Marathon welcomes a new entry to its illustrious Navigator Pilot series of watches this week with the release of the new Blue Yonder SSNAV-D. The series, which began in 1986 in partnership with (the now closed) Kelly Air Force Base with the goal of creating watches that could withstand the rigors of high-altitude flight. Like all Marathon watches, the results have been a series of highly focused designs with a premium of legibility and build quality over flashy designs or any pretense of luxury. That theme holds true with their latest SSNAV-D (Stainless Steel NAVigator – with Date) called the Blue Yonder, so named for the official U.S. Air Force song’s opening line: “Off we go into the wild blue yonder”
For a brand known for placing an emphasis on function over form, there’s a surprising amount of personality present in the Blue Yonder. This is largely thanks to the colors on display from the tritium gas tubes on the dial which ensure a high level of visibility in dark conditions, paired with a bright red seconds hand. The hour markers are green in both daylight and when they light up in the dark, save for an orange tube used for the 12 o’clock marker. Green tubes are also found on the hands. This makes it easy to orient the dial at a glance, and the aesthetic is a pleasant byproduct.
The dial has plenty of other quirks. A small radiation symbol is placed at three o’clock, while an “H3” (for hydrogen-3) is placed opposite at nine o’clock. These historic markers signified the use of radioactive materials in the luminescence, of which tritium certainly is. When used in tubes, as seen here, the Borosilicate glass stops all radiation byproducts, thankfully. A date aperture set at 4:30 on the dial about wraps it up for the dial, keeping things nice and clean with plenty of personality. Framing the dial is a dark blue bezel insert that’s indexed to 12 hours. The bezel itself is bi-directional, and gets a luminous marker embedded into the triangle at 12 o’clock.
Marathon is using the high-torque ETA F06.412 quartz movement here, which is nothing to scoff at. This is a highly precise unit capable of keeping time within +/- 10 seconds per year. This is exactly the kind of function forward decision you’d expect with a watch like this, and a welcome secondary result is a total case thickness of 11mm.
The steel cushion case features an asymmetric design to allow for a nested crown at three o’clock, and measures 41mm in diameter. The case gets a uniform satin finish with no polished chamfers or any other such vanity considerations in sight. The Blue Yonder ships with a blue FKM 3-piece rubber strap kit which compliments everything quite nicely, but the 20mm lug span will allow for plenty of customization options.
This is a limited edition watch with 500 pieces planned for production. Pricing is set at $1,200, and the Blue Yonder is available now directly from Marathon.
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