DOXA SUB 300T Professional Review

A few months ago we reviewed the superb DOXA SUB 300 Carbon Whitepearl which is a modern take on the SUB 300 series of watches from DOXA. The Carbon Whitepearl took the traditional SUB 300 stainless steel case and replaced it with high tech forged carbon. The Carbon Whitepearl also swapped out the traditional dial colors found on the SUB 300 series with a fully lumed white dial.

I picked the Carbon Whitepearl to review first from Doxa since I have such a love for watches crafted out of titanium, carbon and ceramic. For the second watch we reviewed from the brand I picked a much more classic piece. The watch we're going to look at today is much more in line with classic DOXA pieces in the SUB 300T Professional. This watch very much resembles the original SUB 300 released by DOXA in the late 1960s with its orange "Professional" dial and stainless steel case complete with a vintage inspired "beads of rice" bracelet.



Before we take a closer look at the SUB 300T Professional, let's first go over a quick overview of the history of DOXA. If you'd like to get a more detailed look at the back story of DOXA you can look at the above review of the SUB 300 Carbon Whitepearl where we went much more in-depth with the history of the brand.

DOXA was founded by Georges Ducommun in Le Locle, Switzerland in 1889. Georges was a self-taught watchmaker and the company was founded as "Georges Ducommun, Fabriques DOXA", with DOXA meaning "glory" or "reputation" in Greek, basically meaning quality. The early history of DOXA was focused solely on producing pocket watches which were extremely precise and reliable. Early DOXA pocket watches won many awards including a gold medal at the Milan International Exhibition in 1906.



In 1908 DOXA released their 8-day caliber which kept a watch running for eight full days without requiring any additional winding. The watches containing these calibers became very popular in the automotive and aeronautical industries, even being picked by Bugatti to be used on their dashboards. The rest of the early and mid 20th century DOXA evolved into a brand offering a full range of timepieces including dress and chronograph wristwatches.

DOXA really came into its own in the 1960s during the explosion in popularity of recreational diving. In 1964 the brand started a project called the SUB Concept that set out to develop a purpose built dive watch. DOXA partnered with Jacques Cousteau and his team at U.S. divers to develop this new watch not only as a simple dive watch but a complete ground-up rethinking of what a dive watch could be.



The result of this project was the DOXA SUB 300 released in 1967. The SUB 300 used a few established design queues for dive watches such as a high contrast dial (in orange), oversized minute hand and uni-directional rotating bezel. DOXA didn't use a simple rotating bezel, but instead added the US Navy's No-Decompression Dive Table to it. This allowed divers to easily track their dives on the watch and stay within the safe limits as opposed to only being able to time their dives on say a Blancpain Fifty Fathoms or Rolex Submariner. Also the DOXA SUB 300 introduced the iconic Tonneau shaped case that would define the look people would come to associate with DOXA watches. Finally the SUB 300 also added a divers extension to the bracelet that would allow divers to fit the watch over a wetsuit.

The end of the 1960s saw the release of the DOXA SUB 300T which was the first commercially available dive watch with a helium release valve. This device allows helium to escape from the watch during decompression, which in turn relieves pressure from inside the watch and possibly causing the crystal to pop off. Many serious dive watches like the Rolex Sea-Dweller, Omega Seamaster Professional and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms 500 Fathoms would use helium release values in their designs following DOXA's work on the technology.



As the decades progressed DOXA would go on to evolve the SUB 300 and release various dial colors that are now cult classics. New model ranges were also released including a diving chronograph. The 1970s brought with it cheap quartz watches and the purchase of the brand by Aubry Freres S.A.. Like many watch brands the quartz crisis was too much for DOXA and the brand went into a period of dormancy. In 1997 the Jenny Family acquired DOXA and put the brand on a path to revival.

Following the acquisition, DOXA was rejuvenated and the following decades saw tremendous growth from the brand in terms of both product launches and sales volume. One of the lines to be re-introduced was the SUB 300T collection of watches, which is exactly what we're going to be looking at today.



