My Eastern Watch Collection: Marathon Officer’s Field Watch Mechanical (OFM)/Stainless Steel General Purpose Mechanical (GPM-SS) NGM Reissue Mechanical Ref. WW194003SS-NGM - A Very Flexible Watch, A Review (plus Video)

This will be my third Marathon watch. Although the watches of Marathon are designed as utilitarian time pieces able to withstand abuse, they are not as easily available when compared to the widespread interest in these kind of watches. Hence, the price for a Marathon watch has a (perceived) high premium attached.

Although Marathon has a number of models on offer, there are three designs I like. The GSAR, the GPM and the OFM. I already have the first two and now I complete the pack with acquisition of the OFM/GPM-SS.

The OFM was always available on Gnomon Singapore website even at the time when I got the GSAR and GPM. I took my time to acquire the watch as I was focused on acquiring others first.

It so happened that I got a discount coupon that allowed me to finally get the watch below MSRP on Gnomon. I immediately logged into the website and made my booking. It didn't take long before the watch was on my desk.

The Series

Commonly known as Officer’s Field Watch Mechanical (OFM) or Stainless Steel General Purpose Mechanical (GPM-SS), the watch is an updated version of brand’s original 1980s military issue field watch which was contracted by the US Government, the GG-W-113.

There are a number of different dials for the OFM. There is the US Government marking model, the non-government marking (NGM) model as well as a few others that depict various branches of the US security forces. The watch is built to strict military standard, the MIL-PRF-46374G.

For this purchase, I decided to get the NGM model.

The Watch

Made out of stainless steel, the watch has a diameter of 39.0 mm with a lug-to-lug length of 44.0 mm. The casing has a design that I find interesting-it has that vintage vibe yet evergreen. In my eyes it looks like a truncated teardrop when viewed from the side. The surface area is parkerised to eliminate reflection.

The case itself is a tall 11.0 mm. Unfortunately, the height cannot be reduced further due to the need to give space for the tritium gas tubes that are embedded on the dial and integrated into the hours, minutes and seconds hands. Although I would love it if Marathon incorporate an automatic movement into this model, doing so will require the watch to be even taller to be able to fit all the components especially the winding rotor. As it stand right now, the watch does look disproportionately taller than it should when compared to its other dimensions.

The all black dial has four lines of texts and graphics plus four distinctive timing scales. The straight walled chapter ring is brushed to eliminate any unwanted reflection.

Along the 10:00 to 2:00 line is the brand name; along 9:00 to 3:00 line are the two logos to depict the radioactive nature of the tritium tubes; along the 8:00 to 4:00 line the sentence ‘17 JEWELS’; and at the bottom edge of the dial is the final set of texts, ‘SWISS MADE’. All the texts and logos as painted in white.

The first timing scale is a sub-second line scale located at the edge of the dial. Next is the hour markers which has tritium gas tubes. The third scale is Arabic numerals from 1 to 12 and the final scale, also in Arabic numerals but in smaller font from 13 to 24. All timing scales except for hour markers are painted in white.

The dial face only has a diameter of 30.0 mm. In that small space, the lines of texts plus the various timing scales does appear to be overwhelming. The monochromatic feature of the dial (the use of only one colour, white, for all markings which contrast perfectly with the black surface of the dial) does help a lot in reducing confusion when looking at the watch at first glance. Transferring the radioactive warning to that back can help reduce the busyness of the dial. Also, shortening the sentence ‘17 JEWELS’ to ‘Mechanical’ could also help.

My personal view is that the dial is congested. Nevertheless, I doubt it if Marathon did not act upon any feedback received from the target users of the watch. As such, it would appear that the primary users are fine with the current setup.

Protecting the dial is a flat sapphire crystal. The crystal is not flushed with the top edge of the casing. It is slightly higher. To protect the crystal from side impact damage, the edge is beveled. As the case has a unique bezel-less design, where it gets a steep convex slope from the sides to the dial opening, it allows one to entirely focus on the essential time reading at any given time.

The unsigned crown is located at 3:00 and uses a simple push-in/pull-out mechanism. When fully seated against the watch casing, one can still manually wind the watch. The crown does recess slightly into the watch casing. Nevertheless, the level of protection against impact is not significant.

The lugs on the watch is 16.0 mm wide and has pass-through lug holes to facilitate disengagement of the spring-bars.

The case-back is a screw-down steel plate with a lot of information. Nevertheless, there appear to be a conflict in the water rating of the watch. In all the documentation (including Marathon's website), the watch is water rated to 50 meters. This should translate to '5 ATM'. However, as you can clearly see in the stamping at the case-back, the water rating is stated to be just '3 ATM'. Based on the feedback from Marathon, the watch is 5 ATM capable. However, the case-back is marked as 3 ATM since that is what the government specifications required. Hence, this discrepancy.

Inside the watch beats the Swiss ETA2801-2. This manual wound caliber has 17 jewels and oscillates at 4 hertz (28,800 BPH). When fully wound, it will provide approximately 42-hours of continuous power. This is the first ETA2801 mechanical powered watch to join the collection. This design was produced from 1983 onward but has been officially listed as “phased out” by ETA.

Paired with the OFM is a 16 mm high-quality black nylon single piece textile strap. The strap is consistent in strength and sturdiness even when wet. My only comment about the choice of strap is that it is a single piece design which allows the watch casing to be moved to any point on the strap either intentionally or otherwise. I would prefer a ZULU or NATO style strap instead.

Under low light, the tritium tube system is first class. Having the 12 o’clock marker glowing orange against the 11 other green markers is a good feature as it helps keep a fixed reference where 12:00 is located in the dark.

The Wearing Experience

After wearing watches in the 40+ mm width range, putting on the OFM was a breath of fresh air. It is not that obvious on the wrist and I often forget that I was wearing a watch. A quick glance at the wrist and I can immediately know the time as the information on the watch is clear to see. Below is a video of the watch on my wrist.

Overall, this is a very flexible watch. Replacing the nylon strap with something in leather will enhanced its presence greatly. The dimensions makes it well suited to all wrist sizes. Having the tritium tubes is another plus point.

The Purchasing Experience

Received a free Gnomon sizing tool and a free Gnomon lint free microfiber cleaning cloth with the purchase

Specifications

Case Material: 316L stainless steel

Crystal: Sapphire

Band: Black nylon textile strap

Dial: Black

Illumination: Tritium gas tubes and Maraglo™

Case Diameter: 39.0 mm

Overall Length: 44.0 mm

Height: 11.0 mm
Lug Width: 16.0 mm

Weight: Approximately 60 grams