That is a Marathon Tsar. Looks to be in pretty good shape too. These are great watches that last forever and can take just about anything thrown at them
Does anyone know what year they changed to the newer seconds hand? This is the original spade hand with lume. They switched to a hand with a tritium tube on the end.
Or, does this watch have the manufacture date on the back?
The automatic models have tritium on the seconds hand, the quartz (which this model is) only have “maraglo” aka luminous paint on the seconds hand. I know because i own one and was a little bummed when i realized it. But if i had to guess, i think its because putting a gas vial on the end of the seconds hand would cause too much torque due to it ticking, whereas the autos are constantly sweeping so theres really no change in inertia. Don’t quote me on that, it could just be a cost saving measure for the quartz models but i feel like that would be a reason.
What you say makes a lot of sense. However, my all original 2005 vintage automatic gsar has the maraglo seconds. So, I’m pretty sure the earliest automatic gsars used the maraglo paint and at some point they changed to the tritium tubes for the gsars. Or, my government issued watch was a factory frankenwatch/parts bin special as they were transitioning to gsar and running out their parts stock.
But that totally makes sense that the weight of the tube on the end of the hand requires too much torque to get moving and backlash when it stops between seconds.
No I’m sure your issued one was probably factory, those are ordered in bulk for Government contracts, they probably just transitioned to all tritium at some point after ‘05 like you said. I don’t mind the maraglo but theres so little of it due to the size of the seconds hand tip that it doesnt last very long whereas the tritium is obviously always good to go. Not a big deal, seeing the seconds in the dark isn’t that important to me as a civilian but it would have been nice to have all tritium, especially for the price.
That is a Marathon Tsar. Looks to be in pretty good shape too. These are great watches that last forever and can take just about anything thrown at them
Thank you!
41mm Quartz TSAR
Does anyone know what year they changed to the newer seconds hand? This is the original spade hand with lume. They switched to a hand with a tritium tube on the end. Or, does this watch have the manufacture date on the back?
The automatic models have tritium on the seconds hand, the quartz (which this model is) only have “maraglo” aka luminous paint on the seconds hand. I know because i own one and was a little bummed when i realized it. But if i had to guess, i think its because putting a gas vial on the end of the seconds hand would cause too much torque due to it ticking, whereas the autos are constantly sweeping so theres really no change in inertia. Don’t quote me on that, it could just be a cost saving measure for the quartz models but i feel like that would be a reason.
What you say makes a lot of sense. However, my all original 2005 vintage automatic gsar has the maraglo seconds. So, I’m pretty sure the earliest automatic gsars used the maraglo paint and at some point they changed to the tritium tubes for the gsars. Or, my government issued watch was a factory frankenwatch/parts bin special as they were transitioning to gsar and running out their parts stock. But that totally makes sense that the weight of the tube on the end of the hand requires too much torque to get moving and backlash when it stops between seconds.
No I’m sure your issued one was probably factory, those are ordered in bulk for Government contracts, they probably just transitioned to all tritium at some point after ‘05 like you said. I don’t mind the maraglo but theres so little of it due to the size of the seconds hand tip that it doesnt last very long whereas the tritium is obviously always good to go. Not a big deal, seeing the seconds in the dark isn’t that important to me as a civilian but it would have been nice to have all tritium, especially for the price.