Navigator

The Navigator was created in 1986 to answer a specific request from US Air Force flight personnel, made through Kelly Air Force Base: a watch designed specifically for pilots and parachutists, able to withstand the rapid pressure changes typical of flight and legible even while wearing flight gloves. This need gave rise to an asymmetric case with a protected crown and a highly legible dial, set from the outset on a dual 12/24-hour reading, typical of military dials.

The Navigator's most distinctive feature remains its bidirectional bezel graduated over 12 hours, designed not for timing dives as on diving watches, but for keeping track of a second time zone — a valuable function for crews who may cross multiple time zones during the same mission. The earliest versions carry a Fibershell composite case, light and resistant to impact and sweat, paired with a Swiss ETA F06 quartz movement; for most of its history the model was distributed almost exclusively through military and government channels, remaining in practice largely inaccessible to civilian buyers until the early 2000s.

In 2023 Marathon reintroduced the Navigator in a version entirely in 316L steel, pairing the original quartz movement with an automatic Sellita SW200-1: an upgrade that elevates the model's finishing without altering its original setup, from the bidirectional bezel to the tritium tubes applied to the hands, indices and bezel marker for constant legibility even in the dark.