# Pic comparison: Marathon GSAR/TSAR medium 36mm vs 41mm



## -Kc- (Apr 19, 2019)

I hope this thread will help those trying to decide between the 36mm and 41mm Marathon GSAR/TSAR. I have a 7" wrist, so hopefully those of you w/ a similar structure can perhaps learn from my experience... First of all if you're unfamiliar with these, the only difference between the GSAR and TSAR is the movement. TSAR is quartz, GSAR is auto. I preferred the automatic movement, so the pics in this are of the GSAR variant. Prior to purchasing, I had read others opinions about the medium 36mm looking relatively tiny. For the price difference between models however I was willing to give it a shot. When I did receive mine, low and behold that was indeed my first impression.... "Wow this thing is small!" I initially didn't like it, but decided to try it out for a few weeks just to be sure. It's width does make it appear larger, and for some reason whenever I took pictures of it on my wrist it did not appear as small as it actually does in person. Still can't figure that one out, almost like an optical illusion. There's definitely certain angles where its minute stature is really evident. Anyhow, after a couple weeks I decided it just wasn't for me so I purchased the 41mm version. Couldn't be happier with it and I was immediately pleased with the size and wrist presence. Not too big, not too small....just right! Wish I had went with the 41mm in the first place.

So for those looking for a visual size comparison, I've included a few pictures showing both of them together. My wrist is 7" in case you missed that reference earlier. If anyone has any add'l photo requests of the two, feel free to ask as I'd be happy to help. Let me know soon though as I'm about to list the 36mm on eBay.

36mm:








41mm:








Together:








From above:


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## Burgs (Apr 19, 2015)

KC,

Thank you for the comparison photos. I have a slightly under 7" wrist and anything under 39mm is too small for me. It's surprising, but on my wrist the difference between 39mm and 38mm is enough to make a 38mm a no-go for me. I have the 41mm TSAR on the USA seal bracelet and it's just right for me, width wise, although I wish it wasn't so tall. 

I wish that Marathon would reissue the steel Navigator. I bet they'd sell a slew of them.


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## Camguy (Nov 23, 2012)

What's always impressed me with the 36mm is how they were able to shrink the dial and still keep the proportions perfect.


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## -Kc- (Apr 19, 2019)

Burgs said:


> KC,
> 
> Thank you for the comparison photos. I have a slightly under 7" wrist and anything under 39mm is too small for me. It's surprising, but on my wrist the difference between 39mm and 38mm is enough to make a 38mm a no-go for me. I have the 41mm TSAR on the USA seal bracelet and it's just right for me, width wise, although I wish it wasn't so tall.
> 
> I wish that Marathon would reissue the steel Navigator. I bet they'd sell a slew of them.


No problem! I hear ya, doesn't take much width change to make a huge difference. Also positioning seems to play a role too, here's a pic where I swapped positions of the 36mm and 41mm (compared to my original photo). They practically look the same size....









And yes, that steel Navigator was a beautiful piece! I think those had a domed crystal too.


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## -Kc- (Apr 19, 2019)

Camguy said:


> What's always impressed me with the 36mm is how they were able to shrink the dial and still keep the proportions perfect.


Agreed, quite the attention to detail.


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## Watch Possum (Sep 17, 2013)

Thanks for the pix and thoughtfulness OP, but for the record ".... the only difference between the GSAR and TSAR is the movement. TSAR is quartz, GSAR is auto."?

I promise this isn't to be anal, as the chapter rings are the only reason I put out the bucks for the GeeSAR. In the fwiw category, the second hands are different too, with the G's style having tritium and the T's not.

BTW: Does anyone know what that style of chapter ring, or method of demarcating the minutes and seconds, is called?

I really like my Marathon despite the cluttered dial, but if they'd make it larger relative to the case I'd like it even more. Never thought I'd like tritium so much either.


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## Firecrow911 (Mar 7, 2019)

Here is a jumbo and gsar comparison....


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## wongthian2 (Jun 16, 2016)

Had the Tsar, midi Tsar and Jsar. I finally kept the Jsar even though my wrist is 6.5inches. It just had a huge wrist presence for me.
rail by toypoodleKimi, on Flickr


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## sgtlmj (Jul 13, 2017)

Here's one I took a while ago of a 41mm GSAR vs a 36mm TSAR. Case is the same height, but the bezel is much shorter. I wish they would give the 41mm's the same height bezel as the 36's. Would make them less of a door jamb killer.


