Jeep has teamed up with Marathon Watch to create four erm… watches

Back in 1941, Willys-Overland was awarded a contract to provide four-wheel drive reconnaissance vehicles to the US military. In the same year, Marathon Watch Company started to manufacture timing instruments for the Allied Forces.

Now, to celebrate that shared history, Jeep and Marathon have come together to create a new collection of four different watches. We’ve seen more tenuous special relationships, that’s for sure. 

“We are thrilled to embark on this partnership with Jeep,” says Marathon president Mitchell Wein.

“It’s been a long time coming. Our new collection is all about honouring the rugged, authentic Americana spirit that both brands embody. Marathon's legacy forged by my grandfather back in 1939 was all about crafting tough mission-ready timepieces for the Allied Forces. Now over 80 years later, we’re teaming up with the Jeep brand and highlighting our shared military heritage in a truly special endeavour.”

The first two watches in the collection make up the ‘General Purpose (GP) Officer’s Series’. They’re both 41mm field watches with a modernised version of the original Marathon WWII-issued dial. Pretty cool. The updated look is apparently also inspired by the Jeep Wrangler 1941 Limited Edition, with a simple black dial and Aged-Radium numerals. There’s a steel case and you can have it with a hand-wound ($650) or quartz ($500) movement. Both come with brown leather straps made by Crazy Horse leather.

The second pair of watches is the ‘Search and Rescue (SAR) Series’. These can be had with a self-winding automatic ($1,500) or quartz ($1,200) movement and mix a military look with features such as a redline inspired by Jeep’s rev counters. The 41mm watches are water resistant to 300m and have the seven slot Jeep grille and Willys star engraved into the case and crown respectively. 

Every watch in the Jeep x Marathon collection gets the Jeep brand’s motto - “Go Anywhere, Do Anything” - on the back, and all feature the words “Since 1941” to honour the shared military history.