my passport were filled with stamps (like Sidney Poitier's Virgil Tibbs in In the Heat of the Night) or it had expired. In a lame attempt to expedite border crossings, most European countries no longer stamp your passport, and since mine doesn't expire for a couple of years, my original vow will give me an even decade as a pro. The wristwatch came from one of the team's co-sponsors. Not just any watch, but a TAG-Heuer titanium-and-gold piece of exquisite Swiss art.

That wristwatch exploded off Tour de France prologue time trial ramps from Paris to Berlin. That watch saw my arms and legs turn blue and counted 12 beats of my heart for one sweep of the minute hand during blizzard Giro stages in the Dolomite mountains.

That watch's crystal face glistened with citric acid from the peels of blood oranges in desolate hilltop Sicilian towns, and mirrored the vision of my jagged teeth turned crimson from the juice of the orange. That watch shook hands with Eddy Merckx and Gino Bartali, and feasted from the floors of Rio Grande pueblo homes. It was splashed with holy water in Lourdes and measured out 1:57:00 by the second in absolute terror on a flight from Chicago to Denver, during a wicked thunder-and-lightning shower while Richard M. Nixon sipped Shirley Temples in the first-class section.

In cycling, sponsors come and go and the jerseys change colors and names. Over the years, that watch passed from normal team swag into a rare living heirloom of suffering and deliverance. So this winter, when I lost my watch, I felt a sadness that made my bones ache, a sadness that hurt to the core.

"The Watch" - reprinted by kind permission of the author - Bob Roll, and Velopress.
"The Watch" first appeared in BOBKE II, copyright 2003 Bob Roll

There is, of course, more to the story! To read it in its entirety, and his other cylcing exploits you can get a copy of Bob's book at:

http://www.velopress.com/cycling_history.php?id=21


Bob Roll's two cycling collections - BOBKE and BOBKE II are both published by Velopress

Proud uncle

Back in my DOXA days, I had the opportunity to work on some fun and interesting projects.  Perhaps the high mark for me was the Project AWARE.  It was my first real opportunity to work with a partner and create something new -

That was back in 2008.

Later, in 2009 I was walking through the Tourneau store in Boston, and while looking at the selections one of the sales people grabbed my wrist and said - "That's the Project AWARE!"  And then grabbed one of the copies of Watch Time, and pointed out the article - a belated thank you to Norma!

And now time has moved on, I have moved on - but I heard the news that there was now a successor to the original Project AWARE -

Courtesy of DOXA

And like a proud uncle, I smile at my new "nephew", and wish him a long and healthy life!  Best of luck to DOXA and Project AWARE!

You can own a Cousteau's DOXA SUB!

Here's your chance to own Jean-Michel Cousteau's DOXA SUB!!!
http://www.biddingforgood.com/auction/item/Item.action?id=144622656

This auction benefits Ocean Futures, based here in my hometown of Santa Barbara.

DOXA SUB 1200T...NUMA

Rick and the folks at DOXA have been working feverishly with some of their counterparts over at NUMA. For those of you not dialed-in to all things DOXA, NUMA is the National Underwater and Marine Agency - founded by none other than Clive Cussler - the creator of the Dirk Pitt adventure series.

Having spent three years handling public relations for DOXA Watches I cannot tell you the number of times someone would grab me and and say - "You have to make a NUMA SUB", or "You have to make a turquoise SUB!" Well, in fact DOXA will now have both! Keep in mind, this is a working mock-up and the final version might be a bit different, but so far it looks pretty good!

Check out the Official DOXA Forum for more info. on this limited edition:  http://forums.watchuseek.com/f34/

Something a little different from DOXA

I know that when most of you think about DOXA, you think about dive watches.  But DOXA was famous for making car clocks, and also pilot's watches.  This year DOXA released 2 versions of a pilot's watch "re-edition".  One self-winding, the other a hand-wound model.  This is the hand-wound version.

