Marathon GSAR Government Diver Automatic - Rubber Reference WW194006 - A Lot to like and Very Little to Fault, A Review (plus Video)

When I first started my deep-dive into the world of watch collecting, the Marathon Watch Company was one of the first few brands on my radar screen more than a decade ago.

The genre that started the interest in this hobby was the diver and military styles watches. As such, Marathon's Government-issued Search And Rescue (GSAR) Diver’s Automatic watches are some of the most practical mechanical tool watches around. These watches are akin to the PROSPEX line by Seiko. Unfortunately, there wasn't any authorized dealer in Southeast Asia and I wasn't that comfortable to buy online for the amount being offered.

A decade later, Gnomon Watch of Singapore got the dealership from Marathon and I was instantly hooked. Currently there are only two models on offer on Gnomon's website (at the time I made the purchase on 20 March 2020), the bracelet version and the rubber strap version. An introductory price to celebrate the new dealership arrangement between Gnomon and Marathon was also on offer.



For this acquisition, I decided to go for the rubber strap version. Although I always insist that one

Can't do this with a bracelet watch.
Photo from the internet

should get the bracelet version if available, in this case I decided to do the opposite. My reasoning behind this change of opinion is the operational purpose of the watch. It is a tool watch and is expected to be subjected to intense abuse throughout its working life. There will be a number of ways the watch will be attached to a person in view of the multi-mission capability of this watch. It can be worn directly on the wrist, over sleeves, over dive suit sleeves, attached to a handle etc. As such, the bracelet becomes impractical. The inability to split the bracelet into two which you can do with a strap means that you can buckle a strap watch to almost anything. Moreover, you can easily adjust the sizing of the strap on the fly without needing any tools; all you need to do is put the buckle hook into the required adjustment hole on the strap.


Brand History

Since this is the first of the brand to be featured on this blog, a short take on the history of the brand is in order. The Marathon Watch Company is a Canadian-based watch maker that remain true to their roots. The company was originally founded in 1904 as Weinsturm Watch, later to be named Wein Brothers. In 1939, Morris Wein created Marathon Watch, supplying watches throughout North America. Marathon is famous as being among the very few brands still officially selling watches to armed forces. The brand's primary military customers are those from North America. Today, the management of the company is being led by the fourth generation of the family. Focus remains on practical and precision timepieces for the military.

The GSAR Watch

There is no specific standard or definition on what constitute a Search And Rescue watch. What is known is that it must be adaptable to any environment. Accordingly, the GSAR’s design is a hybrid, having elements of both a dive watch as well as a field watch. Marathon made sure that the watch is pure utility. This singular focus on practicality has created a very stable and growing fan base not only at individual level but also at institutional level (a number of major armed forces such as in the US and Canada). This is why Marathon Watch Company is an official US government contractor.   

It cannot be said often enough that the GSAR is a well-made product. The quality of production is excellent which shouldn't be surprising as it is actually produced and assembled at Marathon’s Switzerland-based factory located in the watchmaking town of La Chaux-de-Fonds. The 'SWISS MADE' text on the dial is definitely a mark of excellence.

The GSAR is a Mil-Spec (military specification) watch. The case on the GSAR is utilitarian, brushed 316L stainless steel surfaces with an oversized bezel and crown. It is 41 mm wide and 14 mm thick. The bezel overhangs the case by a good millimeter on all sides. That is largely what contributes to the watches wearing smaller than it is. The crown is a 5.5 mm wide knurled design unit and cradled by two very angular crown guards. The lugs come with drilled pass-through holes to facilitate strap replacement.

Marathon Watch Company offers the GSAR either marked or non-marked. The marked version are those with the words "U.S. Government" or some other marks to denote a branch of the military or nation (there is a U.S. Marine version as well as a Canadian version). The non-marked version are sterile from any emblem apart from Marathon's. Unfortunately, Gnomon Watches did not offer the non-marked version (any the point fo purchase). Only the U.S. Government version was available. 

