No 273 - Doxa SUB 600T Sharkhunter

This watch was a grail for a long time. I had come to conclusion that the measurements for the SUB 600T should make it the perfect Doxa. I was searching for one for so long and in the end of 2015 I finally found one located in the US. It was a fullset in very nice condition and it arrived in early January of 2016. And it was indeed a beautiful watch! The proportions were great just as I expected. But! There were two details that started to bother me. One was the edge of bezel which felt very thin. The bezel on the 1000T and 1200T felt fatter and sturdier to grip. This was also a detail that made me dislike the reissue of the 300T but more on that when we reach that post. The other detail was the lume on the hands. The lume covered a smaller area on the hands compared to the 1000T and 1200T and it just didn’t look 100% to me. One thing I did like more on the 600T compared to the newer versions was the design of the crown but that wasn’t enough to make up for the two details I didn’t like.

#273 - The Doxa SUB 600T Sharkhunter.

My dear friend Magnus bought this watch from me and he still have it in his collection. The 600T has become really hard to find and when you do they are expensive! This version of the Sharkhunter with all white hands, a.k.a. the Great White, has become my favorite Doxa design and my new goal after selling this one was to find a 1000T with that appearance (which I did but more on that later as well). Owning the 600T was a good experience because that made me realize that the 1000T in my opinion is the most complete and perfect Doxa SUB.

A wristshot from an extremely cold winter's day in January 2016.

I haven’t had a Doxa SUB for quite some time now. The new Black Lung versions look cool but since I didn’t like the reissue of the 300T I have decided to avoid them. The yellow Poseidon SUB on the other hand, now that’s another story. Especially since Poseidon is a Swedish manufacturer if diving equipment it is really cool to see them collaborating again. But why they hell do they call it 300T when it actually is a 1200T? That shit just bothers me. I still haven’t had a Divingstar yet… damn… now I want one... a 1000T Divingstar.... the COSC version... I think I just found a new project…

© All pictures by a Watch Flipper's Diary unless noted.

No 156 & 314 - Doxa SUB 1000T Professional

We’ve reached one of my most beloved watches I’ve ever owned. Ok, so what is it that makes this certain Doxa so special compared to the others, you might ask yourself? You know I talk a lot about proportions. To me proportions are extremely important and the 1000T is the one of all the SUB re-issues that I find to be the most well-proportioned of them all. But apart from that it was special to me because it had a rather unique appearance. It had been through some rough stuff. For one the rumors said it had been beadblasted back in the days and then someone had tried to restore it back to normal. The final result gave it an extremely used and worn look. I think it looked fantastic. 

#156 - The Doxa SUB 1000T Professional.

A very special finish on the case.

Magnus's vintage 300T to the left, my 1000T in the middle and Magnus's new 1200T to the right. Various Seiko's on the table.

It used to belong to my dear friend Magnus and I was nagging at him all the time trying to convince him to let it go. Then one day he said he might be interested in parting with it if he could find a newer 1200T. So what else could I do than to localize one and offer it to him as a trade? It took a long time for me to realize that the 1000T was finally mine. I loved it so much. This was in the end of 2012 and I had it for over six months. Then the one thing happened that wasn’t supposed to happen. I was asked if I wanted to sell it and the buyer told me to name my price. I really didn’t want to let it go so I returned to him with a quite a high proposal hoping he would reject it. He didn’t and I felt I couldn’t back out. I felt so bad about selling and I even felt worse towards Magnus so I let him have half of what I had earned in the deal. It then went off to switch owners a couple of times before I was offered to buy it back, which I did. But I was then on the hunt for a 600T and sold it again becuase I thought the 600T was going to be better. Now it seems to be stuck with a collector which it really does deserve. I’ve tried to retrieve it but without any luck.

Together with my Victorinox Rescue Tool in the background.

Taken during a fishing trip with my dad. Terrible focus on the watch though.

A better close-up.

This watch got to go on plenty of adventures. It really was my main watch for quite some time and even though many other watches came and went during this period they only got to stay on for a day or two. It was great and its rough finish made it very easy to wear without having to be worried about it getting scratched. In fact, new scuffs and marks just made it look better.

Relaxing at Sturebadet Spa in Stockholm just before my wife and I was about to leave for our wedding in June 2013.

Taken sitting in the same chair as in the picture above.

I didn’t know back then but now I know that the 1000T really was the best. I’ve since owned the 600T as well and even if that one also was really really good I still feel that the 1000T is the one I’ve been most happy with. I think I’m pretty done with Doxa now. The only one that I could still be interested in would be a 1000T Sharkhunter with all white hands and preferably it would be the COSC-version.

UPDATE - September 8th 2016.

I recently managed to get a hold of a beautiful specimen of the 1000T Professional. I'm not kidding when I say it wasn't far from being NOS. I actually took it as a part trade for a Sharkhunter 1000T COSC (Yes I know! I finally got one! But that's another story). Even though the Sharkie was awesome I figured that if I'm only going to have one Doxa, what should it look like? It should be orange. No doubt about that. But then all of a sudden all these pictures of the new 50th anniversary SUB 300T started to pop up everywhere and I just couldn't think straight. The new 300T truly does look fantastic and I'm pretty much 100% sure I will buy one. But will it be better than the 1000T? Well, I guess I just have to find out the hard way.

