Hands-On: The Doxa Sub 250T GMT ‘Gulfshore’ And ‘Afterglow’ Limited Editions
If you hang around James Stacey enough, you automatically become a Doxa fan. I’ll admit, I’ve always had a soft spot for the Sub 300 Carbon, especially the ‘Whitepearl’ with its fully-lumed dial. But when I had a chance to preview a few upcoming releases from Doxa in Geneva earlier this month, two new takes on the just-released Doxa Sub 250T GMT caught my eye. As it turns out, these were two new limited edition colorways for retailer Exquisite Timepieces: the Doxa Sub 250T ‘Gulfshore’ and ‘Afterglow.’
It’s quite interesting to me that limited editions of a model are being released less than a month after the initial launch of nine colorways. But these colors are quite different from the standard line, and with 50 pieces each, it is quite a small run. Both colors are fittingly inspired by Florida’s Gulf Coast, with the waters and sunsets of the area coming into play.
As these are just new colorways, everything else remains unchanged from the regular production Sub 250T GMT models. The stainless steel cushion case is 40mm in diameter, with a thickness of 10.85mm and a compact lug-to-lug of 42.9mm. While visually, the case may look imposing, it wears quite well, even on small wrists, as the lugs are very short. The Gulfshore and Afterglow editions are delivered on stainless steel beads-of-rice bracelets (no rubber strap option), and a one-piece fabric strap is also included in the box. As implied from the name of the model, the case offers 250 meters of water resistance.
Powering the watch is the Sellita SW330-2 caliber, a caller-style GMT movement that allows you to set the GMT hand through the first position of the crown (rather than the local time as on a flyer-style GMT). The automatic caliber has a power reserve of 50 hours and ticks away at 4 Hz.
These two new colorways lean into a touch of coral pink, which the brand uses as an homage to a 1970s Doxa Women’s Sub 200 design. Perhaps the Gulfshore appeals to a slightly larger audience, with a matte blue dial complemented by white and what Doxa calls “coraline orange” accents. The shade of blue here is lighter than that of the Caribbean blue currently in the catalog and works very well with the accents of coraline orange, a trickster of a color, appearing pale orange in some lights and coral pink in others. The coraline orange is tastefully balanced on the dial, and using it as the infill for the unidirectional bezel and the signature on the screw-down crown is also a nice touch. As with most of the other 250T variants, the GMT hand is oversized in the form of a skeletonized hand that reaches to the inner 24-hour scale on the dial.
Doubling down on the pink tones, we find the Sub 250T Afterglow and its metallic sunburst-brushed pink dial. It is bright and cheerful, complemented by white accents (coraline orange is only saved for the bezel and crown on this one). The decision to give this model metallic hands gives it a slightly less tool-watch vibe but works well to keep this watch legible, as the lighter dial can get a bit more washed out in bright light. But I’ll be honest in saying that this one certainly would be my guilty-pleasure diver of choice. There’s something about such a utilitarian dive watch design juxtaposed with bright pink that seems so damn fun.
Both the Gulfshore and Afterglow Sub 250T editions are priced at $2,790 and are limited to 50 pieces each. Even though these come with an additional fabric strap, they are still $340 more than the standard Sub 250T versions that just launched. It’s perhaps the only slight nick against two very fun colorways, especially as the 250T already represents a large premium over the time-and-date 200T. But for Doxa fans and customers of Exquisite Timepieces, perhaps that’s a fair enough ask for a small run of two very fun and colorful dials.
For more, visit Doxa and Exquisite Timepieces online.
Hodinkee
