Marathon And Watches Of Espionage Do The Iconic SAR In Titanium

Marathon is one of the few brands whose military credentials are current rather than archival. The SAR was built to Canadian government search-and-rescue specifications and is still issued to Canadian and American forces, the US Marine Corps included. Until now every SAR has been made out of steel. Now, they're make a titanium version for the first time, and it's done in partnership with Watches of Espionage, the former CIA case officer's account turned lifestyle brand, in its first collaboration. If any of this sounds a bit familiar, it could be that it reminds you, as it does me, of The Grey Nato's first collaboration. They teamed up with CWC to make their first titanium watch. However, I will be a bit snide and mention that TGN was pretty restrained in their collaboration and didn't put their name on the dial. Watches of Espionage did, but they also did a lot of good things with this watch.

The case is Grade 5 titanium, 39mm wide at the case and 41mm across the bezel, 14mm thick, water resistant to 300 meters with a screw-down crown and caseback. Fourteen millimeters on a 39mm case is chunky, but nobody buys a SAR looking for a small watch. The caseback has the W.O.E. spade, the "Use Your Tools" motto and a block of government-issue style engraving. It's a bit of cosplay, but harmless cosplay. The knurled crown is also signed with the W.O.E. spade.

The matte black dial swaps printed markers for applied indices borrowed from the 2001 SAR, which gives it more depth than the current production model. Hands and indices are filled with an upgraded version of Marathon's MaraGlo, which W.O.E. says matches Super-LumiNova X2 for brightness and glows longer. A red "WOE" sits above six o'clock, and the first four minutes of the minute track are red, a nod to the four-minute window CIA officers used for clandestine source meetings. The watch also drops the date aperture, as well as the cyclops on the sapphire crystal above it.

Inside is the Sellita SW200-2B, replacing the SW200-1 used in the standard SAR Automatic. That means no date and a power reserve of 65 hours instead of 41, a meaningful upgrade. The watch ships on a black FKM rubber strap with a Grade 5 titanium pin buckle and two lengths of tail, one long enough to go over a dive suit.

The Marathon x W.O.E. Titanium SAR is limited to 200 examples, priced at $2,250. Preorders open today, September 24, at 2:00 PM EST, with deliveries expected in January. See more on the W.O.E. website.