This is a nice, large, visible timekeeper and it is available from DOXA Direct.  This is essentially an "off the menu" item, so you need to contact them directly to order.  

www.doxawatches.com

(877) 255 - 5017

Ode to the high beat movement

Andy Bard and I met working for DOXA watches.  Andy is the very friendly guy you get when you call to order a watch or arrange for service.  Andy has collected all sorts of different types of watches, and now he has focused his collection on the high beat movement.  Now in his own words, Andy talks about his favorite movements.

There’s just something hypnotic about a high frequency movement. The sweep hand seems to float around the dial, and lying in bed with my wrist under the pillow I drift to sleep form the sound of 36,000 beats per hour.

It's a real shame that today’s watch companies don’t embrace the high beat movement. Yes, it is not as robust as a more sensible 28,800 movement, but just the thought of that balance wheel whirring around at that speed is mesmerizing. Today, Zenith is the only company that uses a 36,000 BPH movement on a large scale.  In the late 1960’s into the early 1970’s just about every watch company had a high frequency model in their lineup. Longines, Zodiac, Seiko, DOXA, and Girard Perregaux, just to name a few. Pictured is my early 1970’s DOXA Ultraspeed, and someday soon I hope to add a Zenith New Vintage 1969 El Primero to my meager collection.

Karl Shreeve's Aquadive

This is the first of what I hope will be a recurring section of the Tempus Fugit blog - a sort of "guest blog".

A bit about the contributor - Karl Shreeves has travelled around the world, participated in some of the world's most challenging dives, gets paid to do what he loves as an underwater photographer, is rated a "Legend of Diving" and contributed to Peter Millar's Diving With Legends book.

I met Karl back in 2007, before I started working for DOXA Watches. It seems fitting that he is the first contributor here. He is generous to a fault, thoughtful, intelligent and in all honesty looks a lot better than me. Despite all of this I am proud to call him a friend! In all seriousness, I am very pleased that Karl is sharing his story here.



Thank Goodness for Mothers

A few years ago, my mother surprised me with the pocket watch on the left. Manufactured in 1900 (about), it is a gold plated Centra Lanco, inscribed on the interior with Metal Plaque Lamine Garanti 10 Ans, Centra Lanco 1399. She’d had it restored and it runs (well, sort of – I don’t push my luck.)
The watch on the right is a dive watch I’d bought in1975 or 1976 and used until it flooded on a dive in the Bahamas, in the mid 1980s. At that point, I tossed it in a drawer and forgot about it -- until 2008, when I was online and landed on a picture of a Jenny that looked identical to it. I had to check with the one person I know who knows way too much about watches – James – and sure enough, he confirmed what I suspected: Jenny released watches in the US under the name “Aquadive.” Could have some collector value – if I could find it and get it restored.

As far as I knew, it was long gone. But, an email to my mother with the picture proved otherwise. Moms don’t throw away anything that relates to their kids, and a few days later it showed up. With James help, technicians at Jenny restored it – astoundingly, they still had parts after 30+ years (I guess watch technicians don’t throw anything away either).
In truth, both watches only exist because of my mother, and they have a scuba-related connection for me. The Aquadive is obviously a watch I used to use diving (I wear it but I don’t dive with it today.) The Centra Lanco? Today, the Dutch ABC islands are among the Caribbean’s top travel and scuba destinations; I had the pleasure of visiting Curacao in connection with an article I wrote for Skin Diver magazine. When my great grandfather carried the watch, he owned a plantation and landhouse called Savonet, on Curacao. The island’s tallest mountain, Mt. Christoffel, was on the property. After he passed away in the 1960s, the plantation eventually became the center of today’s Christoffel national park – a popular stopover for visiting divers and nondivers.


An editor's note - as some of you know, DOXA is owned by the Jenny family. Karl sent his watch to me and I took it with me to BaselWorld in 2008. Mr. Jenny senior and his son, Romeo Jenny both recognized it immediately, and were pleased to help Karl with his watch.

For those of you divers out there, I urge you to check out Peter Millar's book.