Iceberg: Doxa watch and more

pg 153

He glanced at the Doxa watch

Doxa S.A. is a Swiss company, founded in 1889, that manufactures watches. Doxa is best known for its dive watches.

Doxa, founded in 1889 by George Ducommun, began as a maker of fine dress watches and other timepieces.Over the years, Doxa gained in size and branched out into other timekeeping markets. (Wristwatches, Armbanduhren, Montres-bracelets; Brunner, Gisbert L; Pfeiffer-Belli, Christian; Koneman, 2006)
In the late 1960s Doxa realized that diving was becoming more popular—especially given the success of early innovators like Rolex and Blancpain in the early 1950s. In fact the success of Rolex's Submariner and Blancpain's Fifty Fathoms helped originate a market for followers such as Doxa. This may have been due to the efforts of Jacques Cousteau and increased general awareness of the sport. Doxa decided to devote resources to create a watch to be used for diving. Tests indicated that an orange face was more visible in murky water. Doxa also consulted with divers, including Cousteau, then chairman of "U.S. Divers," and Claude Wesly (a Cousteau companion and the first man to spend seven days thirty-three feet underwater). A staff of engineers and professional divers was assembled to create a watch with features important to the diving industry. The Sub300t was purchased in quantity by U.S. Divers, who resold the watch in the United States. It was an instant hit with divers and quickly sold out upon its introduction.

The Doxa Sub300t features an orange face to make it more visible in the water. It has a rotating bezel with the official US Navy air dive table for no-decompression dives engraved onto its surface. The watch could be used to calculate decompression times, and other information useful to divers. It was rated to work 300 meters below sea level, and later versions were introduced that could work up to 750 meters below sea level.
Other watchmakers then followed with similar bezels, as well as colorful and bright faces.
Soon after the introduction of the Sub300t, the Swiss watch industry was hard-hit economically by the quartz watch revolution. Accurate, reliable and small timepieces could now be made without the mechanical movements that the Swiss specialized in constructing. In response, Doxa joined a group of Swiss watchmakers to consolidate resources. This eventually failed and Doxa, after being sold, ceased operations in about 1980.

Recently, Doxa has been revived by the Jenny family of Switzerland, who owns the brand. Since August 2002, Doxa has introduced re-editions of its well known watches and timepieces in limited quantities. Many are faithful to their original models in design and construction, and all use Swiss movements.

 Pitt slammed his fist against the casing in frustration

Pitt is under 140 feet of water. You can't "slam" your foot against a casing in frustration. If you try to do so, you'll be pushed in the other direction.

Then his ears picked up a faint gravelly vioice...a voice singing a flat version of "My Bonnie lies over the ocean."

"My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean" is a traditional Scottish folk song which remains popular in Western culture.
History The origin of the song is unknown, though it is often suggested that the subject of the song may be Charles Edward Stuart ('Bonnie Prince Charlie'): after the defeat of the Prince at the Battle of Culloden in 1746 and his subsequent exile, his Jacobite supporters could have sung the tune in his honour; and thanks to the ambiguity of the term "bonnie", which can refer to a woman as well as to a man, they could pretend it was a love song.
In 1881, under the duo of pseudonyms H.J. Fulmer and J.T. Wood, Charles E. Pratt published sheet music for "Bring Back My Bonnie to Me". Theodore Raph in his 1964 book American song treasury: 100 favorites, writes that people were requesting the song at sheet music stores in the 1870s, and Pratt was convinced to publish a version of it under the pseudonyms, and the song became a big hit, especially popular with college singing groups but also popular for all group singing situations.

My Bonnie lies over the ocean
My Bonnie lies over the sea
My Bonnie lies over the ocean
Oh, bring back my Bonnie to me

REFRAIN:
Bring back, bring back
Bring back my Bonnie to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Bring back my Bonnie to me

Last night as I lay on my pillow
Last night as I lay on my bed
Last night as I lay on my pillow
I dreamt that my Bonnie was dead

REFRAIN

Oh blow the winds o'er the ocean
And blow the winds o'er the sea
Oh blow the winds o'er the ocean
And bring back my Bonnie to me

REFRAIN

The winds have blown over the ocean
The winds have blown over the sea
The winds have blown over the ocean
And brought back my Bonnie to me