We’ve talked about a number of different watches from Marathon, but we’ve never quite gotten into the realm of going hands-on with one of their branded partnership watches. The good news for Jeep owners is, if you want a watch that’s ready to go off-roading with you, the Marathon Jeep Willys is ready to serve.
Marathon Jeep Willys: what it is
The Marathon Jeep Willys draws it’s inspiration from the field watch that Marathon created back in 1941, and reinforces that historical connection by going with a manually-wound mechanical movement. Field watches are designed to be utilitarian, with a minimum of reflective surfaces, and this watch does just that. Interestingly, Marathon considers this to be an Officer’s watch, which generally would denote something with a more refined look (to connote status).
Then again, that feels like we’re being a bit pedantic at this point, now 60-80 years removed from when the terms made a difference. For field watch bonafides, you’ve got just a time display (hours-minutes-seconds) with no timing bezels, and a matte finish on the case to keep glare down. Sure, the sapphire is a bit shiny, but that’s not something we can much about. The whole watch is paired to a lovely leather strap that looks like it should age gracefully.
What about the lume?
I know, I know – when we’ve talked about Marathon before, we’ve been all about the tritium that they offer. And that’s because, well, tritium is fun, especially when you get into the various colors. But that wouldn’t fit a watch that was hailing from the 40s. No, then, you would likely have had a radium dial (and if you want to read an excellent book about the use of radium on watches, I’d recommend this one). We don’t use radium today, but we do have luminious paints that can mimic the look of aged, faded radium.
That’s exactly what we have here, with the paint used being “MaraGlo”. I found it to give off a good amount of light, and it didn’t feel like it immediately faded like we sometimes see with non-Super Luminova. So, in short, we get modern dark visibility with the look of a dial that sort of looks like it’s been around for decades (thankfully, not a fully faux tropical dial approach).
Wrapping things up
Past all of that, when you wear the Marathon Jeep Willys, it wears like most any other 41mm steel watch. If you’re used to that sizing and weight, you’ll be right at home here. For the Jeep owners/fans, you’ll like the logo on the dial, and the touches on the packaging. For the non-Jeep folks who like the look, well, you’ll have to decide if that logo is going to bother you or not.
I like the fact that you’ve got a solid, everyday sort of a watch, and it gets the job done. It’s a bit surprising that it’s got only a 50m WR rating (good enough if you get caught in the rain, but probably not for swimming), but that’s probably a minor quibble. Just take it off your wrist before you try getting the come-along hooked onto your Jeep when it’s stuck in the mudbogs. The mechanical version of the watch that we had a loaner of will run you $650 (the quartz version can be had for $500) directly from marathonwatch.com
Marathon Jeep Willys Mechanical Tech Specs
- Case
- 316L stainless steel with parkerized finish
- 41mm diameter
- 11mm thickness
- 48mm lug-to-lug
- 20mm lug width
- Dial: black, with aged-radium numerals
- Movement: Sellita SW210-1 hand-wound
- Luminous Features: MaraGlo
- Crystal Material: Sapphire
- Crown Type: Pressure
- Submersibility: 5 ATM