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## Firecrow911 (Mar 7, 2019)

No boats on #MILFriday...










Sent from my overpriced data plan.


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## Burgs (Apr 19, 2015)

sgtlmj said:


> Here's one I took a while ago of a 41mm GSAR vs a 36mm TSAR. Case is the same height, but the bezel is much shorter. I wish they would give the 41mm's the same height bezel as the 36's. Would make them less of a door jamb killer.


+!
I think that a 41mm GSAR or TSAR with a bezel as you describe would be a heck of a nice watch. I dislike the unnecessary height of my TSAR and usually wear my steel navigator instead, which is very slim. Looking at the bezel of the 41mm TSAR and GSAR, it's much higher than it needs to be to clear the hands. 
I don't know what they were thinking. It's like an atrium.


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## sgtlmj (Jul 13, 2017)

Burgs said:


> +!
> I think that a 41mm GSAR or TSAR with a bezel as you describe would be a heck of a nice watch. I dislike the unnecessary height of my TSAR and usually wear my steel navigator instead, which is very slim. Looking at the bezel of the 41mm TSAR and GSAR, it's much higher than it needs to be to clear the hands.
> I don't know what they were thinking. It's like an atrium.


They were probably thinking that a poor Canadian diver in a dry suit with three-finger neoprene mittens needed to be able to turn his bezel while down 90m in the Hudson Bay, which at that point he'd have more worries than clicking his bezel around, and hopefully was also issued a dive computer.

The height can't be contributed to the vials on the hand stack, because the watch started out life without them.










It's really more about the ergonomics than the height. Here is a GSAR vs a Seiko 7548 (same height as an SKX007). While they are the same height, the Seiko is organic and made to be worn on a living being. The Marathon bezel overhangs a squared-off case that just makes it catch on everything.


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## Firecrow911 (Mar 7, 2019)

Burgs said:


> +!
> I think that a 41mm GSAR or TSAR with a bezel as you describe would be a heck of a nice watch. I dislike the unnecessary height of my TSAR and usually wear my steel navigator instead, which is very slim. Looking at the bezel of the 41mm TSAR and GSAR, it's much higher than it needs to be to clear the hands.
> I don't know what they were thinking. It's like an atrium.


To me that is part of the unique appeal of the Marathon SAR lines - ease of use with heavy gloves, be they dive gloves, mortar gloves, arctic gloves, infantry CADPAT leathers or crew gloves (LAV drivers). Its is a pure tool first, but in that tool design lies the aesthetic... so it's true to its primary purpose, but in that it may not appeal as a daily driver with a shirt cuff while driving a keyboard in an office...

Sent from my overpriced data plan.


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## judg69 (Aug 31, 2018)

Not even a horse race. The 41mm looks great on you, the 36mm much less so.


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## KOB. (May 1, 2011)

Sorry for the late entry. Couple of things: If you bought the GSAR instead of the TSAR for the tritium tubes, then you sorta wasted your money. The TSAR, it’s in the name Tritium Search and Rescue from the Marathon website, has tritium tubes the same as the GSAR. 

And I’ve just bought a TSAR (Rather than the GSAR) because I have had several autos and keep setting the time daily, I suppose I’m enough OCD that I need to do it daily. With a quartz, current daily driver is a Citizen SuperPilot on a AussiStraps 5 ring Zulu, it’s fire and forget. 

Researched the Marathon watches to death (thanks WUS and contributors for advice and assistance). Have had a 47mm chrono pilot auto and, TBF, was a bit on the big side on my sub-7” wrist. Regardless, it’s not about just wrist size, no one seems to mention wrist shape. Round wrists take a smaller size. My wrists aren’t big, but they are thin and flat, so I can take a bigger watch than many with similar sized wrists. 

The other critical element is the lug to lug size. My Steinhart was big lug to lug, my 43mm SuperPilot is small (about 48mm) lug to lug. It’s a 43mm case watch, but would wear the same or smaller with a significantly smaller crown than the 41mm TSAR with the same lug width. 

I still think the JSAR, love the look, would be a tad big. The lug to lug width, notwithstanding the 17mm high chunk of steel, would be borderline at best. The wrist shots I’ve seen of the JSAR on 7.8-8 inch wrists (why do we measure watches in mm and wrists in inches?) indicate that, regardless of shape, you need reasonably sized wrists. The TSAR OTOH seems at home and looks like a great fit on wrists from 6.5” to 8”. 

