Ask any Doxa diehard what they’d change about the modern SUB lineup and you’ll probably hear the same two requests. Lose the date window, and let that famous lume run wild. Doxa has flirted with both ideas before, though rarely at the same time and almost never on a chronograph. So it caught my eye when a retailer edition of Doxa’s freshly revived dive chronograph checked both boxes in one shot, barely three weeks after the base model rejoined the permanent catalog. Say hello to the Doxa SUB T.Graph II ‘Great White’ Topper Edition, a 100-piece run with a fully luminous, no-date dial.
Some might know I’ve got some history here. When Doxa brought the T.Graph back in limited steel form in 2019, I covered it for TBWS and asked whether it was the Doxa we’d all been waiting for. The full answer took about seven years. The Sub 200 T.Graph II finally landed in late June as a permanent collection piece, trimmed down to 42mm wide and 14.6mm thick. Topper wasted no time. The retailer has run limited Doxa editions before, named for the sharks that patrol the Farallon Islands roughly 30 miles off the San Francisco coast. This one continues the thread with a white dial, navy blue lacquer markers and hands, and a custom shark engraving on the caseback.
The rest of the specs read like an enthusiast wish list. The entire dial surface is treated with Super-LumiNova BGW9, so the whole face glows blue in the dark rather than just the markers. In a properly nerdy touch, Doxa didn’t simply hide the date. The click was removed from the Sellita SW510 Elaboré chronograph movement entirely, which Topper lists at 50 hours of power reserve.
Elsewhere you get the usual T.Graph package: 200m of water resistance, a screw-down crown, the sawtooth no-deco bezel finished in matching navy lacquer, and the beads of rice bracelet with a blue rubber strap included in the box. A portion of proceeds goes to the Greater Farallones Association, the nonprofit behind habitat restoration in the marine sanctuary that surrounds those islands.
At $4,690, the Great White carries a $400 premium over the standard T.Graph II on bracelet. Factor in the second strap, the custom caseback, and the charitable component, and that markup lands on the reasonable end for a retailer exclusive.
My own Sub 300 has stayed in the collection through every phase of my complicated relationship with this brand, and a fully lumed, no-date T.Graph is honestly the first Doxa chronograph that tempts me. One hundred pieces won’t sit around long. The bigger question is whether this treatment stays a retailer exclusive or eventually works its way into the main catalog. I know which outcome I’m rooting for.
Co-Founder & Senior Editor
Michael Peñate is an American writer, photographer, and podcaster based in Seattle, Washington. His work typically focuses on the passage of time and the tools we use to connect with that very journey. From aviation to music and travel, his interests span a multitude of disciplines that often intersect with the world of watches – and the obsessive culture behind collecting them.