It is no great secret that vintage diving watches are at the top of our list of must-have cool shit. After all, it was affection for a little-known (and relatively little-cared about) diving watch brand that kicked off our obsession with vintage watches in general. Fifteen years on, that brand holds a significant place in our hearts, even after moving into the business professionally, and diversifying in terms of the watches we provide.
The brand that got us hooked is DOXA, originally introduced to us through the writings of Clive Cussler, whose fictional hero wore one in the dozens of escapist adventure stories we read as kids. More than any other brand, DOXA signifies for us the spirit behind mankind's exploratory nature, our desire to understand and conquer our environment. The earliest DOXA Sub Series divers set several benchmarks (quite literally) by which modern diving watches are measured, and were used widely by the professional divers and explorers who are our heroes today.
So what, you might ask, does DOXA have to do with this shiny thing you're looking at right now? Glad you asked!
During the mid 1960s, the Jenny (pronounced "Yanni") Watch Company patented their MONOBLOC Triple-Safe case designs, which were used on their own self-branded pieces, as well as sold to brands such as Jacques Monnat, Dugena, Haste, Jacquet Droz, Fortis, Aquadive and Philip Watch, among others. These early professional-grade divers were all marketed with the "Caribbean" name, signifying their aquatic pedigree. The designer of these pieces contributed his knowledge and technical know-how to the development of the earliest DOXA Sub Series divers, forming a connection with the brand early on. Clearly there was a sharing of design elements, evidenced by the DOXA-like dials with spartan designs, large luminescent plots, and text scripts.
While there were a variety of case styles and dial configurations produced under the Caribbean name, they all followed a fairly simple formula: tough, professional grade watches with colorful design elements. Decades later, Jenny purchased the DOXA brand and owns them to this day, bringing the relationship full circle and making their vintage divers an honorary part of the DOXA story we so love to tell.
The watch you are looking at here is a super cool Caribbean 702 diver (SUPERWATERPROOF!) with 1000 Meter depth raring branded by Ollech & Wajs. With a sharp case design and a supremely cool rotating acrylic outer bezel, it's easy to see that this piece's roots are anchored in classic dive watch lineages. Originally water resistant to 1000 Meters, this piece features a black dial (unusually reserved for the era!) fashioned in traditional diver's style with simple luminous markers and decorative script under a warm domed acrylic crystal. This particular example is in incredibly clean original condition, with light signs of wear from age, as well as a hard to find bezel in unblemished original condition and a hard to find beads of rice bracelet with correct end links.
If supremely rare, super-cool vintage divers check the same boxes for you that they do for us, you know what to do.
