Comparing the blues – our DOXA SUB 600T ‘pacific’ vs the Tudor Black Bay 58

Henry Zwartz

The sun is beating down and the swell is roaring along Sydney’s beaches as my family gets ready to partake in a daily ritual. Even though we don’t live together, we often meet up by the shoreline and hop in the Pacific Ocean together for a plunge.  Today, on my dad’s wrist is the new limited edition DOXA SUB 600T ‘pacific’, to mark a recent milestone – a 60th birthday.

My dad got me into watches, we’d talk about them from afar when I was posted in distant bureaus as a reporter across Australia. So it seemed fitting to mark a special date with a special watch, and as we all know watches can be a very personal thing for enthusiasts. A few years ago my dad had marked me getting a full-time on-air reporter role with an IWC MK XV – a watch that, in my mind, is about as ruggedly cool as anything gets. My ‘forever’ watch.

But the DOXA SUB 600T is also pretty unique. It’s the sort of design that instills an opinion one way or another, with its blocky angles and shark-tooth shaped markers at 3, 6, 9 and 12. Usually when thinking about photographing watches, I consider diffused light. But this time, I decided to take some photos of this watch with the full blare of the Australian sun beating right down onto the dial. Why? To properly show off the colours and beautiful lacquered paint on the hands.

And the dial really is the colour of the Pacific Ocean, or at least the part that I’m familiar with off the coast of Sydney, which is seriously impressive. How did the Time and Tide/DOXA design team manage that…?

One thing that came to mind with the orange minute reminded me of the colour of the sand that used to sweep into my face in the Northern Territory when I was posted there. Not so much the dust in Australia’s “red centre”, but the looser grit that you find a few hours south of Darwin, where you can find large mango farms. As a colour scheme, it’s a great combo, in my mind then, of two distinctly Australian colour schemes. The Pacific, and the orange tones of the outback.

The blue is enchanting. For reference, I photographed the DOXA alongside a Tudor Black Bay 58, which has itself an enthralling blue. As you can see they are both engaging shades, with the DOXA being more of a joyous blue and the Tudor being a little more muted. To bring more focus to the dial, we swapped out the solid rubber strap for something a little darker.

I must admit I have already temporarily stolen the DOXA for a weekend, to swim in the ocean that is its namesake. Like many Australians, I’m a Thalassophile – a lover of the sea. And get in every day. So does the family. So the watch will be just at home in this context. Light, thanks to the titanium, and perfect for swimming, snorkelling and any other aquatic-based adventure that comes along.

The lume is incredible. I’ve already seen it in action underwater. A cooler blue-coloured lume, rather than the green I am used to on the Tudor and my DOXA SUB 200. One of the great things about watches is the community and it has been great to see some people I know share their own experiences and images of this watch when it arrived in the post.

This watch screams a design that makes me think of carefree summer days, with as much of a 1980s vibe as Paul Simon’s Graceland album. Now to just take it on some ocean adventures with my dad, 80s tunes blaring.