Pilot’s Navigator Stainless Steel Sterile Dial - Ballistic Nylon Ref. WW194001SS-0801

The brand Marathon might be new to some, but not for Canadians, Americans, and especially military watch fanatics like us. The moniker is better known to watch collectors be among the few that, until today, officially offers no-frills timepieces to the military. Those regimes include the United States and Canadian army since circa 70 years ago. Marathon Pilot’s Navigator Stainless Steel Sterile Dial - Ballistic Nylon Ref. WW194001SS-0801 Let’s dive a little deeper. The company that was to become Marathon Watch was founded in 1904 as Weinsturm Watch, later to be named Wein Brothers. In 1939, Morris Wein founded Marathon Watch, supplying fine precision timepieces throughout North America. Since 1941, Marathon has been manufacturing timing instruments for the Allied Forces, and today the fourth generation of the family continues the tradition with a wide range of tools measuring time, temperature, and distance. Marathon watches combine military durability with Swiss engineering and craftsmanship to ensure the highest level of quality and precision. All these traits unveiled on their take of the 1960s MIL-PRF-46374G military watch. Entering the navigator watch realm, Marathon has based on the MIL-PRF-46374G specifications and manufactured for the US army ill today with several revisions, lending them to be the longest-running specifications required by the US government. This particular model follows the type III / class 1 variation and summarizing what it is all about; it needed to have a rotating bezel equipped with elapsed time ring, and electrical quartz movement that able to maintain long life that able to withstand magnetically, water and corrosion resistance along with high altitude. Further, the watch needs to have a nylon strap attached to it and to use tritium for its luminous hands and markers that have to glow for 8 hours or more in total darkness. The unique asymmetrical case with the military 24-hour dial indication proved to be the military issued watches back in the 1970s. All these traits seen on MIL-W-50717 mil-spec watches for the US military, and Marathon keeps all there in check. Made in Switzeland, Approved by US Government The Pilot Navigator started from a request from Kelley Air Force Base in US. In 1986, Texan’s Air Force base needed watches that could endure extreme changes in pressure when used at high altitudes, while remain legible and accurate. Therefore, Marathon manufactured this watch was created to meet those demands. The Pilot’s Navigator is mend for pilots and para-troopers during mission, like for instant, been issued to those troops in Iraq and Afghanistan for their missions. “There were approximately 50000 pieces of these made for them,” mentioned Mitchell Wein, the current owner of Marathon Watch. “These were in fact, the first ever quartz pilot watches made by my father, specifically for the Air Force. And we were the sole supplier to the US government even when we are from Canada.” Although the Wein family had them first made in stainless steel case, the ones that were supplied to the Air Force Base were actually made out of fiber shell high impact case with a steel back, allowing to be durable while staying lightweight. Also, the material choice has had helped the government to keep their pricing low without compromising Marathon’s strength in military watchmaking. Since then, both the military and now the watch civilian markets have received the iconic Navigator in that lightweight material, until now. The all new Pilot’s Navigator Stainless Steel NGM - Nylon Ballistic Strap Ref. WW194013SS-0101 finally comes in full stainless steel material, just like the very first Navigator that Marathon had made prior to the government’s contract. Tribute to MIL-W-50717 Since this specific model built to be taken mostly for aviation sectors, it fits appropriately for the military trooper’s branch all round. The Marathon Pilot’s Navigator celebrates form over function, a non-flashy watch for s