Initial Thoughts

When the DOXA SUB 300T Professional arrived the first thing I noticed about it was its weight. The last DOXA we had in was the feather light carbon cased Whitepearl. This SUB 300T is the total opposite being crafted out of stainless steel and coming on a full bracelet as opposed to the rubber strap on the carbon model. This means that the SUB 300T weighs almost twice as much as the Carbon Whitepearl at 186 grams vs the 99 grams of the carbon model. Now I do typically prefer lightweight watches, but the SUB 300T just feels like a special purpose tool in my hands. It really feels like it could take a beating and perform as well as the day it left the factory.

The next thing I noticed was naturally the stunning orange dial. For those that aren't that familiar with Austin, Texas our pretty much official color is orange due to the University of Texas. Having attended UT and being a diehard fan, I also have a great love of all things orange. This even went so far that I purchased an orange Shelby GT350 years ago. So yes, any watch coming with an orange dial is a big plus for me. It's also the color dial you just associate with DOXA timepieces to be honest. The orange is flat in finish and provides great contrast to the yellow lumed with black outlines hour markers and hands as well.



The final thing I noticed during my initial time with the DOXA SUB 300T was the beefy clasp. I know I've already mentioned "tool" a few times so far during this review and will probably do it a few more times before I'm finished, but the clasp on the SUB 300T is one of the most overbuilt feeling clasps I've played with, which is perfect for this dedicated tool dive watch. The way the clasp catches and locks into place just gives me a ton of confidence that the clasp won't release by mistake. DOXA also uses an awesome dive extension system that requires two buttons to be pushed in that allows the extension to ratchet out. The clasp is also nice and thick that matches the heft and feel of the watch head and bracelet.

Technical Specifications

Now that I've gone over my initial impressions of the DOXA SUB 300T Professional, let's now take a look at the technical specifications of the watch. The SUB 300T is crafted out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 42.3 mm and a lug to lug length of 44.5 mm. At its thickest point the SUB 300T is 13.8 mm tall and on our scale weighs in at 186 grams when sized for my 7.25 inch wrist.

The SUB 300T uses a flat sapphire crystal with an anti-reflective coating applied to it. While the bezel and dial take up 38.5 mm, the bezel is rather thick since it includes the standard dive scale as well as the decompression scale, leaving 26.8 mm for the dial. Under the clear sapphire crystal is the radiant orange "professional" dial which DOXA refers to as their "Iconic Dial" color harking back to the original SUB 300.



DOXA uses block hour markers for the SUB 300T which are made up of central yellow Super-Luminova with black outlines on each side. The lume glows a very bright green in low light, which is perfect for diving. DOXA uses a black oversized minute hand and a much smaller hour hand, since when diving the minute hand is by far the most important hand to be looking at to time your dive. The centrally mounted running seconds hand is also done in black. The hour, minute and seconds hands are coated in matching lume to the hour markers which glow the same brilliant green.

At 3 o'clock there is a white backed date window and a 6 o'clock is the "Swiss Made" text. Around the outside of the dial there is also a black printed minute track. Finishing off the dial is "DOXA automatic" text at 10:30 and "SUB 300T professional" at 4:30.

Moving on from the dial is the stainless steel uni-directional bezel which is extremely well scalloped and provides excellent grip. The bezel requires 120 clicks to complete a full rotation and provides a very nice click to each turn. There is absolutely zero back play on the bezel and a good amount of force is required to rotate the bezel. The bezel feels extremely sure when being operated adding to the fact that the SUB 300T is a serious instrument.



The inner portion of the bezel is done in a satin finish and is comprised of the traditional dive scale which shows you how long your dive has elapsed. The minutes from 5 to 55 are marked with an Arabic marker for each 5 minute interval and each other minute is a black stick marker. The 0/60 marker is done with a black point.

