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The Watches

Doxa Releases Steel-Cased Army

More fifty years after Doxa debuted the first Doxa Army watch, the Swiss watchmaker debuts a new 42.5mm version in steel.

The new non-limited Doxa Army, cased in steel.

The launch follows the April 2022 release of the watch as a ceramic-cased limited edition in partnership with Watches of Switzerland.

The new, non-limited version is cased in stainless steel with a sand-beige dial. For the first time, Doxa is offering a choice of bezel in bronze or steel with a ceramic insert in hunter green or black, respectively.

Doxa’s use of a bronze unidirectional rotating bezel here as an option marks the watchmaker’s first use of bronze, which many sport watch makers have embraced in recent years.

With its highly luminous dial, the new Doxa Army is being offered with the choice of a stainless steel “beads of rice” bracelet or a black or hunter green rubber strap. Also included is an additional NATO camouflage strap and a case with the original Swiss Army field uniform camouflage pattern.

Inside, Doxa fits an ETA automatic movement (see below for full specifications list.)

Doxa developed the first Army model in cooperation with the Swiss Army in 1968. Dubbed “the ideal watch for military divers,” the watch was notable for its black case, black bezel with black insert and sand-beige dial. Prices: $2,050 to $2,290.

 

Specifications: Doxa Army

References

785.10.031.10 / stainless steel bezel with black ceramic insert / stainless steel bracelet 

785.10.031.20 / stainless steel bezel with black ceramic insert / black FKM rubber strap

785.60.031.10 / bronze bezel with hunter green ceramic insert / stainless steel bracelet 

785.60.031.26 / bronze bezel with hunter green ceramic insert / hunter green FKM rubber strap

785.60.031.20 / bronze bezel with hunter green ceramic insert / black FKM rubber strap 

Case: 42.5mm x 44.5mm x 11.95mm steel, sapphire crystal, unidirectional rotating bezel in bronze or stainless steel, screw-down crown, threaded stainless-steel case back, water resistant to 300 meters.

Dial: Sand-beige, orange hour and minute hands, coated with SuperLuminova, white painted outside minute track. Numerals and dot at 12 o’clock coated with SuperLuminova.

Movement: Automatic ETA 2824 with a power reserve of 38 hours, Doxa decorations.

Bracelet / Strap: Stainless steel “beads of rice” bracelet, secured to the case with screws; folding clasp with wetsuit extension, decorated with ‘DOXA fish’ symbol. FKM rubber strap in black or hunter green, folding clasp with adjustable  wetsuit extension, decorated with ‘DOXA fish’ symbol. Additional NATO camouflage strap included in the box.

Prices:

Stainless-steel bezel with black ceramic insert:

$2,050 (rubber strap) and $2,090 (steel bracelet)

Bronze bezel with hunter green insert:

$2,290 (steel bracelet) and $2,250 (rubber strap).

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Alpina

Alpina Dives into Green-Dialed Seastrong

Alpina presents the Seastrong Diver 300 Heritage in a new dark green dial paired with a color coordinated green rubber strap. Measuring 42mm in diameter and water-resistant to 300 meters, the watch’s two-piece stainless steel case mounts two screw-down crowns; one for time setting and winding, the other for rotating the inner rotating rehaute specifically for timing a dive – or any other event up to a one-hour limit.

The new Alpina Seastrong Diver 300 Heritage.

This retro-inspired design revisits the brand’s Super Compressor 10 Seastrong dive watch, first introduced in 1969. While dive watches have long tended to have neon bright yellows and safety orange dials, Alpina dove head-first into the current trend for green colors with this quite dark seaweed-green dial and British racing green strap. Bold hands are luminous, as are the indices on the inner bezel.

As with external bezels, diver down times are shown with by Seastrong’s internal black rehaut, which can be adjusted using the upper crown positioned at the two o’clock mark. Unlike most internal bezels, the Seatrong’s can be rotated in either direction before being locked in place by screwing the extra crown down.

The stainless steel case is polished and brushed on the sides with a solid steel case back engraved with Alpina’s namesake Alps as well as a trident as a nod to the nautical nature of the watch. Inside is the Sellita-based AL 520 automatic winding movement beating at 28,800 with 38 hours of power reserve. Price: $1,695.

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The Watches

Ochs und Junior Adds Blue PVD to Mesa

With the new Mese 2.22, boasting an unusual, minimalist analog date display, independent Swiss watchmaker Ochs und Junior launches its first watch with a PVD dial. 

On the watch’s unusual blue PVD dial (and module) you’ll see white indexes, white hands and a white date indicator dot, which cleverly replaces the traditional date display window style.

The new Ochs und Junior Ochs Line Mese 2.22.

Each dot is actually a hole exposing a white SuperLuminova disc below. The viewer determines the date simply by noting which dot around the dial perimeter is white. Using the ten-minute markers as easy reference points, the full 30-day month is indicated via the 31 dots.

