The DOXA Army Strikes Back!

In this special edition of the B-Log, DOXA CEO Jan Edöcs gives an exclusive insight into the new non-limited edition DOXA Army watch, the brand’s rich history and what fans can expect from DOXA in the future. So, what are we waiting for? Let’s dive in and find out more about this collectors’ favorite!

In a watch world that is seemingly drowning in dive watches, DOXA truly keeps its head above water thanks to its rich and important heritage in the aquatic realm of diving. “There are so many real stories with DOXA that we can use to celebrate this heritage that we are honored to have as a brand,” explains Jan Edöcs proudly. “In the late 1960s everybody was wondering about the moon. There was, however, also a group of people who were interested in what lay beneath the surface of the ocean. I remember watching the Jacques Cousteau movies as a kid and even in the 1960s the ocean was as much an unknown universe as the moon in some ways.”

At the same time as aquatic exploration, aquatic warfare was becoming more prevalent thanks to improved diving equipment that was more easily used in combat situations. A key piece of equipment for all divers and especially military divers was a waterproof wristwatch. Explains Jan Edöcs: “One of the leading professional dive watches of the era was DOXA’s SUB 300T and we now know that 150 examples were issued to the Swiss Army Commandos. However, this had been a secret until the end of 2021, when the Swiss government lifted the embargo on the information after 50 years.”

“The Swiss Army Commando divers were regarded as some of the best, even training United States Navy SEALs. One of their primary tasks was to go behind enemy lines and plant explosives to demolish bridges and other strategic targets. All of this was done with a DOXA watch on the wrist. Phenomenal!”

The other watch that the Swiss issued to the military was the DOXA Army watch. Alongside the SUB 300T, DOXA also provided another diver style watch that pioneered steel oxidation to blacken the cases of the watch. “We were able to make contact with a couple of ex-Commandos who were kind enough to talk us through their work and even took us to key locations where they had been trained. From our conversations with them, it became clear that the DOXA Army watches were more widely used across support staff around the divers, such as medics, logistic and dive support teams. It was only the commandos who were allowed to wear the orange dial SUB 300Ts though!” confirms Jan Edöcs.

DOXA patiently waited until 2021 for the Swiss government to release the information before launching a limited-edition DOXA Army watch in ceramic, that paid tribute to the blackened steel watches from the late 1960s. Now for 2022 the brand is unveiling a non-limited version of the DOXA Army and Jan Edöcs couldn’t be happier! “We know a lot of people were very disappointed not to have been able to get hold of one of the limited DOXA Army pieces and I am delighted that we now have the opportunity to offer one of these pieces to everybody!”

The new steel DOXA Army watch features a 42.50 mm case with signature sand-beige dial and painted white outer minute track. The watches are fitted with DOXA’s signature orange hour and minutes hands with Super-LumiNova® luminous material to allow for legibility no matter how deep you are in! The watch is available on either a beads of rice bracelet, with fish-embossed clasp and diver extension, or a vintage-esque FKM rubber strap. Each watch comes in a special case printed with the same original camouflage of the field uniform worn at the time by the Swiss Army and a fabric NATO strap in the same pattern.

To complement the all steel version of the DOXA Army, there is a version with a bronze bezel with Hunter green ceramic insert and matching FKM rubber strap. “I am very excited about this new color that we have used on the bronze bezel version,” says Jan Edöcs. “We are well known for using colorful dials in our watches. Many decades before the hype around so-called Tiffany Blue dialed watches, we had been using them at DOXA. In fact, orange was the choice of the Swiss Commandos specifically because it was the color that be most easily seen at greater depths when tested. We have never used green before though and in line with our quest for DOXA to build a bridge between the past and the present, the green is a new 2022 spin on our vintage-inspired watch”.

The bronze too, is a nod to DOXA’s professional aquatic heritage. “We felt that gold was not a material that we wanted to use on the Army watch. Bronze, however, has a long tradition of being used in the maritime industry and its constantly changing appearance will give the watches a unique patina over time that we believe will look really great!”

Jan Edöcs is very clear about the future of the brand that he is leading: “We are very well organized, and we are ready for our 2023 and 2024 launches. We have a well-controlled distribution network and could always open more points of sale, but we want to keep it tight and exclusive. Take the United States for example – in five years’ time we aspire to have a maximum of 30 outlets. Yes, of course we could have more…maybe 200! But we don’t want that. Finally, we always want the ‘wow’ factor! We are not just going to change the color of the dial or strap and say – here is our new watch! No, a maximum of two launches per year with each one being something interesting and cool! DOXA is about dive watches. There are brands out there making pilot’s watches, driver’s watches and diver’s watches. But DOXA will always stay in the water!”