Left handed watches aren’t new to the market but neither will you find them in abundance. For the first time in its history the automatic Doxa Sub has joined the lefty club with the new Doxa Sub 300T Aristera.
Since the Sub launched in 1969 it’s become a favourite among the Doxa collection thanks to the vibrant orange dial. With this new release Doxa have aimed to stay true to the Sub 300T series aesthetic whilst providing ease and comfort for the left hand wearer. The name Aristera is Greek, meaning left and has a nice symmetry with origins of the Doxa name. Doxa being Greek for Glory.
In essence, a left handed watch simply involves moving the crown from the 3 o’clock position to the 9 o’clock position. This makes the crown more usable for left hand wearers who place the watch on their right wrist. In practice the repositioning of the crown isn’t quite so simple. The crown is connected to the movement so move the crown and the rest of the movement needs to be rotated. In the Doxa Sub 300T Aristera the entire movement has been rotated 180 degrees to accommodate the new crown position. Doxa CEO Jan Edocs noted that “this repositioning required technical adjustments and a revision of the final tests.”
The new Aristera shares many of the same design elements we all know and love from the Sub 300T Professional. The case size remains consistent at 42.5mm x 44.5mm and there is no change to the case material which is made from stainless steel. The date window remains in the 3 o’clock position and as with the Sub 300T Professional the aluminium bezel is unidirectional with the built in no-decompression dive time calculator. Alongside showing the length of your dive time the outer ring of the bezel indicates how long you can remain at each depth without the need to pause for decompression. The no-decompression bezel is a unique feature of many of the Doxa Sub series and was also present on Doxa’s Sub 300T Shark Hunter Clive Cussler Limited Edition from earlier this year.
Apart from the crown’s positioning there is little else to differentiate the Sub 300T Aristera from the Sub 300T Professional. Both carry a 1,200m water resistance and are powered by a Swiss automatic movement decorated by Doxa with a 38-hour power reserve. Take a look at the reverse of the Aristera and you’ll see the usual sailing vessel on the case back. However, in a nice nod to the left hander the sailing vessel is reversed compared to the Aristera’s right handed counterpart.
Included with the standard ‘beads of rice’ stainless steel strap the Aristera comes complete with a black NATO strap with orange centre line. The NATO strap is a new edition to the Sub 300T range and isn’t currently available as standard on the right-hand version.
The Aristeria is a limited edition of 300 pieces of the iconic orange dial only. So, if you’re a left handed Doxa fan you might not want to hang around. The great news with this watch is that it will be a ‘fastest finger first’ situation. Doxa have said that from the 29th August you will be able to pre order the Aristeria from their website and in October the Aristeria will be available at all Doxa points of sale.
In summary, this left handed Sub 300T is for a very select few. With no major changes to the watches design Doxa clearly felt the need to satisfy the left handed customer base. Perhaps they’ve had a few letters and requests from pleading customers. I’ll be interested to see how quickly the 300 watches sell out and if demand was high enough would Doxa then consider left handed versions of other models. At CHF 2,290 (approx £2,045) this Doxa Sub 300T Aristeria is an exciting release for the left handed diver.
Price and Specs:
More details at Doxa.