Apologies for the rave, have been eyeing off Marathons for years and finally pulled the pin. Don’t need another watch, but hey, do need a TSAR. Yes I know they are a tool watch, but I just cannot get over the elegant simplicity, truly a form follows function piece yet a great looking piece. Have already bought the 20mm 5 ring Zulu. My only reservation is that 20mm is really very narrow lug size, I was quite surprised and expected at least 22mm or even 24mm. 

Rant mode off

Cheers,
Kevin


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## Eswift (Dec 31, 2019)

-Kc- said:


> I hope this thread will help those trying to decide between the 36mm and 41mm Marathon GSAR/TSAR. I have a 7" wrist, so hopefully those of you w/ a similar structure can perhaps learn from my experience... First of all if you're unfamiliar with these, the only difference between the GSAR and TSAR is the movement. TSAR is quartz, GSAR is auto. I preferred the automatic movement, so the pics in this are of the GSAR variant. Prior to purchasing, I had read others opinions about the medium 36mm looking relatively tiny. For the price difference between models however I was willing to give it a shot. When I did receive mine, low and behold that was indeed my first impression.... "Wow this thing is small!" I initially didn't like it, but decided to try it out for a few weeks just to be sure. It's width does make it appear larger, and for some reason whenever I took pictures of it on my wrist it did not appear as small as it actually does in person. Still can't figure that one out, almost like an optical illusion. There's definitely certain angles where its minute stature is really evident. Anyhow, after a couple weeks I decided it just wasn't for me so I purchased the 41mm version. Couldn't be happier with it and I was immediately pleased with the size and wrist presence. Not too big, not too small....just right! Wish I had went with the 41mm in the first place.
> 
> So for those looking for a visual size comparison, I've included a few pictures showing both of them together. My wrist is 7" in case you missed that reference earlier. If anyone has any add'l photo requests of the two, feel free to ask as I'd be happy to help. Let me know soon though as I'm about to list the 36mm on eBay.
> 
> ...


Ok so I 100% get what you mean. When I took pictures with the 36mm it looked PERFECT but to my eye (and my gf's) looked tiny IRL. So weird. no matter what i couldn't replicate in a photo how tiny it looked in person. I have 6.5" relatively flat wrists, i can sport up to a 50mm L2L without it looking silly. My solar tuna with a lug width of 47mm is perfect. Hoping to trade for a 41mm TSAR and hopefully it's perfect lol


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## tndude (Apr 24, 2018)

Thanks for this. The 41 looks spot on! 👍


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## jamsie (Mar 14, 2010)

Very helpful thread, despite being posted years ago. That one picture above where the bezel height is compared between a 41MM vs. 36MM variant was great to see, as I'm not a fan of the deep dish optics which has held me off from buying this watch.

One factor no one called out here is strap vs. bracelet on a watch. I found many times that my 7.5inch wrist with big hands would dwarf a 41-42mm piece on a strap that looked great on a bracelet, while a 38MM watch or smaller was a BIG NO on a strap.
I can wear a 38MM watch on a bracelet and have it look just right. This is with the assumption lug to lug is between 44-50MM. Placing a watch on a bracelet makes a huge difference as it just optically looks bigger.

I made a recent trade on a 36MM automatic version of this watch on a bracelet. I did not have a choice of a 41MM yet had wanted to always try out the fabled Marathon Military watch. I'll post a few pics here once it arrives.

These days I tend to wear nothing above 41MM on a bracelet so I have downsized what I wear. 

It’s now 1/17/2022 and still wearing a MSAR automatic and love it. Might try and pickup a GSAR on sale on a strap to check it out and compare.

This was an amazingly GOOD article by Cole Pennington over at Hodinkee, if they had more like this it would transform their entire image.









In-Depth: Travels With A Marathon Watch In Search Of Adventure


In that case, of course, you'll head straight out of town.




www.hodinkee.com


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## Zee80 (May 9, 2018)

Nice photo comparison. With my 6.5" wrist I feel like I'm between the two options. A 38mm would be perfect. If I had to go with one I'd probably opt for the 36.


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## jamsie (Mar 14, 2010)

This is the 36MM version on my wrist..


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