The overall design is classic and based on design elements approved for military use such as legibility, comfort, durability and effectiveness. Visually, one can immediately get a sense that the watch feels just right. Overall, a good looking timepiece.

The Dial

The GSAR has a very deep dial. The polished chapter ring seems to go on forever before it reaches the dial surface. This design was used to enable the placement of the tritium gas tubes. Marathon has to order especially long bushings for the hands’ mount to accommodate the gap required, and this forces the overall height of the watch to be generally similar to a chronograph powered watch (due to the extra gears needed for the chronograph module, it is definitely taller than a standard watch).



The dial, is complex, but highly functional as you’d expect from a watch meant for military service. There are a series of scales on the matte-black dial. At the edge of the dial is the sub-seconds line scale painted in white. The baton-style hour markers with the tritium tubes are the primary markers for the GSAR. The use of Arabic hour numerals as well as the smaller scale of 24-hour markers for “military time” completes the various scales found on the dial. The date window is located between 4 o’clock and 5 o’clock. Marathon uses a white-background-with-black-print date wheel for the GSAR. I note that in a number of reviews about the watch, the reviewers wished for a negative print on the date wheel instead. However, I believe the original choice by Marathon is correct. This is done so as not to confuse the user between the date and the Arabic hour marker (it should not be the same colour).

The syringe-style handset is simple yet effective. Note the gap between the hands especially at the central stem. Special long bushings for mounting the hands are required to accommodate the height of the tubes mounted on them.



There are six lines of text and graphics on the dial. All are printed directly to the dial. At the upper quadrant are the first two lines; the brand, "MARATHON" and the words "US GOVERNMENT" in white. On the middle horizontal line are the text "H3" on the left and the radioactive symbol on the right. The lower quadrant has the rest of the lines starting with the word "AUTOMATIC" in white, "300m/1000ft" in red and "SWISS MADE" in white (near the bottom edge of the dial).

The dial has green tritium tubes on all the hands as well as for the hour indicators. The 12 o'clock marker has an amber tritium tube to differentiate it against the rest. In all, there are 15 tritium tube on the watch. Tritium tubes are small glass tubes filled with a gas isotope of hydrogen (tritium) that give off a benign radiation that glows in the dark. Each tube have a half-life of 12.5 years i.e. after every 12.5 years, the brightness will drop by a half.  Since the case-back indicated that the watch generates 26 millicuries of radiation, I have to assume the Marathon uses the T25 tubes.

As reference, there are a few level of brightness that you can commercially get for tritium tubes. Generally, watch makers tend to choose either the T100 (being very bright) or the T25 (bright). To recognise the correct rating, one usually refers to the level of radioactive particle it generates. Typically a T100 would generate up to 100 millicuries whereas a T25 will generate up to 25 millicuries.

The choice of T25 is to make sure that the dial is always visible, but not too bright for security reasons (this is a watch for the military and you don't want the enemy to spot you from the illumination of your watch dial!). The T25 tubes are visible at night, but not overpowering.

Over the dial is a flat, AR coated sapphire crystal. Although I love domed crystal, as a military watch, you don't want too much refraction when viewing the watch at any angle. The AR on the crystal is well applied and reduces light refraction considerably.



Encircling the rim of the watch casing is the thick and tall uni-directional rotating diver’s bezel. The bezel is 5.17 mm thick with a matte black aluminium insert. The bezel is a traditional diving bezel with minute markers all the way around with a mix of line (short and long) markers and Arabic numbers.

There is a traditionally triangular pip at 12 o'clock. The triangle pip has photo-luminescent MaraGlo paint (proprietary to Marathon) for low light viewing. Unlike the tritium tubes, the MaraGlo paint needs to be charged with light before it can discharge a glow in the dark. Compared to Seiko's Lumibrite paint, the MaraGlo paint is not as strong at maintaining illumination.



