Latest Review
May 14, 2024 
In 2022, a group of intrepid watch enthusiast divers began a grand tradition of coupling a Lake Michigan dive adventure with the Windup Watch Fair in Chicago, affectionately referred to as Windup in a Lake. Well, this tradition has expanded to include more divers and, as of last week, a new destination. Monterey Bay was the inaugural location of the first Windup in a Bay, part of our Windup Watch Fair San Francisco festivities. Best of all, our friends at Marathon were interested in participating in this adventure as well.
When search and rescue pros from around the world reach for a mission timer, the Canada-based watchmaker Marathon has been a go-to solution for over 80 years. So, their SAR collection—short for, you guessed it, Search and Rescue—was an ideal catalog to outfit the team of pros who gathered to kick off this dip into the Pacific. For this trip to the iconic Monterey Bay, we paired a slew of dive-rated Marathon SARs with five watch enthusiasts, each with major diving chops. Here’s our official photo recap and impressions from the team.
First on deck is our friend Asha Wagner. Asha is a professional Fire Captain, a Hazardous Materials training officer, and a HAZMAT specialist with a FEMA task force, and an ardent diver. Based in Northern California, Asha is on record with various outlets including Worn & Wound as a massive tool-watch enthusiast.
Asha was a driving force behind this expedition and chose to dive with the striking 41MM Anthracite Large Diver’s Automatic (GSAR). Of the Anthracite model, Asha remarked, “The GSAR Anthracite was highly legible underwater and the bezel was easy to turn even while wearing thick dive gloves.”
Sporting the 41mm Arctic Edition Large Diver’s Automatic (GSAR) were Navy Diver Second Class (ND2) Brock Stevens and Chris Sohl. Brock has over 5 years of active duty experience. During his service, he’s accumulated more than 9,000 minutes of bottom time. You might know Chris Sohl, or Sohl as he’s best known, as the moderator and dive guru behind The Grey NATO Slack Channel. He’s a technical diver with over 8 years of experience and volunteers with the Man in the Sea Museum located in Panama City Beach, Florida.
Of this Arctic dial edition, Brock says, “There is good reason the U.S. Navy and other branches of the U.S. Military issue the GSAR ( Government Search and Rescue). Every aspect of the GSAR, from its tall, grippy bezel, to its legible dial with tritium tubes, makes it a great addition to any diver’s kit. The Arctic version that I dove with stepped up underwater legibility with the white dial, which really contrasted well against my black wetsuit.”
Sohl adds, “The GSAR is easily one of the most hard-wearing and fit-for-purpose dive watches I’ve taken underwater. When it comes to visibility, the tritium tubes offer the perfect glow in low light conditions without needing a charge, and they’re still somehow just as brightly visible against the white dial in broad daylight. And not just the dial, but every other aspect of its design as well offers excellent functionality during use, with zero nonsense, making it an ideal dive timer.”
Aaron Potash led this particular dive. He’s a private SCUBA instructor with certification under NAUI. He’s skilled in teaching all levels of diving from introductory pool sessions to Dive Master level excursions. In addition to bringing his ample 15 years of diving experience, he brought an ample 7.5 inch wrist size with him as well. That, combined with his burly drysuit, made Marathon’s 46MM Jumbo Day/Date Automatic (JDD) look and feel right at home.
Of this watch, Aaron said, “As a SCUBA instructor in Northern California I’m tough on my gear. Normal wrist wear pops off when training or crawling up onto rocks. The drilled lugs and shoulderless spring bars were able to stand up to the demands of cold water training.”
Benjamin Lowry, known by many as Submersible Wrist, is a watch journalist with a particular passion for diving and military watches. He’s a former Coast Guardsman, licensed commercial diver, and has recently joined the team behind a publication shrouded in secrecy called Watches of Espionage. For this dive, Marathon opted to outfit Ben with something from the vault. He wore a vintage example of the very first SAR watch, the Type 1—an icon to those in the know. This was the watch design that really kicked off Marathon’s now storied legacy of building dive-ready search and rescue timers.
“Having used Marathon watches in the U.S. Coast Guard and as a commercial diver, I consider the SAR collection among the most legible and robust undersea designs on the market today. As a diving tool, their legitimacy is well-earned,” said Ben.
We’re so grateful to Marathon for supporting the first Windup In A Bay with their SAR collection. We hope you enjoyed this recap post and if you’d like to learn more about the watches featured here, simply visit the Marathon site. Please stay tuned into Worn & Wound for more info around future dives and other group adventures.
