Arctic toughness
The marathon MSAR is kind of an oddity, both in concept and as an item in my collection. Where other watches are trying to catch the eye of the potential buyer with an elegant design the MSAR is doing exactly the opposite.
Its cog like bezel and brawny design are a statement that Marathon doesn't care for buyers of dress divers. They are in the business of selling toughness and they are not going to apologize for it. And this toughness comes in many packages, starting with 36mm for the MSAR and up to 46mm for the JSAR.
What's interesting is that the MSAR is much slimmer than it looks. It's actually a bit thinner than my SPB147 and you would not believe it when looking at them side by side.
It's a watch built to military specifications and they are proud of it, and here lies the paradox because the intended customers are more likely to buy a cheap G-Shock rather than endanger an expensive mechanical watch while they are bouncing inside an fully loaded APC over rough terrain.
And just to prove my toughness, although my days of soldiering are way behind me, it's the watch that I'll wear today, not because of it's military background, but because it has a white "Arctic" dial and because I just froze my butt outside trying to prove I can hold the camera without shivering too much.
The MSAR is also one of the only two white faced dial watches that I own, and that's the other oddity. White dials used to be the norm but today they are not very common, or at least they are less common than they used to be.
I'm a big fan of watches that are interesting because they are either unique, have interesting features, well designed or simply offer a great value for their price.
I love the GSARs, MSARs, and the chunky CSAR. Love the tooliness of them. Marathon’s heritage is also a bit more reassuring than Ball’s. I can easily see myself getting one as a maybe-one-watch thing. Would get this one in MSAR or GSAR (depending on which fit the best) and the CSAR, as part of my “if I had infinite money” wishlist.