GPM Government Black Mechanical Ref. WW194003BK-0001

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 GPM Government Black Mechanical Ref. WW194003BK 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-W-46374 military watch- the Marathon GPM Government Black Mechanical Ref. WW194003BK that we are going to introduce today. The acronym “GPM” stands for “General Purpose Mechanical.”- where appropriate military personnel gets offered these officially issued field watches. Since this specific model built to be taken mostly on land, it fits appropriately for the ground trooper’s branch all round. The GPM Mechanical celebrates form over function, a non-flashy watch for sure, but builds with a purpose to aid the army with their missions. This particular reference has the U.S. Government markings on its dial. Made in Switzeland, Approved by US Government Entering the field watch realm, Marathon has based on the MIL-W-46374 specifications and manufactured for the US army between 1968 till today with several revisions, lending them to be the longest-running specifications required by the US government. Summarizing what the MIL-W-46374 is all about, it needed to have 15 jewels (or more) mechanical movement with at least 36 hours of power reserve, that has a hacking mechanism with shock resistance and waterproofness. Further, the watch needs to have 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 case made out of steel and plastic resin, allowing to be anti-magnetic. Similar to other military watches, the size kept between 34-36mm with the military 24-hour dial indication. All these traits can be seen even today in Marathon’s GPM Mechanical, in keeping what field watches are all about. The GPM NGM Mechanical sets forth as an excellent tool watch with a unique personality. It starts with its metal core covered entirely by a high-impact fiber shell in black colour-tone, that measures 34mm wide, with a height of 11mm thick and 41mm lug to lug. Further, the finishing of the steel bezel gets a full sand-blasted finishing, removing any source of inessential reflections in this case, while still being immaculately executed. The matte case pays tribute to the original GG-W-113 specs with parkerized finishing that also serves to be anti-corrosion for that period. The case has a unique bezel-less design, where it gets a stepped architecture from the sides to the dial opening, which allows one to entirely focus on the essential time reading at any given time. The dimension of the timepiece stays true to military watches of yesteryears, which enables one to feel its sturdiness and with all sense of purpose, to be out in the field. Based on the GG-W-113 specifications since 1960s Moving to the case profile, The GPM Mechanical has from a sleek and a sense of masculine attractiveness to it, to its unique outdoorsy color choice that you do not see much in the market. When the watch viewed from the top, it lets off only as a no-frill compact tool watch, only to be complemented by its shor