I was born and raised in the country the United Kingdom went at war with multiple times. My countrymen and women are known—although it isn’t true for most of us—of eating invertebrates and gooy creatures. I grew up in the suburbs of the country’s capital, sucked in school except for college where I studied stuff relating to history. Before creating Mainspring, I spent a decade making sure humans are happy whilst visiting big buildings in which we stuff a lof of things. Folks describe me as being sensitive and I have more than a pound to lose to be frank with you. And I like to iron my clothes, live in a clean space, and drink a good cup of joe from the comfort of my fully-equipped kitchen. So I don’t match the stereotypical description of someone who feels that wearing a 41mm, tough-as-nails, and military tool watch is for me. But I am that person. 

You see, the problem with stereotypes is that it prevents people—who pay too much attention to them—to be who they are and who they want to be. (I will speak about this difference later on.) And I can be a utilitarian/military type of watch enthusiast even though my life doesn’t call for it. I never served (in the military) and I don’t hike often (frankly, I rarely do it these days,) nor do I fly helicopters or train for Iron Man. I don’t work out on a regular basis, I hate guns, and I have conflicting views on the world’s need for such badass and technologically-advanced armed forces. But I like—no, I love—and have a passion for the Marathon OSAR-D; a beast of a diver and tool watch with deep ties to those who get shit done, a spec list as long as Strait of Malacca and a build so robust it would make a Submariner melt a gasket. 

I’m full of weird analogies today. 

Specifications

So I haven’t told you much about the OSAR-D, something I shall now rectify. First thing you should know about it is that the name stands for Original Search and Rescue with Date and is a successor to the SAR-D model (Search and Rescue with Date) Marathon issued to Canadian Search & Rescue teams in the early 2000’s. The latter are the brave men and women who risk their lives to search and rescue people stranded in the mountains during an avalanche, lost on a trail, or evacuating a sinking ship. These people expose themselves to great danger and each piece of their equipment must be practical, reliable, and robust. I don’t know what they use on a daily basis to do their job, as what interests us today are the watches they strap to their wrist (underneath or outside of their jackets,) but I imagine there’s a lot of it. As far as I know, SAR teams are often part of the military but I might be wrong on this one. 

But what is sure is that the SAR-D was only issued to Search & Rescue technicians, not to the general public. But a move Marathon has made a few years back is to make their toughest tool watches available to you and me. So the Marathon OSAR-D is a diver both from technical and design perspectives but, most importantly, it is a multipurpose tool watch in just the same way the Tornek-Rayville Type 7B BlakJak is. Akin to any Marathon SAR model, it has a robust case made of stainless steel, a bezel equipped with Monster Truck-like-tire-thread knurling—so that it is easy to operate it whilst wearing tech gloves in or out of the water—,a grippy screw-down crown which is as long as it is large—the cross-hatched texture is razor-sharp—, honestly too much MaraGlo lume on the hands, hour markers, and bezel triangle, a whopping 300 meters of water resistance (screw-down case-back,) and a flat piece of sapphire crystal complemented by a cyclop. 

Marathon watches are also made in Switzerland and always equipped with Swiss made movements, here a Sellita SW200-1 caliber ticking at 4Hz and coming with 41 hours of power reserve, a proven and tested movement. And the black FKM rubber strap the press unit came with is quite fantastic, thick but soft to the touch and pliable, equipped with two large keepers where one can be safely held in place by way of keeper-guards (this should become part of the horological vernacular,) a massive stainless steel buckle, and regular spring-bars because hey, this is a serious tool watch. Though the lugs are drilled so that one can easily swap the rubber strap for something else, for example a stainless steel bracelet or NATO-style strap. The case, by the way, measures 41mm in diameter, 48mm lug-to-lug, and 14mm thick. It’s not a small watch by any means neither is it a big one.

I know, I’m a very contradictory human. Oh, the OSAR-D also comes with 300 meters of water resistance. 

