Any Marathon Military Watch fans out there?

[mrbieler]

I have a couple of quartz watches.

A Bathys 100 Fathoms with a big easy to read dial and nuclear level lume.


A Seiko 6309/7548 quartz hybrid. The 7548 quartz movement drops nicely into the old school 6309 case.

[murphy j]

Damn it BangBang. I want to go automatic, but my piece of shit Seiko black monster left such a bad auto taste in my mouth, I'm struggling to pull the trigger!

I previously owned a GSAR automatic. It made it through our train up for Iraq in 2007, then made it through my tour. In a moment of shortsightedness, I sold it while chasing something else. I'm with Will on the quartz has no soul, but do have a couple grab and go quartz's that have been very reliable. There are known issues within the watchmaking world about battery brand compatibility issues with the ETA quartz movement's (Energizer is garbage even if the part numbers line up). My daily since 2017 has been a Tudor Pelagos, which incidentally, uses the same automatic movement as the GSAR. Albeit with some modifications from Tudor. The movement in the GSAR is an ETA 2824, and is widely considered the Chevy 350 of watch movements. It's a workhorse, and just runs no matter what shape or performance variation it is in. It is so ubiquitous that I can order parts for it all day long with no issues. When I was in watchmaking school, it was a standard movement we worked on to build our skills. My personal recommendation is go automatic, but like firearms, watches are a subject where there are a variety of preferences and there is no one right answer.

[WillBrink]

I previously owned a GSAR automatic. It made it through our train up for Iraq in 2007, then made it through my tour. In a moment of shortsightedness, I sold it while chasing something else. I'm with Will on the quartz has no soul, but do have a couple grab and go quartz's that have been very reliable. There are known issues within the watchmaking world about battery brand compatibility issues with the ETA quartz movement's (Energizer is garbage even if the part numbers line up). My daily since 2017 has been a Tudor Pelagos, which incidentally, uses the same automatic movement as the GSAR. Albeit with some modifications from Tudor. The movement in the GSAR is an ETA 2824, and is widely considered the Chevy 350 of watch movements. It's a workhorse, and just runs no matter what shape or performance variation it is in. It is so ubiquitous that I can order parts for it all day long with no issues. When I was in watchmaking school, it was a standard movement we worked on to build our skills. My personal recommendation is go automatic, but like firearms, watches are a subject where there are a variety of preferences and there is no one right answer.

I don't believe they have used ETA for a while, it's the Sellita SW200 with Incabloc, which is main competitor to ETA's 2824 with some small changes by Sellita. It's a solid movement used by various makers in the $ point. ETA is no longer available to most brands not under the Swatch Group of companies. I have two watches using the movement and another using the higher grade SW300-1, a Sinn U50. There's also 4 grades of SW200, and as $ goes up, you tend to see the higher grades:

Standard – adjusted in two positions; accuracy of +/-12 sec/day up to +/- 30 sec/day
Special (Elabore) – adjusted in three positions; accuracy of +/-7 sec/day up to +/- 20 sec/day
Premium (Top) – adjusted in five positions; accuracy of +/-4 sec/day up to +/- 15 sec/day
Chronometer – COSC criteria

(Source: https://calibercorner.com/sellita-caliber-sw200/)

[murphy j]

I don't believe they have used ETA for a while, it's the Sellita SW200 with Incabloc, which is main competitor to ETA's 2824 with some small changes by Sellita. It's a solid movement used by various makers in the $ point. ETA is no longer available to most brands not under the Swatch Group of companies. I have two watches using the movement and another using the higher grade SW300-1, a Sinn U50. There's also 4 grades of SW200, and as $ goes up, you tend to see the higher grades:

Standard – adjusted in two positions; accuracy of +/-12 sec/day up to +/- 30 sec/day
Special (Elabore) – adjusted in three positions; accuracy of +/-7 sec/day up to +/- 20 sec/day
Premium (Top) – adjusted in five positions; accuracy of +/-4 sec/day up to +/- 15 sec/day
Chronometer – COSC criteria

(Source: https://calibercorner.com/sellita-caliber-sw200/)

I just went to the Marathon website, and you are correct Will. My mistake. I hadn't realized they had made the transition to Sellita and erroneously believed they still had access to the ETA movements. Still, even with Sellita SW series movements, they are essentially copies of ETA movements. They have a good track record of reliability and parts are available.

[WillBrink]

I just went to the Marathon website, and you are correct Will. My mistake. I hadn't realized they had made the transition to Sellita and erroneously believed they still had access to the ETA movements. Still, even with Sellita SW series movements, they are essentially copies of ETA movements. They have a good track record of reliability and parts are available.

They were copies, but Sellita has added their own improvements and Sellita made movement for ETA for decades. ETA is used mostly by companies under the Swatch Group now and I don't see Marathon listed:

https://www.swatchgroup.com/en/brands-companies

[markm]

Ye gets whats ye pays for. That's like having a bad time with a Taurus 1911 and not wanting to own Colt 1911.

That seals it. Also what I needed to hear... that there's a quality difference. I'm going to give the GSAR a go!

My personal recommendation is go automatic, but like firearms, watches are a subject where there are a variety of preferences and there is no one right answer.

Thanks. Also since I already have the big boy in Quartz, might as well go with the automatic.

[rushca01]

Do they replace the tritium tubes? Or is it not worth the hassle?

That’s a good question. They do provide overhaul services but I don’t see where they replace the tritium tubes.

https://www.marathonwatch.com/pages/...epair-services

[WillBrink]

That seals it. Also what I needed to hear... that there's a quality difference. I'm going to give the GSAR a go!
.

We have a breakthrough! Marathon would not have decades of mil contracts and mil users if their auto didn't stand up well to hard use. Aint no one with any brains going to war with a 1911 from Taurus, but Colt 1911s made their way through two world wars and countless conflicts.

[Det-Sog]

That seals it. Also what I needed to hear... that there's a quality difference. I'm going to give the GSAR a go!



Thanks. Also since I already have the big boy in Quartz, might as well go with the automatic.

Yes. That is what I was getting at earlier. You've got the grab and go quartz checked. An auto would fit the bill fine.

That’s a good question. They do provide overhaul services but I don’t see where they replace the tritium tubes.

https://www.marathonwatch.com/pages/...epair-services

I think one would have to call them. My SWAG is that they will just have to swap the entire face with a new one that has fresh tubes. I have not priced this yet as my tubes still have another 2-3 years at current burn rate. I'm guessing they'll do it, or you'd hear a lot of bad reviews on them. T25 tubes don't burn that great forever. Imho, their "half life" IS their life. With my aging eyes, I have a hard time seeing a T25 tube after it's 10-12 years old. Useless "for me" after 15. Again, ones mileage may vary.

IF anyone does this, please let us know.

My original Luminox from 2009 is another story. The tubes are all but barely visible now and Luminox says I'm S.O.L.. "Buy a new one"... Um, no. I'll never part with it as it's been through some fun stuff.

Many people say that a $300-$1000 +/- watch is disposable after ten years... I guess that's one way to look at it, but mine tend to become sentimental after a couple of years.

All the reason why I'm done buying tritium watches for now, unless I get one for under $300... When the tubes dim, it gets tossed and replaced.

[rushca01]

To me, the dial/hands etc are part of the watch. I wouldn’t want it changed for a new one, i would rather keep the burned out tubes. I only opt for movement services on my Rolex’s for the same reason.