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It’s kind of hard to believe, but in the long history of Doxa divers, they’ve never made a dive watch with a lefty crown. That’s a bit surprising only because we tend to associate Doxa with the manufacture of professional grade dive instruments in a way that few other watch brands can match, and certainly there are left handed pro divers out there who could have made use of a destro Doxa diver over the decades (say that five times fast…).
Well, it’s a nice time to be a lefty Doxa fan, as the brand has just announced the Doxa Sub 300T Professional Aristera, their first dive watch ever with a crown positioned on the left hand side. It’s a limited edition of 300 pieces, and it’s fitting that the first destro Doxa is a version of what most would consider their core, enthusiast focused diver.
Like other Sub 300Ts, this one is 42.5mm in stainless steel with a short 44.5mm lug to lug measurement. Of course we get the iconic orange dial (hence the “Professional” designation) as well as an aluminum bezel insert. It runs on a Sellita SW200-1 caliber with 38 hours of power reserve, and we can assume it’s been rotated and modified to accommodate the left hand crown position (the date remains at the 3:00 position).
As a left handed person, I’ve always been kind of fascinated with destro watches, even if I don’t personally see much utility in them. Like most southpaws, I wear my watch on my right wrist. And with a normal watch, the crown is positioned facing my forearm. A confession: this has never posed a comfort problem for me, personally. I imagine there are certain watches with very large crowns that would be an issue, but they’d have to be HUGE. I can manage a Big Pilot with that large onion crown just fine.
I’ve worn a handful of destro watches over the years and enjoyed them, but don’t really see the inherent benefit of having the crown facing the other direction on my right hand (in other words, the experience of most watch wearers on their left wrist). Certainly it’s ill advised to use the crown while wearing any watch, and I think on bigger watches the crown might actually be more noticeable and less comfortable positioned facing outward.
What’s more, the design of the Sub 300T case is such that the crown is nestled into the case in either configuration, further minimizing the impact of its placement. To me, that just reinforces the idea that this watch, like other modern destro divers, is a curiosity and one for the hardcore collecting community. There are certainly no shortage of dedicated Doxa enthusiasts who will appreciate the novelty of the new Aristera.
The retail price of the new Doxa Sub 300T Professional Aristera is $2,490. Delivery is expected next month. Doxa