The real magic of the DOXA SUB range is the decompression scale on the outside of the bezel. This portion of the bezel is polished in finish with orange markings. While this scale might look complex, it is actually extremely easy to use. Before you start your dive align the orange point on the decompression bezel with the minute hand and then find the depth in feet you plan on diving to. Say you want to dive to 120 feet, you can then see that you can only spend 15 minutes at 120 feet without needing compression stops. The 15 minute indicator on the dive scale bezel aligns with 120 feet on the decompression bezel. Also as the minute hand progresses you can see when it's time to surface as the minute hand nears 15 minutes / 120 feet. Naturally if you don't want to dive as deep you can stay down longer. So for example if you want to dive to 70 feet you can stay down for 50 minutes.

The case of the DOXA SUB 300T is tonneau shaped and the flat surfaces are brushed in finish. The sides of the case along with the chamfers are polished which adds a nice contrast of finishes to the case giving it more visual appeal. Looking at the profile of the case you can see how tall the bezel is, sitting well above the case. There is a very gentle downward slope of the case which does somewhat help the watch fit better to your wrist. This more than likely has to do with requiring a thicker crystal to achieve its extreme water resistance. The real interesting part to the case design of the SUB 300T is that it is a lugless design which only adds around 2 mm to the case diameter, meaning the watch can be worn on both small and large wrists.



On the left hand side of the watch is the integrated helium release valve which the SUB 300T series is so well known for. The helium release valve also aids in the watches extreme water resistance of 1,200 meters which is four times more than the standard SUB 300.

The right hand side of the case features the screw-down crown topped off with an engraving of an orange fish. Like the bezel, the crown is very nicely scalloped meaning both can be operated with dive gloves on. Once unscrewed the crown allows for manual winding of the automatic movement in the resting position. Pulling the crown out to position one allows you to set the date and pulling the crown all the way out to position two lets your set the time and also stops the seconds hand. Pushing the crown back in causes no jump in the minute hand and screwing the crown back in doesn't require additional care to get the crown catch and screw back in.

The lug width of the DOXA SUB 300T is 20 mm meaning the watch can accept an endless number of aftermarket straps since 20 mm is the most common lug width. The SUB 300T comes on a stainless steel bracelet that flares out to 23 mm and tapers down to 20 mm at the stainless steel deployant clasp. The bracelet is done in the vintage "beads of rice" style which has a solid link on each side and the inner portion of the bracelet is made up of five overlapping rice style inner links. The outer links are brushed in finish while the inner links are polished. The effect of this bracelet in person is just stunning, it looks both vintage and industrial at the same time and offers amazing articulation.



The folding clasp is brushed in finish and has both DOXA branding and the fish logo on it. Two pushers are required to release the clasp and they require a decent amount of force to activate. It would be very unlikely that you would release the bracelet by mistake. There are an additional two pushers that allow for the dive extension to be adjusted. When fully extended the extension adds up to 13.3 mm to the length of the bracelet, which should be more than enough to fit over most wetsuits. The ratcheting system allows for 5 preset extension lengths and requires the buttons to be depressed to be lengthened but can be shortened by just pushing the extension back in. This allows for easy sizing when extended, but doesn't allow the extension to easily be pulled out and having the watch come off your wrist.

Flipping the watch over shows the solid screw down caseback with an engraving of a sailboat. All the important information about the watch is also printed around this engraving. The DOXA SUB 300T is powered by the Swiss Made ETA 2824-2 automatic movement with 38 hours of power reserve. These movements are known for being workhorses and have been around forever. Just about every watchmaker on Earth can also service and repair these movements. The ETA 2824-2 beats away at 28,800 bph (4Hz) and on our timegrapher showed an accuracy of +5 seconds when averaged out over several positions. This is an excellent result and right in the acceptable range of chronometers.

On The Wrist

Over the past few weeks we've been completely swamped with review watches and the DOXA SUB 300T is at the end of watches we needed to get reviewed before Watches and Wonders. This means that I had a good deal of time to be able to wear the SUB 300T and form a solid opinion of the watch.