Designer Ludwig Oechslin created the indicator by arranging the holes in a gentle spiral, with the 31st hole overlapping the first. A curved dash on the disk below the dial ensures that only one of the two holes will indicate the date at the start of the month (either the 1st or the 31st), but not both at the same time.

The dial and module for the Ochs und Junior Ochs Line Mese 2.22.

The time is read in the traditional manner. The exact minute and seconds  can be read by the ring of holes spaced at two-minute intervals. These perforations mark even-numbered minutes while the adjoining spaces denote odd-numbered minutes. (Check out this video of Oechslin explaining the date spiral for his perpetual calendar, which is also relevant for this Mese model.)

La Chaux-de-Fonds-based Ochs und Junior was founded in 2006 by renowned scholar and watchmaker Ludwig Oechslin, alongside Kurt König, managing director of Swiss watch retailer Embassy, and Beat Weinmann.

The Ochs und Junior Mese 1.22 debuted this past April.

This newest Ochs und Junior Ochs Line Mese 2.22, a 39mm titanium watch, follows the earlier Mese 1.22 debut in April. It highlights a new ‘Yves-Klein blue’ in PVD made by Positive Coating, La Chaux-de-Fonds. Ochs und Junior pairs the bright new color with blue-black Ecopell Enzian Nappa leather strap, handmade by Berne-based designer Sabina Brägger. 

Inside, Oechslin’s module is paired with an automatic ETA 2824-2, and both are fit within the two-part titanium case designed by Ludwig Oechslin with visible machining marks. Price: CHF 3,500. 

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The Watches

Bell & Ross Dives Into the Ice

Bell & Ross says that its 42mm BR 03-92 Diver White, which debuted earlier this year, is inspired by frozen watery worlds. And with a dial adorned with white, a shade rarely seen at Bell & Ross, we see why.

The Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Diver White, which debuted earlier this year.

Bell & Ross has released numerous dive watches since the first of this square-cased series debuted in 2017. Prior to the series, Bell & Ross offered several barrel-shaped BR 02 dive models, and years earlier, in 1997, Bell & Ross debuted its round-cased Hydromax, a deep-diver water resistant to 11,100-meters.

The case on this latest edition BR 03-92 diver is water resistant to 300 meters and its unidirectional rotating bezel, notched to calculate decompression stops, is graduated over sixty minutes with a luminescent dot at 12 o’clock. The anti-reflective sapphire crystal on this diving watch is very thick, and the back is reinforced.

A crown protector prevents accidental manipulations of the crown while the watch’s hands and indices are coated with a SuperLuminova, emitting a bright green color in the dark. Finally, Bell & Ross includes a black rubber strap suitable for underwater use.

All these specs underscore the fact that the BR 03-92 Diver White meets the specifications of the Swiss diving watch as it meets complying the ISO 6425 dive watch standard.

Price: $3,990

Specifications: Bell & Ross BR 03-92 Diver White

Movement: BR-CAL.302, a Sellita-based automatic.

Case: 42mm by 12.05mm satin-finished and polished steel. Unidirectional rotating steel bezel with 60-minute scale and black anodized aluminum insert. Screw-down crown, sapphire crystal. Crown guard. Water resistant to 300 meters.

Dial: Silver opaline with applique indices, Super-LumiNova inserts, skeletonized applique Super-LumiNova-filled hour, minute and seconds hands.

Strap: Woven black rubber and a second strap of ultra-resilient black synthetic fabric. Pin buckle with satin-finished and polished steel.

Price: $3,990.

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The Watches

Zodiac Adds to Super Sea Wolf Series

Zodiac celebrates 140 years as a maker of Swiss-made dive and adventure watches with several new dive watches in its Super Sea Wolf collection.

As displayed earlier this summer at the Couture show in Las Vegas, these 42mm titanium-and/or steel-cased models channel much of the same utility that went into the original Sea Wolf’s 1953 design, but today also include a slew of technical updates.

The Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Pro-Diver Titanium.

One new model, the Super Sea Wolf Pro-Diver Titanium, reveals its appreciation of deep-sea diving through orange and green tones on the bezel and concave ring, and colorful accents on the black sunray dial. Superior luminescence means the dial’s markers and hands glow in the deep.

The classic Zodiac titanium case holds a Swiss-made automatic Sellita movement. Water resistance, as noted on the dial, is a solid 300 meters.

Zodiac supplies the watch with an ISO Diver’s certification, a brushed seven-link titanium butterfly-clasp bracelet and an orange and black matching strap. Zodiac also makes a steel-cased version. Price: $2,495 (titanium model).

The Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Compression Automatic Stainless Steel Watch.

The Zodiac Super Sea Wolf Compression Automatic Stainless Steel Watch is also perfectly proficient under the sea. While not Zodiac’s professional-diver level model, its impressive 200-meter water resistance rating will handle any moisture at the pool or the beach. And it will look terrific while doing so.

Its light blue accents, white dial and highly luminous markers and hands make the watch easy to read in any light. Price: $1,495.

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