#314 - The second one resting on top of a Aqualung patch for a little vintage vibe.

© All pictures by a Watch Flipper's Diary unless noted.

No 127 & 234 - Doxa SUB 1200T Professional

OK, so it’s in the middle of April 2012 and I’m on my way home from Chicago. Someone might remember the story from the post about the Doxa 750T; when I was waiting every day for a week for a Doxa 600T to arrive, which turned out to be lost at the Fedex hub in Memphis and instead of being delivered to my hotel it showed up at the seller’s house who’d by mistake got it in return. I was furious when I understood what had happened and when I realized I was going to fly home empty handed. Back at the O’Hare airport, waiting for our delayed flight, I spent what felt like hours walking back and forth in that endless boring white corridor (I think it was terminal 5). I’m usually in a bad mood when travelling and adding the fact that I’d missed out on a watch I really wanted and a delayed flight, to my already bad mood, must have turned me into an awful travel companion. My wife must have hated me. But somewhere in that depressing hallway I finally managed to get a hold of a decent Wi-Fi connection and when I found this 1200T Professional for sale I didn’t care about the off proportions (or any other reasons why I actually didn't like the 1200T). I just wanted an orange faced Doxa. To my great luck it was located in Stockholm and I even managed to arrange that I could buy it just a couple of hours after we'd landed. The fact that I had a watch waiting for me at home made the return flight bearable. If that’s not a sign of a serious addiction I don’t know what is.

#127 - The Doxa SUB 1200T Professional.

Wore way too high on a heavy duty zulu.

But worked just fine on a blue regular nato.

Having a beer in the sun.

The 1200T is a great looking watch but as I’ve mentioned before in my other Doxa posts, the thickness of the 1200T makes it a little too high and it doesn’t sit as good on the wrist as the 600T or the 1000T. Another detail I’ve discovered I don’t like is the design of the crown (a flaw it shares with the 1000T). The crown on the 600T though is perfect. Just how it’s supposed to look. I kept my first 1200T for about two months before I sold it. It was a full set in great condition.

#234 - The second 1200T Pro.

A yellowish tone in sun.

Chorizo moules with the 1200T on the wrist at Piren, Stockholm, in early September 2014.

On the Doxa hershey rubber.

Beautiful off the wrist.

But terrible on the wrist. Look at the crazy fit! What were they thinking?

I bought my second one just because I’d gotten an idea about how good a Doxa would look on their hershey rubber. This was back in September 2014. I found a 1200T for sale in Sweden and ordered the strap from United States. Talk about a downer when it was mounted and done. It looked so good on the pictures I’d seen but on the wrist it was horrible. A totally worthless fit. At least on my wrist, which isn’t that skinny, but for this rubber to look alright you should have quite a wide wrist to get rid of the otherwise large gap that appears between the wrist and the rubber. My second 1200T was also a full set (it even had the CD) but this time it took just one month before I gave it up. The 1200T’s and I were officially done after this.


UPDATE - April 1st 2016.

Came across these photos today of the Doxa NUMA 1200T Professional which I wore for a week in November 2012 in a so called "Passaround" where a couple of forum members chip in an equal share to finance a watch that everyone get's to try for a limited time which then is given to one of the participants in a raffle. Loved the all white hands. Cool watch.

NUMA - National Underwater Marine Agency.

© All pictures by a Watch Flipper's Diary unless noted.

No 82 & 103 – Doxa SUB 1200T Sharkhunter

YES! Finally we have reached another Doxa. I just love them. Two Sharkhunters has been a part of my collection and I had them both during 2011. The first one I got in May and the second one in October. The second one left quickly because by then I’d realized what it was that didn’t do it for me. It was the orange minute hand. I would have wanted it white like on the 600T Sharkhunter. Man, the 600T Sharkhunter is just great. Probably my favorite of all the Doxa SUB’s. The 1200T is also a nice watch. It’s a little thicker than the 600T and the 1000T and it has the helium escape valve on the left side of the case. My first one was pretty much brand new although I bought it used. It hadn’t been worn at all. The polished bezel was very easy to scratch and the hairlines showed up pretty fast.

#83 - The Doxa SUB 1200T Sharkhunter.

Wrist shot on the balcony.

Sweet cushion case! Measured 42mm excl. crown.

Helium escape valve.

Pocket shot. Or what we in Sweden on the watch forum Klocksnack refers to a so called "MK-shot".

#103 - The second Sharkhunter. A little more worn than the first one.

Even though the iconic Doxa look is orange, the black Sharkhunter is my personal favorite. It’s just as unique looking only a little stealthier. The newly produced Doxa’s that has been discontinued are becoming quite expensive these days. A Sharkhunter 600T is listed today on eBay for $2500. Last time I saw one for sale in Sweden was back in 2012 when it sold for $950 and then everyone thought it was overpriced. Crazy stuff. 

Some final pictures from were the Sharkhunter got caught on camera.

Here with my sister on her Police Academy graduation day. She wore her Traser of course!

Here together with a steak and egg sandwhich and an ice cold beer in the sun on the balcony. Sweet summer days!

© All pictures by a Watch Flipper's Diary unless noted.