As highlighted earlier, the bezel on the GSAR overhangs the case. Coupled with the large gear-tooth edge, the design element makes it easy to grip while wearing gloves. I believe Marathon uses a ratcheting system for the bezel. The bezel take 120-clicks to complete a full rotation. Turning the bezel to every position is accompanied with a nice audible 'click'. When not turned, the bezel remains in place without any interplay or looseness.

Although not that obvious, the edge of the watch casing, especially at the bottom is rather sharp. I do recommend Marathon would at least give a slight bevel to the edge to blunt the sharpness. As you can see in the photo above (the left side), if the watch is not squared properly on the wrist, the edge will bite into the skin.



The supporting crown guards do protect the large knurled crown partially. Even with the crown screwed-in, just slightly less than half of the length of the crown remains out in the open. However, from a practical point of view, the risk of damage to the crown is minimal. The large crown allows easier manipulation but the downside to this is that it could bite into your skin if you flex your hand while wearing the watch very close to the it. As such, it is therefore recommended to wear as far away from the hand as possible.



The large crown is unsigned. A pity as the flat surface on top of the crown is substantial enough to stamp the brand logo.

The lugs extends straight out from the watch casing with minimal curvature towards the wrist. This makes the overall length of the watch from a lug-to-lug perspective, at 48 mm. If only Marathon added more curvature on the lugs. This would shorten the overall length and makes it more wearable to a lot more people. For my 6.75 inch wrist, the watch sits with just a little bit of lug overhang. The drilled-through lug holes is another nice feature on the watch. It beats trying to access the spring-bars at awkward angles especially for people with poor eyesight (me!).



A very nice vulcanised rubber strap came standard with the GSAR. The best part about the rubber strap is that it smells like vanilla. Apart from that, the rubber strap is of very high quality with a number of beveled surfaces. It is approximately 4.5 mm thick and tapers from 20 mm at the lugs to 18 at the signed buckle. The rubber strap is the right option to wear this watch properly. My only suggestion in this regards is to offer a silicon strap or a nylon strap instead. These would be much more durable than a rubber strap.



The solid case-back plate is a screw-down. The information stamped on the case-back has that 'government-issued' feel to it, very utilitarian and full of obscure information. Apart from the water rating, the ISO standard, the serial number, the quality of the stainless steel, where it was made and the class of movement powering the watch, there are other notation that are not common. These are:

Notation	Remarks
6645-21-558-0133	The U.S. Government reference code for the GSAR. It is also the NATO stock number
26 MILLICURIES	The amount of radiation this watch generates from the 15 tritium tubes
NRC ID: 54-28526-01E	This is the reference to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission permit issued to Marathon Watch Company for the use of tritium radiative material in its products
GS-14F-0027K	This is the reference to the contract issued by the U.S. Government under the Federal Supply Schedule for the GSAR
CAGE 38776	CAGE = Commercial And Government Entity code. It tells the US Goverment who is the prime contractor for this item. For CAGE 38776: Marathon Watch Company Ltd, DBA Marathon Management, 30 Mural St Suite 10, Richmond Hill, Canada L4B 1B5
CTRL No. 29754040	The military contract type number

When I got the chance to get the watch, I was not too keen to get a Government marked GSAR. I prefer the non-government marked (or known as "NGM") version. As this product is still in the official inventory of the U.S. Government, having one especially by a non-national which has nothing to do with that country doesn't feel right. Call me old fashion but I still believe only those that have the right to carry the mark or emblem should wear those timepieces. It is a mark of honour and I don't want to disrespect that.

Nevertheless, this is the only option at the moment. As such, when I wear this watch, I will remember the proud men and women that hold those symbols dearly.

The Movement


Underneath the case-back is the ETA 2824-2, a 25-jewel automatic movement operating at 28,800 BPH with a 42 hours of power reserve. I was able to do a simple accuracy test using the Toolwatch mobile application straight out of the box. For the test, the watch registered an accuracy of -3.9 seconds per day.



