Timex Just Launched Its Affordable Take on One of the Best High-End Chronographs

Back in February 2024, Timex introduced the Marlin Jet, a space-age-inspired twist on the brand’s retro Marlin dress watch featuring a unique domed crystal that expanded beyond the dial to cover the watch’s entire bezel.

The watch was a blockbuster success for the venerable affordable brand, selling out in a flash and later spawning a hype-worthy Tiffany-ish Blue edition.

When I covered the launch of the original Marlin Jet, I remarked how Timex seemed to have borrowed the watch’s unusual bezel-eating crystal from another popular recent release that resides in a much higher price bracket: The TAG Heuer Carrera Glassbox.

Photo by Zen Love for Gear Patrol

Someone at Timex’s ears must’ve been burning when I wrote that, as now the brand has debuted a Marlin Jet Chronograph that’s even more of a dead ringer for the Carrera “Glassbox.” (Timex, you can Venmo me my royalties anytime.)

Crystal light

The Timex Marlin Jet Quartz Chronograph is a natural evolution of the original Marlin Jet, incorporating many of the style elements established on that model and adapting them to fit a chronograph format.

Timex

The vintage faux onyx-filled applied indices and hands remain, and the indices are still half set into the edges of the concave dial. Speaking of the dial, the vertical line of the crosshair motif remains, while the horizontal line has been jettisoned to make room for the chronograph markers.

The case has been simplified and now lacks the concentric circle patterns that appeared on the bezel and crown of the original, but those circles remain on the caseback. There’s also a fun new “Jet” logo on the caseback and crown that looks straight out of the 1960s. Bravo to Timex’s graphic design team on that one.

Timex

The new watch has chronograph pushers, obviously, and they’re executed in a pump style to match the ’60s design inspiration. The mid-century inspo continues on the dials, which are about as classic as chronographs get. There are two versions: One is a traditional panda featuring a silvery-white dial with black chronograph registers, while the other is a reverse panda with a chocolatey-brown dial and white counters.

The watches feature a bicompax layout with a 24-hour subdial at 3:00 and a chronograph minutes counter at 9:00. At 6:00 is a simple date window, which perfectly balances out the dial. The result is a very agreeable retro design that bears a strong resemblance to TAG Heuer’s Carrera Glassbox models, even without accounting for the similar crystals.

Timex

Still, most similar to the Glassbox, of course, is the crystal. Just as we saw on the original Marlin Jet, the chronograph version features a massively domed Hesalite crystal that recalls the sapphire crystal on the Carrera Glassbox. As on the Heuer, the bezel on the new Timex features a tachymeter scale under the crystal that’s best read at an angle; a unique and cool effect that isn’t often seen outside of these two brands.

Pricing and Availability

Timex’s new retro chrono measures 40mm across the case and is water resistant to 50m. It’s relatively thick at 13.5mm, but that includes the beast of the crystal, which is the most appealing feature of the watch.

Timex

The Timex Marlin Jet Quartz Chronograph’s use of a quartz chronograph movement keeps its price decidedly affordable. The brown version is sold on a brown leather strap with contrast white stitching and goes for $269.

The panda comes on a stainless steel beads-of-rice bracelet that offers very similar vibes to the BOR bracelet introduced by TAG earlier this year for, you guessed it, the Carrera Glassbox. The panda on a bracelet is priced at $299.

Timex

Timex Marlin Jet Quartz Chronograph

Specs

Case Size	40mm
Movement	Quartz chronograph
Water Resistance	50m

• Starts at $232
  $309 (25% off)

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