First off wearing the SUB 300T versus the SUB 300 Carbon Whitepearl was about as night and day as you can get. The SUB 300 Carbon Whitepearl is an ultra lightweight carbon cased watch on a rubber strap that weighs under 100 grams while the SUB 300T is a stainless steel cased watch on a full stainless bracelet with a weight nearing 200 grams. The Carbon Whitepearl pretty much disappears on the wrist while the SUB 300T always lets you know what you are wearing. I'm used to bigger watches than the SUB 300T but in carbon, ceramic or titanium which carry lower weights, so the heft of the SUB 300T took some time to get used to.

The SUB 300T never caused any wrist fatigue and the beefy bracelet and clasp made sure that the watch never felt top heavy and distributed the weight of the watch evenly over my wrist. The 44.5 lug to lug length is much smaller than what I personally wear, but I feel the integrated stainless steel bracelet made the watch seem to wear larger than it actually is. If the watch was on a rubber strap I feel that I might have found it rather small. That being said on the stainless steel bracelet the SUB 300T seemed to stay centered on my wrist and never favored one side over the other.



I'm not the biggest fan of watches on bracelets since I started my collecting journey decades before watches with micro-adjustments were available. Living in Texas also meant that during the summer there was a huge chance that a watch that fit perfectly indoors would be way too tight in 100 degree weather. This bias has stuck with me and I still hardly ever wear a personal watch on a bracelet. The bracelet of the SUB 300T is very comfortable though and the micro adjustments for the dive extension did help when the watch was just the tiniest bit too tight. The beads of rice design also helped the bracelet form to my wrist better than traditional bracelet designs as well.

To test legibility I glance at a watch while driving to see how hard it is to make out the time. Typically in this test dive watches do the best since they typically have high contrast dials and large hour markers and hands. The DOXA SUB 300T was no exception here and passed this test with flying colors. The bright orange dial has an amazing contrast to the black and yellow markers and hands making telling time at a glance child's play.

My normal dress of a black t-shirt, shorts and sneakers were complimented nicely by the aesthetic of the SUB 300T. The orange dial didn't clash with anything and the stainless steel case and bracelet blended in nicely with anything I wore. I took the watch on all my daily errands and out to dinner and drinks as well. I noticed the watch got some looks but nobody came up to me and asked about the watch. This rarely never happens unless I'm wearing something really crazy and out there like an Ulysse Nardin Freak or the like. I did show the watch to a few of my friends when out and everyone really loved it. Most of the comments were about the case shape and bright orange dial. The beads of rice bracelet got some positive comments as well. One thing all my friends were shocked by was the price, nobody guessed the DOXA SUB 300T was affordable as it is.



Value and Position in the Market

Speaking of price, the DOXA SUB 300T on the stainless steel bracelet retails for $1,990. For this price you are getting a watch with a rich legacy and an incredible 1,200 meters of water resistance. The SUB 300T also features the signature DOXA decompression scale on its dual purpose bezel. Finally the SUB 300T is its own watch, it really doesn't resemble any other watch on the market. As we do with all of our reviews, now is a great time to look at four other watches that offer similar specs to the SUB 300T and see how much of a value the watch actually is.

First up is the Matic from Squale which is 44 mm and is crafted out of stainless steel. The Matic has a more traditional case shape with the interesting feature of the crown being positioned at 4:30 to help it not get snagged. Interestingly Squale used to be known more as a case manufacture and made some cases for early DOXA dive watches. The Matic has half the water resistance of the SUB 300T as well at only 600 meters. The Matic is powered by Sellita SW200-1 which is a very similar movement to the ETA found in the SUB 300T and also offers 38 hours of power reserve. The Squale is a little bit less expensive than the DOXA at $1,660.



Next up is the U50 from Sinn which is 41 mm and crafted out of German Submarine Steel. The U50 is also a more traditional watch case shape and offers much less water resistance than the SUB 300T at 500 meters. The U50 is powered by the Sellita SW300-1 which is a slightly updated movement to what is found in the DOXA and Squale and offers around 50 hours of power reserve. The U50 is a bit more expensive than the SUB 300T at $2,980.

