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This Fan-Favorite Brand Just Released the Ultimate Version of Its Military-Issue Pilot’s Watch

Marathon’s new pilot’s watch is catnip for military horology fans.

Close-up of a wristwatch with a white dial, black bezel with white numerals, and a black fabric strap. The watch hands are red and green, with luminous green hour markers. The dial includes black Arabic numerals for hours and smaller numbers for 13 to 20, along with the text "SWISS MADE" near the 6 o'clock position. The bezel has a textured edge, and the crown is silver with ridges.Marathon
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By Brad Lanphear

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Marathon is on a pilot’s watch heater in 2025.

The Canadian military watch company is following the gorgeous special edition Deep Blue Steel Navigator introduced this past spring with a release sure to excite military watch fans everywhere.

A wristwatch with a black rubber strap and a silver case. The watch face is white with black hour markers and green luminous accents. It has a black rotating bezel with white numerals and markings. The hour and minute hands are black with green luminous sections, and the second hand is red. The watch displays both 12-hour and 24-hour time formats. The background is a textured brown fabric.
The SSNAV Type II now comes with an automatic movement and a sterile dial.
Marathon

Marathon’s marquee pilot’s watch, the SSNAV Type II, is now available with an automatic movement and a no-date, sterile dial—meaning no branding or superfluous writing. This particular arrangement scratches two itches for military watch die-hards.

Better still, Marathon isn’t staggering the release of this new arrangement in its coveted Arctic dial, as it has been known to do. The automatic minimalist pilot’s watch is available in the brand’s standard black dial and a white dial with a red seconds hand right out of the gate.

Four Marathon wristwatches with black nylon straps are arranged on a khaki fabric background. Two watches have black dials with white numerals and luminous hands, while the other two have white dials with black numerals and red second hands. Each watch features a black rotating bezel with white markings and the brand name "MARATHON" engraved on the metal buckle of the straps. A blue and beige embroidered patch with a star and wing design is partially visible beneath the watches.
All four versions of the SSNAV Type II automatic pilot’s watch. The new no-date sterile dials are in the center, flanked by the standard dials.
Marathon

The new no-date sterile dial joins the standard SSNAV Type II Pilot’s Automatic released last year, doubling the collection to four watches.

Fit for service

Marathon’s SSNAV Type II is not a typical pilot’s watch. It does not look like the German flieger style that dominates the category, and could easily be mistaken for a dive watch.

A wristwatch with a white dial, black bezel, and black strap is worn on a person's wrist. The watch features black hour markers with green luminous accents, a red second hand, and a date window. The bezel has white numerals and markings, and the watch case is silver-toned. The person is wearing a beige or light brown textured fabric sleeve.
The SSNAV Type II has a lug-to-lug crown guard and a 12-hour bi-directional bezel.
Marathon

The watch was designed in 1986 in collaboration with Kelly Air Force Base in the United States. It contains pilot-friendly features like a lug-to-lug crown guard and a bidirectional rotating bezel with a 12-hour scale, rather than the 60-minute variety found on dive watches.

Much like a dive watch, the SSNAV Type II is designed to withstand hard impacts and extreme changes in pressure, except that the atmospheric pressure gets lighter as pilots ascend.

One of the watch’s most useful innovations is found throughout Marathon’s catalog. The hour markers, hands and bezel pip are fitted with tritium gas tubes that emit a constant, steady glow. They are all green except for the 12 o’clock marker, which is orange to guide orientation.

Close-up of a wristwatch with a white dial, black bezel, and black fabric strap. The watch features green luminous hour markers and hands, a red second hand, and a yellow marker at the 12 o'clock position. The bezel has white numerals and markings, and the dial includes both 12-hour and 24-hour time formats. The watch crown is visible on the right side.
The hour markers, hands and bezel pip contain tritium gas tubes that have a constant glow.
Marathon

Military pilots can spend much more extended periods in low-light conditions than divers, meaning that even the best lume will eventually fade. Tritium was more commonly used in the watch industry during the twentieth century, but Marathon is one of the few companies utilizing it today.

Nothing to see here

Military watch fans seek out sterile dials because they aren’t very common in the twenty-first century. That scarcity is half the appeal for a brand like Marathon to revive the retro design.

A wristwatch with a white dial, black bezel marked with white numerals, and black nylon strap with metal loops. The watch face features black hour numbers, smaller 24-hour numbers inside, and luminous green hour markers. The hour and minute hands are black with luminous tips, and the second hand is red. The watch is placed on a black surface next to a coiled black cable and partially visible black sunglasses with gold rims.
The SSNAV Type II automatic is available on a black nylon NATO strap with blasted steel hardware.
Marathon

Watches issued between WWI and the Vietnam War were commissioned without branding or extra writing on the dials because multiple brands often produced the same design to meet urgent quotas.

Additionally, branding on a watch dial could give away a soldier’s nationality or rank if captured or a lost watch was recovered in the field. What’s more, the lack of dial text made the watches cheaper and quicker to produce.

Close-up of a wristwatch with a black dial and bezel, featuring white numerals and green luminescent hour markers and hands. The watch is worn on a wrist partially covered by a brown fabric sleeve. The bezel has minute markings, and the watch has a black strap. The time displayed is approximately 10:15:40.
The SSNAV Type II is available in Marathon’s standard black dial.
Marathon

Paired with the Sellita caliber SW200-1b, the no-date variety of the automatic movement found throughout Marathon’s catalog, the no-date sterile dial makes this the most alluring iteration of the SSNAV Type II I’ve seen.

Availability and price

The Marathon SSNAV Type II Pilot’s Automatic with a no-date sterile dial is available now from Marathon for $1,300 on a pass-through nylon pin-buckle strap, $1,350 on a nylon NATO strap with matching blasted steel hardware and $1,500 on a two-piece heavy rubber pin-buckle strap.

It comes in both Marathon’s standard black dial and the Arctic white dial with a red seconds hand.

Military-style wristwatch with a white dial, black bezel marked with white numerals, and a black fabric strap. The watch face features black hour and minute hands, a red second hand, and both 12-hour and 24-hour numerals. The case is metallic gray with a textured crown on the right side.Marathon

Marathon SSNAV Type II Pilot’s Automatic ‘Sterile’

Specs

Case Size 41mm
Movement Sellita caliber SW200-1b
Water Resistance 100m
About the Author: Brad Lanphear is an associate editor at Gear Patrol covering watches and style. Before joining the publication, he previously wrote for Heddels and Men’s Health. Now, he’s on a never-ending quest to find the perfect pair of Japanese denim.

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