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Introduced in a blue sports activities materials field of distinctly un-Swiss sportiness, the Doxa Sub 300 Carbon has made a splash by being the primary carbon cased Sub 300 that isn’t a restricted version. Regardless of that, the gathering continues to supply a variety of funky colours which have lengthy rendered the Sub 300 assortment that rather more particular. It isn’t all excellent, however it’s greater than value a more in-depth look.
A saturated orange bezel with distinctive black and off-white markers appears to be like you straight within the face whenever you unzip the packaging. I can’t fairly put my finger on the place this vibe is radiating from inside the Sub 300’s 50-year historical past, however it does really seem like a watch that might take a shark assault head-on. I couldn’t, and the Doxa Sub 300 Carbon doesn’t for a second make me really feel like I might. However this watch appears to be like virtually offended for having spent so lengthy in a field – and so little someplace within the open seas.
Rated water resistant to – and I’ll let you could have an informed guess… yep, 300 meters, however the Sub 300 is nonetheless impressively skinny. In truth, it has one of the crucial badass case profiles (if there ever was one) of all dive watches. The center case or “case band” appears to be like like somebody’s grandparent flattened it with a rolling pin, because the lugs prolong in an virtually never-ending style laterally whereas additionally really fizzling out on the identical time. I discovered myself simply holding watch by these skinny and extensive lugs — it’s that entertainingly eery a case execution.
The bezel appears to be like prefer it got here off the helmet of an previous ADS (atmospheric diving go well with). Additionally harking back to a bastion with its chunky extending bits, it’s extensive sufficient to accommodate the common timing scale, in addition to the US Navy’s no-decompression restrict desk, a reference for diver security. The SUB 300 Carbon’s patented bezel makes use of these two separate scales to reliably calculate and monitor dive occasions: orange for the outer “depth” ring, and white for the interior “minute” ring. The motion is super-clicky, fairly correct, and, certainly, weapons-grade loud.
The aforementioned dial appears to be like ace in nearly each coloration. The hour hand tends to get misplaced and does so not by mistake however by design: it renders the already huge minute hand that a lot simpler to tell apart at a fast look. The proportions one way or the other nonetheless work between the assorted hand and index sizes and I do respect that. Much less thrilling is the sunshine present the luminous fingers and particularly the markers placed on and that’s as a result of off-white (bordering on yellow) paint that was used for the markers. When considered in regular situations (i.e. not at nighttime) their yellowish coloration completely enhances the orange base – it’s simply that this coloration of luminous paint has by no means been and can by no means be as vibrant as the usual white/neon inexperienced luminous paint. On most different dial colours for the Doxa Sub 300 Carbon, particularly the navy blue, yellow, turquoise, and black, the markers seem white and they also promise a extra spectacular gentle present. As a lot as I like this orange base, I’m not certain I might reside with out probably the most highly effective glow on my costly dive watch.
The 42.50mm x 45.00mm x 13.40mm case is so gentle that the large clasp with its built-in micro-adjust really suggestions the watch over. In different phrases, the clasp seems to be heavier than your complete watch head with 300 meters of water resistance, a motion, case, dial, and domed crystal. That’s fairly wonderful. Lug width is 20mm, and that’s mixed with an built-in rubber strap design — no bracelet possibility on the carbon case, after all (although a carbon bracelet could be one thing else on these)! The strap is well-made with a cool wave sample on the within and Doxa branding in its aspect profile, marking it a correct OEM strap.
Properly made it might be, the general aesthetic it creates with the watch head is a developed style. Additionally it is a cut-off affair, that means that it’s important to lower each straps to measurement, which is all the time a terrifying expertise, however perhaps that’s simply me. The built-in micro-adjust is cool, because it permits quite small increments of adjustment. What’s much less cool is that it isn’t totally built-in into the clasp: opening it creates some sharp edges and areas grime can get by way of. It’s clear that Doxa has put a whole lot of effort into the strap and the clasp, however I’d in all probability put this useful strap and clasp apart and never lower them to measurement, simply get one thing else that appears and feels good with the skinny lugs.
The engraved strong caseback appears to be like and feels nice: It’s a correct piece of steel neatly engraved and labeled with white textual content – together with “Licensed Chronometer.” Each the case again and the interior cage that lives beneath the carbon shroud are crafted from titanium, a really pricey selection that’s nonetheless appreciated for a bunch of causes. First, because of its warmth transmission properties, titanium feels very completely different towards the pores and skin than chrome steel — it’s much less chilly and picks physique warmth up higher. Second, it’s a lot, a lot lighter than metal and, to be frank, there actually isn’t a lot of some extent to wrapping heavy metal in a skinny veneer of carbon for the sake of “lightness.” A small, borderline-invisible element which you can nonetheless really feel each time the Doxa Sub 300 Carbon is in your wrist.
Below the titanium caseback lives a COSC-certified model of the workhorse ETA 2824-2 motion. It runs at 4 Hertz, is nearly indestructible (it’s been in manufacturing for the reason that final ice age so by now it actually ought to be dependable), and it’s skinny. Its solely main draw back is its measly 38-hour energy reserve — quite a few luxurious manufacturers on this $4k section have developed and put into manufacturing bespoke actions with for much longer energy reserves. That stated, I wouldn’t commerce the Sub 300’s remarkably skinny case profile for an extended energy reserve (the 2824-2 is a few 2 millimeters thinner than most of these aforementioned long-PR trendy actions), so an answer to this shortfall ought to one way or the other come from a skinny motion, in some unspecified time in the future.
The Doxa Sub 300 Carbon is an immediately recognizable dive watch traditional, a type of impressed authentic designs which simply by no means ever exit of favor, and which react extraordinarily effectively to new supplies and different twists. Doxa appears to have realized this and propelled the Sub 300 Carbon into the bleeding fringe of the sub-$4k section, and whereas competitors by Tudor, Breitling, and others is extraordinarily sturdy right here, it’s true that the Sub 300 has the historical past and the appears to be like to lastly step up into this section. Nonetheless, if you need this aesthetic however wish to spend much less, the Sub 300 in chrome steel arguably appears to be like simply as ace for a complete lot much less. The Doxa Sub 300 Carbon prices $3,890, whereas the Sub 300 in metal is priced at $2,450 on the rubber strap and $2,490 on the metal bracelet.
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