Moving on is the Superocean Automatic from Breitling which is 42 mm and crafted out of stainless steel. The Superocean is also a traditional looking watch and offers only 300 meters of water resistance. The Superocean runs on either a Sellita SW200-1 or ETA 2824-2 with the same 38 hours of power reserve as the DOXA and Squale. Once again the Breitling is a good deal more expensive than the DOXA at $5,400.

Finally we have the Aquatimer Automatic from IWC which is made out of stainless steel and has a case diameter of 42 mm. The Aquatimer has a bit more interesting of a case design with crowns on both sides of the case with one controlling time setting duties and the other operating the internal dive bezel. Like the Breitling the IWC only offers 300 meters of water resistance, much less than the DOXA. The Aquatimer does run on an in-house caliber with 120 hours of power reserve which is much more than the other four watches we are comparing. The IWC is a lot more expensive than the DOXA at $7,000 when on the stainless steel bracelet.

Looking at the four watches we compared the DOXA SUB 300T to you can see how great of a value the watch is. The SUB 300T was nearly the least expensive in the group and offered more than double the water resistance of the next closest competitor. Only the IWC had a movement with much better specs than the DOXA, but also cost over three times the price and had a fourth of the water resistance. The DOXA also arguably has the best dive heritage of the bunch as well.



Closing Thoughts

So in the end is the DOXA SUB 300T Professional for me? Remember I am very particular when it comes to my personal watch collection. One thing that is common amongst all of my personal watches is that none of them are crafted out of stainless steel. I prefer watches that are larger in size but don't weigh much since they are made out of lightweight materials like titanium, carbon or ceramic. While I love a lot about the SUB 300T, the fact that it is only available in stainless steel is a deal breaker for me. DOXA has done titanium in their SUB 600T models, so I'm sure it wouldn't be too much of an ask that they used the metal in the SUB 300T range as well.

Would I then recommend the SUB 300T to somebody else looking for a dive watch with great heritage? I would strongly recommend that person go to a DOXA boutique or authorized dealer and see the SUB 300T in person. Most people actually do prefer stainless steel to titanium and the SUB 300T just feels like a diving instrument in hand and on the wrist. The orange professional dial is not only stunning but it is iconic. DOXA dive watches have been a mainstay in the dive watch genre since basically its time of inception as well. They are truly one of the most respected dive watches out there and like dive watches of the 1950s and 60s they are still affordable. Other pioneers of the dive watch genre like the Rolex Submariner and Blancpain Fifty Fathoms have ballooned in price, now starting firmly in the five figure range.

Besides the DOX SUB 300T being a modern take on an iconic dive watch, the SUB 300T also boasts a very accurate movement. The case is also unique and really doesn't look like any other dive watch out there. With 1,200 meters of water resistance the SUB 300T also has the chops of a serious dive watch. Finally DOXA was the first to incorporate not only a regular dive scale to its bezel but also the extremely useful decompression scale as well. With a price under $2,000 the DOXA SUB 300T is really a tough watch to beat in the purpose driven dive watch space.



I would really like to thank DOXA for sending us the SUB 300T to review. It was a really good follow up to the time we spent with the SUB 300 Carbon Whitepearl a few months ago and a more classic example of what you expect when you think of DOXA. Being the second DOXA we reviewed the SUB 300T has just reaffirmed my adoration of DOXA and I really can't wait to review some more of their collection in the coming months.

For more information about the SUB 300T Professional please visit : DOXA

Technical Specifications

Reference Number: 840.10.351.10

Retail Price: $1,990

Case Size: 42.3 mm

Lug to Lug: 44.5 mm

Thickness: 13.8 mm

Weight: 186 Grams

Case Material: Stainless Steel

Bezel: Stainless Steel (Dive and Decompression Scales)

Strap: Stainless Steel

Movement: ETA 2824-2 Swiss Made Automatic Movement

Functions: Hours, Minutes, Seconds, Date

Power Reserve: 38 Hours

Water Resistance: 1,200 Meters