Goodbye Doxa, goodbye GMT IIc ...

Good things usually comes to an end ... early! Oh well. I have to let go of my Doxa and GMT IIc unexpectedly. I like both, so this decision didn't come easy.

I got semi-screwed by the credit card company. I end up doing semi ok and I don't really have to have to sell both watches. But I strongly-dislike (well "hate" is an extreme emotion, so I use "STRONGLY-dislike" instead :p ) being screwed over by fine prints. So I end up selling the Rolex GMT IIc to recover my lost, which I can get my "cost for the watch" + "cost of being screwed over by the cc company" back (net gain or lost is $0). And the Doxa being sold was pretty much out of my frustration with the credit card company and that I rather have some buffer with my toy funds.

Maybe this way, I am one step closer to having an all Omega collection. LOL :D Watch out Ploprof 1200m ... :p

The Doxa is here :)

After a week of waiting, the Doxa SUB 1000T Pro Mil Edition is finally here. Here's my quick impression:

• + It wears bigger than the dial size would suggest. I haven't measure the dial size yet, but the dial is a bit smaller than say a Omega SMP's. But because of the pillow case, the watch wears bigger. And the short (47mm?) lugs to lugs size makes it easy to wear for my 6.5" wrist.
  
• + The orange dial POPS! Especially with a black PVD case and bracelet.
  
• + I think the lume should be on par with the painted Omega SMP dial (i.e. my Omega SMP GMT Great White). But since the hour hand is dwarfed (with less area for lume), I don't expect the same level of ease-to-read as the Omega SMP GMT.
  
• + Seems to be comfortable to wear.
  
• - The bracelet is really nothing to call home about. To me, I think the weak point is the diver extension. It feels a little flimsy.
  
• - Not true "beads of rice" bracelet links.
  
• - The bracelet is PVD-ed assembled. Though there's no missing PVD spot on the bracelet when its on the wrist, but you can see the missing PVD spots when you disassemble (size) the bracelet.
  
• - The quality of the prints on the dial is only okay/decent, but not great.
  

One thing that I don't know if its good or bad, is that the watch wears small than it is because of the small-ish dial size. The case is of great size, but the small dial size made the watch looks small. But the lug to lug size definitely fits better than the Doxa SUB 750T or 5000T that I had before.

Here's a quick pic, and the watch is not even sized properly. LOL :D




I sized the bracelet afterwards and the watch seems to be comfortable to wear. I will have to give it some wrist time before

Only 70 ...

I checked the Doxa's web site and they listed the SUB 1000T Professional Military Edition limited to 70 pieces only. But for some reason, the SUB 1000T Sharkhunter Military Edition is a *regular* 5000 pieces limited edition.

Sounds like the SUB 1000T Professional Military Edition is an exclusive club to me ... :)

On the other hand, the previous Doxa SUB 750T Professional Military Edition is limited to 20 pieces only! Now that's even harder to come by. O_O

If you want to make a DIY SUB 1000T Professional Military Edition, you would need (1) a regular SUB 1000T Professional, (2) a SUB 1000T Sharkhunter Military Edition, and (3) either your trusted watch repairer or yourself (if you trust yourself ;-) )with some watch tools. Then a simple case/dial swap would get you a SUB 1000T Professional Military Edition ... LOL :D But of course, you wouldn't have the paper work (i.e. warranty card) to match your creation. ;-)

BTW, I think that's how the whole idea of SUB Professional Military Edition came along, with somebody doing a DIY swap of the regular SUB 750T Professional and the SUB 750T Sharkhunter Military Edition.

I got side tracked ... again! This time by Sahara (movie) & Doxa (dive watch) ...

So the night, Sahara (movie) was on one of the DirectV movie channel. It was an entertaining movie so I went ahead and see it again (on HD this time :p ). Bad move ...

Because I saw the Orange dial Doxa on Dirk Pitt's (played by Matthew McConaughey) wrist, and now I want one ... LOL :D Well I want one not just because a movie character wore it, I have always wanted a Doxa with orange dial cause I think they make the orange to be just right. After all, they were the first to make a dive watch with orange dial in 1967. Seeing the movie again pretty much pushed me over the edge for an orange dial Doxa. :p



(Picture from watchesinmovies.info)


I already tried two Doxa(s) before. I had a SUB 750T Sharkhunter, but the reason that I sold it was the sizing of the bracelet didn't really fit my wrist well. And the mis-match in lume brightness between the hour markers and the hands was a turn off for me at that price point.

And then I tried a SUB 5000T Sharkhunter. That was a little too big for my taste. The 45mm bezel diameter combines with thickness and shape of the watch didn't make it a comfortable wear for me. So there it went.

I have researched on some of the modern Doxa and found out that the SUB 1000T is probably the one thats going to fit my wrist. It has a smaller vintage size which is closer to the 600T. The 1000T is thicker, has SEL on the bracelet, hash marks on the minutes, and improved lume brightness on the SL lume.

Doxa also released PVD version of the 1000T Professional. They call it the "Military Edition" ... LOL I am not crazy about the name, but hey, whatever works for their marketing department. haha~ The contrast of the PVD case and the orange dial makes a very sharp color combo.



(Picture from the web)

I am having one of those incoming, I will see how I like it. :)