GPM NGM Reissue Mechanical Ref. WW194003SS-0101

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 NGM Reissue Mechanical Ref. WW194003SS-0101 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 the reissue of their 1980s GG-W-113 military watch- the Marathon GPM NGM Reissue Mechanical Ref. WW194003SS-0101 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 Reissue 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 differs from its sibling (Government Standard) with its sterile dial; the “NGM” acronyms affirm the “No Government Markings” on its dial. Made in Switzeland, Approved by US Government Entering the field watch realm, Marathon has based on the GG-W-113 specifications and manufactured for the US army between 1967 till the late 1980s, lending them to be the longest-running specifications required by the US government. Summarizing what the GG-W-113 is all about, it needed to have a 15 jewels mechanical movement with at least 36 hours of power reserve, that has a hacking mechanism with shock resistance and waterproofness. 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 Reissue Mechanical, in keeping what field watches are all about. The GPM NGM Reissue Mechanical starts with its 316L stainless steel case that measures 36mm wide, with a height of 11mm thick and 44mm lug to lug. Further, the finishing of the case 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 steep convex slope 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 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 side profile, we get a unique protrusion that serves as crown guards that flange the push-pull crown for easy manipulation. Its L-shaped lugs are flushed together with the overall case, and further features the drilled lug holes to allow easy strap change. Flipping it over, we get the screw-in case-back, allowing it to withstand 50m water-resistant. Right on the case-back, we get the essential government markings and specifications engraved. These provide credentials on the GPM Reissue as manufactured following US Government specification. All that said, we assure it is safe to say that both us watch collectors and the US military for use in oper