The SUB 300T Clive Cussler
DOXA is delighted to announce a new watch that pays tribute to one of the brand’s most important friends and a man whose legacy in the diving community is cemented for eternity. The SUB 300T Clive Cussler Edition has been created in close partnership with Clive’s son Dirk Cussler and is DOXA’s homage to the leading author, diver and underwater explorer.
The SUB 300T Clive Cussler Edition stays true to the collection’s core aesthetic but has a number of features that will delight fans of the brand and Cussler enthusiasts alike. The most striking element of the new watch is the dial, which is illustrated with a vintage compass; a representation of the daring exploration celebrated throughout Cussler’s life. The use of an aged steel effect on the watch case and bracelet evokes the vintage tool watches that one would expect to see on the wrists of the adventurers in one of Cussler’s novels. Each timepiece is discreetly and individually engraved with its own unique number on the side of the bezel and this edition subtly commemorates the author’s birthday, July 15th 1931, with the dates 7, 15, and 31 displayed in red on the dial.
This watch has been a labour of love for DOXA and CEO Jan Edöcs is very proud of the final result, “Cussler’s internationally famed novels were a natural platform for DOXA watches, highlighting them as essential tools for his heroic characters. DOXA’s famous orange dial dive watch continues to be a fixture for his fictional adventure hero Dirk Pitt, accompanying him on his many daredevil adventures under the sea.”
Clive Cussler was an American adventure novelist and marine archaeologist. He grew up in Alhambra, California and served in the Air Force during the Korean War. Following his military service, he embarked on a career in advertising, working as a copywriter and creative director. Cussler, however, had a passion for writing novels and so left his promising career in advertising to pursue this. He took a part-time job in a dive shop, which allowed him time to work on his books. It was on the occasion of his leaving this role, once Cussler had secured a publishing deal, that he received a gift from the shop owner. This gift, an orange dial DOXA SUB 300T, was to become an important part of his life, as well of that of his fictional leading man.
Dirk Pitt, Special Projects Director for the National Underwater and Marine Agency, made his first appearance in a Cussler novel in The Mediterranean Caper, the first novel in his popular series. Pitt, named after Clive Cussler’s son, went on to have a number of adventures that were documented through the series of books that are still incredibly popular today. In fact, some of Cussler’s novels, including "Raise the Titanic!" and "Sahara" were adapted into movies. Cussler and Pitt share a number of traits including both serving in the Air Force as well as both wearing DOXA SUB 300T.
Pitt’s DOXA makes numerous appearances in the novels, the first time being in Iceberg. “He glanced at the DOXA watch. He had only been down for nine minutes, not the ninety his imagination suggested," is line from chapter ten. Later on in the book, the reader is treated to even more detail about the watch: “Pitt glanced at the luminous dial of the orange-faced DOXA watch on his wrist.” In a much later novel from 2003, Trojan Odyssey, Pitt hands his watch down to his son, Dirk Jnr. In one section, the most detailed description in any of the books is present. “He glanced at his SUB 300T orange-faced DOXA dive watch given to him by his father - 7:47 P.M. They had been alone in habitat without communications from the outside world for nearly sixteen hours”.
The success of the series of novels allowed Cussler to pursue his passion for marine archaeology, and he founded the National Underwater and Marine Agency (NUMA) a name that he had used extensively in the Pitt novels as the organisation for which Pitt worked. A percentage of sales from this special edition Clive Cussler watch will be donated to NUMA. Additionally, the names of shipwrecks and other historical artifacts that have been discovered or surveyed by NUMA up to 2022 are engraved on the back of the SUB 300T Clive Cussler case.
In 1967 DOXA unveiled the original SUB 300T, a watch that was made for diving that featured a new, patented rotating bezel. This bezel had the usual elapsed time ring and a second that DOXA called the No Decompression Bezel; allowing a quick reading on the permitted time for each depth without the need to pause to decompress on the way back up to the surface. The original watches also feature bright orange dials, that had been tested and proven to be the most legible at depth under water. The new series of the SUB 300T models also feature a gas escape valve. The gas escape valve (GEV) was first used by DOXA in 1969 and is an important element of watches that were designed to be worn for saturation diving. The Clive Cussler Edition has all these features, making it a true tool watch that can withstand whatever adventure the wearer chooses to embark on.
