Q&ADeclassified Diver: Doxa’s CEO Talks About Their Reissued Swiss Army Dive Watch

Talk about the new Doxa Army and how it takes the brand’s story forward.

We are super-happy, because we waited so long. Doxa, in 1968 produced watches for Swiss Army divers, but we couldn’t talk about it, because it was classified. In November 2021, the Department of Defence released the information. After over 50 years, we can pay tribute to that achievement.

First, we did a ceramic limited edition. Now, we’ve followed up with a non-limited edition in steel. One is with bronze on the bezel—a first for us—and hunter green. We had a full-bronze prototype. Here, the patina is limited to the bezel, but it still matches the style of the watch. It comes in this packaging, with a camouflage strap originally used for the Army’s watch. And there’s a true story behind it. The response has been really phenomenal. We’ve been working and waiting. The presence of Doxa is growing. We now have 70 points of sale, across Europe, the US, and the UK. We’ve started in Australia, the presence is now growing in the Middle East, all on the same day. And we’ve also been doing well in India.

“First, we did a ceramic limited edition. Now, we’ve followed up with a non-limited edition in steel. One is with bronze on the bezel—a first for us—and hunter green”

₹2,28,000

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“[In the versions with bronze,] the patina is limited to the bezel,” says Edocs. Seen here is a Doxa Army with a plain steel-and-ceramic bezel, with a black strap

₹2,07,000

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The versions include black and green straps and bezels with and without bronze, but the dial is consistent across all versions

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The watch also comes with a 'beads of rice' bracelet, which is also a common offering of Doxa's

₹2,32,000

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Doxa’s focus has only been on dive watches. Has there been any curiosity to go into the brand’s archives and revive some of the non-dive collections?

We could, but we don’t want to. Why? The message we have now is: don’t try to please the pilots, don’t try to please the car fanatics. This is where we are, and Doxa stays in the water. There’s still so much to do there. There are a lot of areas where we can take these products. We took a steel model from 1967, and made it in forged carbon, and the watch weighed 44g. This is how we play around with older models and reinvent them.

“It comes in this packaging, with a camouflage strap originally used for the Army’s watch”

The watch makes a handsome statement, and it has a timeless rugged look, with performance capabilities to go with the visual impact it creates

How do you decide on when to introduce novelties, versions and new editions?

It’s a constant process. We are working three years ahead. We have a lot of products. It’s to show respect to the past, the present and the future. We also ask ourselves what the people in charge of Doxa in 100 years will think of what we did with the brand in 2022. So we do our research with materials. This research also has its limitations, considering that we’re happy to stay in water. Some materials are not suitable for seawater. For instance, you can’t do a caseback in sapphire crystal, because there’s the chance of the pressure causing it to break underwater.