The GSAR is constructed solidly. It has a water rating of 300 meters. It also have the ability to withstand magnetic field of 4,800 A/m.


The Wearing Experience 

I find the rubber strap to be very comfortable and the watch sits properly on my wrist. As highlighted earlier, due to the size of the crown, you should not wear it close to the hand. Otherwise, you may suffer the problem of the crown digging into your skin if you flex your hand upwards.



Visually, the watch looks much bigger than it actually is. The beefy bezel as well as the height of the watch belies its actual size. As it is designed as a tool watch to be actively used and abused, it does not need to justify to styling or fashion needs of the time.

You will find people with less than flattering comment about the “depth of the dial”. This was argued as the primary reason why the watch is too tall. I am personally fine with the depth of the dial. It is a necessity of the design to be able to fit in all the tritium gas tubes. This is not unique to the GSAR. Other tritium tube-based watches also have the same deep dial design (see my reviews on Ball watches which have the same "depth of the dial" issue).



The GSAR is ISO 6425 certified and can dive up to a depth of 300 meters. It is manufactured in accordance with US Government Military specifications, it is an automatic watch and is built like a tank. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in the military or just spend a lot of time outdoors, if you need a watch you can depend on, the GSAR is the one for you.

There is a lot to like about the GSAR, and very little to fault about it.


The Series

The GSAR is one of three sizes available under the SAR series. There is the JSAR or Jumbo SAR (a 46 mm wide version) and the MSAR or Medium SAR (a 36 mm wide version). The three versions are also available with quartz movements. They are also available with bracelets. The first photo is the JSAR and the second is the MSAR.

Model	JSAR	MSAR
Dimensions	46 mm diameter 18 mm thickness	36 mm diameter 13 mm thickness
Lug Width	22 mm	18 mm
Complications	Day & date (English & French)	Date
Movement	ETA2836	SW200
Jewels	25	26
MSRP as per Marathon Watch website	USD1,700	USD850

Based on the specifications, apart from the price difference, the JSAR also has an additional complication in the form of a day indicator (choice of English or French). Note also the difference automatic movement used. In the GSAR it was the EAT2824. The JSAR uses the ETA2836 while the MSAR uses the SW200.

For the quartz equivalent, the JSAR uses the high-torque quartz ETA FØ7 3 jewels movement while the MSAR uses the high-torque quartz ETA FØ6 3 jewels movement. The quart version of the GSAR also uses the ETA FØ6 movement.


The Purchase 

I bought the watch via Gnomon Watches of Singapore. The package included the following; (a) the GSAR; (b) the watch-box and documents; (c) NATO strap (compliments of Gnomon Watches); (d) Marathon patch; (e) signed polishing cloth from Gnomon Watches; and (f) signed polishing cloth from Marathon Watch Company.



I made the order for the watch during the partial lockdown in Malaysia due to the Covid19 pandemic. There was a slight delay from DHL at the Kuala Lumpur sector as the courier automatically assumes there will be no one to accept the parcel. After a few phone calls, the parcel was delivered a couple of days later.





Specifications

Maker: Marathon
Movement: Swiss automatic movement ETA 2824-2
Dial: Black
Luminous: Tritium gas tubes and Maraglo™
Calender: Date at 4 O'clock
Case: 316L stainless steel
Bezel: 316L stainless steel with engraved black anodized insert
Crown: Screw-down
Lug Width: 20 mm
Crystal: Sapphire crystal
Strap: Black vulcanised rubber strap
Water Resistance: 30 ATM or 300 meters
Dimensions: 41 mm diameter, 48 mm lug-to-lug, 14 mm thick
Certification: ISO6425
Weight: 130 gm
MSRP: USD1,200 (Gnomon Watches); USD1,500 (Marathon Watch)
Purchase Date: 20 March 2020
Purchase Price: USD960 (RM4,386.25)
Warranty: Two (2) years from 22 March 2020
Vendor: Gnomon Watches Singapore
Serial Number: 15287




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