This was a gift presented to me when my wife and I attended a US-Korea social function here in Seoul. It turned out, one of the commanders there supposedly recognized me from various reviews I wrote on U.S. military issue watches. It was a tremendous gesture on part of the US forces stationed here in Korea and I have been deeply moved. Anyway, to make a long story short, yes, I opened the gift at the table, and found, to my astonishment, the latest Marathon composite navigator with the G specification, namely MIL-PRF-46374G. The rumor was true after all!

Inside a humble looking recycled cardboard box, which incidently has become sort of Marathon's unintended trademark in the watch world, there it was, the big black plastic watch with a long black strap and a simple instruction sheet beneath it, all inserted in a clear plastic wrapper. Very utilitarian packaging. I love it.

The first obvious change I noticed of this G model navigator was the lack of inscriptions on the dial. Only a tiny inscription, "SWISS MADE", was at the bottom of the dial and "MARATHON US GOVERNMENT" marking was no longer present.

Caseback is slightly different than previous navigators in that it is thicker and more pronounced. There is even a notch at the side where you can pry the snap back cover off with a knife or other proper tool to facilitate change of battery. The instruction sheet mentions that a 395 watch battery should be used for replacement, although it comes with a new battery pre-installed.

Caseback is marked as follows:

WATCH, WRIST: NAVIGATORS
MIL-PRF-46374G
6645-01-364-4042
26 MILLICURIES
NRC ID: 54-28526-01E
SPO440-00-D-0168-0005
JAN 2003
CAGE 38775

This Marathon has probably the brightest tritium vials I have ever seen. After all, this watch is dated January of 2003. It is literally burning! The tritium capsule at 12 o'clock on the dial is colored orange to ease orientation of the watch in the dark. There is also a tritium vial inside the 12 o'clock position on the bezel.

According to the instruction sheet supplied with the watch...

Watch is water-resistant, shock-proof, and has stop second feature.
Accuracy maximum error rate is +/- 0.7 seconds per day.  Replacement
battery is 395 watch battery or equivalent.

This watch is manufactured in accordance with MIL-PRF-46374G, Type
III, Class 1 (Analog, minimum life: 5 years, antimagnetic, corrosion
resistant, high altitude with elapsed time ring, water resistant,
electrical movement, battery installed).

Movement is Swiss made 1 (one) jewel ISA 1198 quartz, which has a magnetic resistance of 1500 A/m. Watch came pre-installed with an Enegizer battery.