Design

Let’s be frank: the OSAR-D is a Let’s Get Shit Done kind of watch and it was designed this way. The dial layout is a Type I, meaning with geometrical elements to represent the hours instead of numerals (that would be a Type II,) where we find an inverted triangle at the twelve, rectangles at the six and nine, and circular elements everywhere else. The hands are in the shape of pencils but of the reinforced type as they are subdivided into multiple sections. The shorter hour hand has two and the longer minute hand three, which makes them more resistant to shock and the lume less likely to break into smaller pieces for the same reasons. The hour markers are not printed but applied although it wouldn’t appear so at first glance, where upon close inspection we can clearly see the thick plots of MaraGlo (Marathon’s proprietary luminescent compound) printed on white and matte elements. 

The genius here is the thick borders each marker comes with to make them extremely easy to see during the day like nothing else I’ve seen before on any tool watch, and to glow brightly at night. (For your covert ops or whilst cooking a late BBQ.) The matte and finely textured black dial further aids in making the hour markers pop and be so legible, and the long hash-marks for the minutes are equally legible even at a distance, whilst the date is easy to read obviously as it is magnified underneath that bulge of sapphire. And I personally think that the cyclop looks good here and helps in making the dial symmetrical. (I know, it is supposed to be a Rolex thing but really? Come on folks.) Moreover, Marathon wasn’t shy in being a little playful with colors as the tip of the seconds hand, the arrow-shaped and lumed element, is painted red and that the words “300m/1000ft “ are printed in a crisp red color as well. 

I remember the first time I saw a Marathon in the metal, four years ago and some, on the wrist of a friend watch enthusiast who was sporting the 36mm Search and Rescue model. I was impressed by the beefy and masculine aspect of its case, the tall slab-sided flanks, the long protruding crown-guards, the intense knurling on the bezel, and the difficult-to-achieve size-to-weight combo which instantly indicates the SAR is a watch for those who get shit done. The case was so tall, I thought, to give the Tritium tubes enough vertical clearance—which isn’t necessary here as there are no tubes—but now I understand it’s also to accommodate a thick crystal and case-back to make the 300 meters of water resistance possible. All of this endows the OSAR-D with an indeed badass case profile but one which is easy to wear even on my meager 6.50”/16.5cm wrist. (I feel this model would be a bit more difficult for me to wear on the stainless steel bracelet.) 

The Heart of the Matter

So I don’t fit the stereotypical profile of someone who should wear this watch, and probably neither do you. Even though I’m a French snail eater art historian and archeologist suburbanite who worked in museums for a decade and has always lived a safe life in cushy homes (well, apartments too,) the Marathon OSAR-D is for me. My dream profession as a younger human was to be part of the French Special Forces (I know what I said about the military in the intro) which I was dissuaded to do and probably to chickenshit to even try. I’m also a certified diver who’s traveled the world, loves camping, the outdoors, and I generally am obsessed with all things which are purpose-driven, practical to use, and utilitarian. But I’m also someone today who still lives in the suburbs of a major city, whose last dive dates back to four years ago, and who enjoys reading a good book in silence. 

So where does all of this leave us (me)? Well, as Sophie Scott-Lewis told me, “Let people be who they want to be and try to worry about yourself and not other people.” In other words, wear whatever watch makes you happy and what makes your horological heart flutter, as well as be the person you aim at being, want to be, and, more importantly, who you already are. All of this means that the Marathon OSAR-D appeals to many aspects of who I am with tremendous power and magnetism, as wearing it puts me in a higher state of equanimity, as it felt familiar even before I strapped it to my wrist. For I believe that what makes us click with a watch is not, actually, how it looks (it certainly isn’t what it is made out of,) but instead what it represents and what it was made for, otherwise its raison d’être and inanimate soul. 

You and I should find out what kind of person we aspire to be, who we are already, and more importantly, who we aren’t. And then find the watches that match us. 

Conclusion 

To wrap this once again lengthy review with a somewhat normal conclusion, the Marathon OSAR-D is as authentic of a tool watch as one can be. It was created by a brand that has been providing various branches of the military with good timekeeping devices for a few decades, which is true to its own heritage, and which makes honestly good stuff. And good stuff comes with a certain price tag—as they always do and always should—here being $1,380 USD on the strap and $1,680 USD on the bracelet. As always I would argue that this is a good amount of money to pay for such a good utilitarian timekeeping device and for any watch that is equally well made as the OSAR-D. As the saying goes, we get what we pay for and here we get more than we actually paid.

So take a moment to check out Marathon’s website and the OSAR-D collection which also comes with a white dial. 

Thanks for reading.