Doxa’s SUB 200 ‘Dune’ is a sandy sequel that sticks the landing
Jason LeeDoxa recently unveiled the SUB 200 ‘Dune’ with Art of Time, a family‑owned jeweller in Philipsburg, St. Maarten. It’s the second collaboration between the two, following 2024’s Azure edition that leaned hard into Caribbean Sea hues with a sunburst sky blue dial and a white sapphire bezel insert. The Dune shifts the mood entirely: the palette goes warm and granular, and the bezel turns black. As a collector with a decade of watch-obsessing under my belt, I’ve gravitated increasingly towards vintage looks but modern reliability. Vintage divers are a pleasure on the wrist and under the loupe, but they can be fragile. The Dune, with its sand-grain textured dial, seemed to slot straight into my collection tilted toward “vintage‑inspired, daily‑wearable”… A dangerous thought.
The path to the wrist
I hadn’t spent much time with any Doxa watches in the metal until a watch friend—known on Instagram as @solidcaseback and the co‑host of That Watch Podcast—kept nudging me toward the brand’s under‑the‑radar pieces. Even then, I tend to be cautious with new releases, and I don’t usually jump on limited editions. It was Pietro’s blurb in our Last Week in Watches column that finally got me to take a second look at the Dune, largely because the warm, textured dial seemed to riff on the patina you catch on some vintage mid‑century dive watches without leaning into kitsch.
After a few days’ contemplation, I reached out to Sunil at Art of Time to inquire about availability. With the run capped at 100 pieces, allocation was tight, but a deposit secured a slot, and the watch arrived within a week. Simply put, the press images didn’t fully capture the fume and texture. In person, the dial lands with more depth than the stills suggest—especially outdoors, where the gradient and the grain take turns leading.
Case and finishing
The SUB 200 case remains one of Doxa’s quiet strengths. The footprint reads balanced from above because the lugs curve sharply down, and the alternating finishing (brushed flanks with polished bevels) gives the case real shape without flash. On my 6.6‑inch wrist, the watch sits flat and doesn’t feel top‑heavy, helped by the modest thickness and the rubber strap. If you’ve written off 42mm divers on sizing alone, the SUB 200 is a good reminder to try before you decide—it tends to wear like a 40mm.
The sapphire insert adds a measured gloss without veering into jewellery: the black base absorbs most reflections, letting the beige scale catch the light. The luminous numerals are easy to read after a brief charge, and overall legibility is strong thanks to the black‑toned pencil hands and high‑contrast plots. The only caveat is a slightly stiff bezel action that demands more force than expected to index precisely.
Water‑resistance is rated to 200m, with a screw‑down crown and caseback. That’s well beyond everyday needs and comfortably into recreational diving territory. Through the crystal—which is the “boxed” style sapphire typical of the SUB 200—you get a mild vintage distortion at the dial’s periphery that suits the watch’s 1960s inspiration.
The dial: the star of the show
What distinguishes the Dune is its dial. It is a gradient, sand‑grain texture that darkens at the edge and lightens toward the centre, evoking sun‑bleached dunes rather than ocean depths. Applied markers are filled with beige Super‑LumiNova, evoking faux-patina. The hands are black‑toned for contrast. The bezel is a black sapphire insert with a luminous 60‑minute scale printed in sandy beige, harmonising with the dial’s tones.
The Dune’s dial is the reason this collaboration exists, and it succeeds on two fronts. First, the sand‑grain texture reads as a deliberately tactile surface. Second, the gradient is well‑judged: darker taupe on the ring, warmer bronze toward the centre. Add in the period‑correct typography (the dial even reads “Dune SUB 200”) and it becomes a character‑piece for a line that historically leans toward flat, poppy colours. If you enjoy the idea of “honest patina” but want it freshly minted, this is one of the better executions in recent memory from Doxa.
Movement, caseback, and the choice of a solid rear
Flip the watch over and you’ll find a solid, engraved caseback bearing a map of the Caribbean. Notably, Doxa’s signature fish emblem is featured swimming in the case back’s centre. The “sea” portion is coloured a vivid blue using laser‑induced oxidation—a treatment that gives the relief a durable hue and ties the “sand up front, sea at the back” narrative together. It’s a smart nod to the retailer driving the collaboration.
A display back wouldn’t have added much here. The Sellita SW200 is a known quantity: reliable, easily serviced almost anywhere, and purposeful in a diver. The engraved caseback with the blue‑oxidised Caribbean map is both more distinctive and more thematically coherent to the collaboration than a mass‑market movement under glass would have been. It reinforces the “sea and sand” brief without shouting.
On‑wrist impressions after a few weeks
Doxa supplies the Dune on the brand’s stainless‑steel bracelet and includes a black rubber strap in the box. My personal preference on this one is rubber—the dial reads cleaner and the watch feels more agile on the wrist. Also, the Dune looks better in the wild than in the studio. Outdoors, the bezel’s beige numerals echo the dial plots, and the sand‑grain finish keeps the watch from drifting into monochrome. Paired with the rubber, the head settles low on the wrist. Reading at a glance is straightforward—the black hands were a wise decision, and the lume is adequate for a 200‑meter skin‑diver.
If the case finishing is deliberately quiet, it’s by design. The polished bevels on the lugs catch the light just enough to frame the dial, but never compete with it. And because the lug‑to‑lug is 46mm, the watch won’t “spill” past the wrist on most wearers in the 6.5–7.25‑inch band, which isn’t always true of 42mm divers.
Value: the premium, explained
At US$2,090, the Dune sits nearly US$1,000 north of a standard SUB 200. You’re paying for a 100‑piece run, a unique dial execution, the blue‑oxidised caseback engraving, the sapphire bezel treatment, and the inclusion of both bracelet and rubber. Against last year’s Azure (US$1,590), the new watch adds the costlier bezel style and the caseback colour treatment. Whether that calculus works will depend on how much the dial and caseback speak to you.
It’s also worth noting that the SUB 200 family broadened this year with polished steel bezels at significantly lower prices, which may tug value‑centric buyers back to standard production. The Dune, however, isn’t aiming to be the price leader—it’s an aesthetic statement inside a known, well-specced platform.
Closing thoughts
Doxa and Art of Time have delivered a thoughtful second act. Where Azure captured the Caribbean’s water on the wrist, the Dune captures its shore. The dial feels like a legitimate expansion of the SUB 200 design language; the caseback is a small delight that doesn’t compromise tool‑watch integrity; and the overall package feels coherent. It won’t be the “value play” within the SUB 200 range, but if you’re the sort who prizes restrained warmth and tactility over loud colour, this is one of the most characterful SUB 200s to date—and an easy recommendation within the vintage‑inspired, modern‑spec diver bracket.
Doxa SUB 200 ‘Dune’ pricing and availability
Doxa SUB 200 ‘Dune’ is available exclusively through Art of Time and is limited to 100 pieces. Price: US$2,090
| Brand | Doxa |
| Model | SUB 200 ‘Dune’ |
| Reference | 799.10.031.10-SE |
| Case Dimensions | 42mm (D) x 13.8mm (T) |
| Case Material | Stainless steel, sapphire bezel insert |
| Water Resistance | 200 meters, screw-down crown |
| Crystal(s) | Boxed sapphire crystal front |
| Dial | Textured sand-grain in warm taupe |
| Bracelet | FKM bead-style black rubber strap Beads-of-rice stainless steel bracelet |
| Movement | Sellita SW200, automatic |
| Power Reserve | 38 hours |
| Functions | Hours, minutes, seconds, date, unidirectional diving bezel |
| Availability | Limited edition of 100 pieces |
| Price | US$2,090 |