Doxa S.A.
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Doxa S.A. is a Swiss company, founded in 1889, that manufactures watches. Doxa is best known for its dive watches.
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[edit] Company History
Doxa, founded in 1889 by George Ducommun, began as a maker of fine dress watches and other timepieces.[citation needed] Over the years, Doxa gained in size and branched out into other timekeeping markets. (Wristwatches, Armbanduhren, Montres-bracelets; Brunner, Gisbert L; Pfeiffer-Belli, Christian; Koneman, 2006)
One such market was the newly developing automotive and transportation sector. To serve this market, Ducommun developed (and patented)[citation needed] a timepiece with an 8 day power reserve. This movement, created in 1908, was simply called the "8-day" movement.[citation needed] The movement was used in timepieces for railroad employees worldwide[citation needed] as well as by Bugatti in its race cars.[citation needed]
In the late 1960's Doxa realized that diving was becoming more popular -- especially given the success of early innovators like Rolex and Blancpain in the early 1950's. In fact the success of Rolex's Submariner and Blancpain's Fifty Fathoms helped originate a market for followers such as Doxa. This may have been due to the efforts of Jacques Cousteau and increased general awareness of the sport. Doxa decided to devote resources to create a watch to be used for diving. Tests indicated that an orange face was more visible in murky water. Doxa also consulted with divers, including Cousteau, then chairman of "U.S. Divers," and Claude Wesly (a Cousteau companion and the first man to spend seven days thirty-three feet underwater). A staff of engineers and professional divers was assembled to create a watch with features important to the diving industry. This led to the world's first commercial dive watch, the Doxa Sub300t.[citation needed] The Sub300t was purchased in quantity by U.S. Divers, who resold the watch in the United States. It was an instant hit with divers and quickly sold out upon its introduction.[citation needed]
The Doxa Sub300t features an orange face to make it more visible in the water. It has a rotating bezel with the official US Navy air dive table for no-decompression dives engraved onto its surface. The watch could be used to calculate decompression times, and other information useful to divers. It was rated to work 300 meters below sea level, and later versions were introduced that could work up to 750 meters below sea level.
Other watchmakers then followed with similar bezels, as well as colorful and bright faces.
Soon after the introduction of the Sub300t, the Swiss watch industry was hard-hit economically by the quartz watch revolution. Accurate, reliable and small timepieces could now be made without the expensive mechanical movements that the Swiss specialized in constructing. In response, Doxa joined a group of Swiss watchmakers to consolidate resources. This eventually failed and Doxa, after being sold, ceased operations in about 1980.[citation needed]
Recently, Doxa has been revived by the Jenny family of Switzerland, who owns the brand. Since August 2002, Doxa has introduced re-editions of its well known watches and timepieces in limited quantities. Many are faithful to their original models in design and construction, and all use Swiss movements.
[edit] Doxa Innovations
- First Commercial dive watch, Sub300t in 1967.[citation needed]
- First watch with a rotating bezel to compute no-decompression times, Sub 300t, 1967[citation needed]
- 8 Day Movement, 1908.[citation needed]
- Helium release valve; one of the first watches with a helium release valve.[citation needed] In certain diving situations, helium can penetrate the watch seals and cause a pressure buildup in the watch, eventually blowing the crystal off the watch face. Rolex,[citation needed] invented and introduced the first dive watches with a helium release valve in 1969, which prevented this helium buildup. While this was a major advance at the time, few actual watches with this feature were produced. Doxa introduced the Sub300t Conquistador in 1969 featuring a helium release valve. According to the sales brochures and advertisements in Skin diver magazine, DOXA was the first watch company to introduce this device. Rolex's first Helium Escape watch was offered to public in 1972Omega also eventually introduced a helium release valve, in its Seamaster watch.
[edit] Doxa Naming Conventions
Doxa's dive watches adhere to the following naming conventions.
- Professional refers to an orange faced dive watch
- Sharkhunter refers to a black faced dive watch
- Searambler refers to a silver (metallic) faced dive watch
- Caribbean refers to a blue faced dive watch
- Divingstar refers to a yellow faced dive watch
- Conquistador refers to a watch with a helium release valve
[edit] External links
- Doxa S.A. web site Doxa S.A. official site.
