Marathon x Huckberry Navigator Watch Adds an Arctic White Dial

A military watch gets a fall-ready update

Watch collaborations often pair brands with little in common. Huckberry and Marathon have a more convincing reason to work together: Marathon, the Canadian watchmaker, supplied timekeeping equipment to Allied forces in 1941, while military and heritage style already runs through Huckberry’s own labels, especially Flint and Tinder. That shared history gives this release a stronger footing than a logo swap. The connection matters because a military look can be borrowed easily; a credible link to military watchmaking is harder to establish. Marathon’s history gives the collaboration a clear starting point, while Huckberry brings an audience familiar with rugged clothing and heritage influenced design. Neither fact guarantees that the watch will be useful or comfortable, of course. But it makes the partnership feel like a deliberate meeting of brands rather than a cosmetic arrangement. The collaboration revisits Marathon’s Navigator, a pilot’s watch whose lineage reaches back to the Steel Navigator developed with Kelly Air Force Base in 1986. Huckberry’s 41mm CeraShell Arctic Navigator keeps that military identity intact and changes the details around it. The $600 watch is available from [Huckberry](https://huckberry.com/store/marathon/category/p/1001779-marathon-x-huckberry-41-mm-cerashell-arctic-nav-watch). That history provides context, not a claim that this modern release is identical to the watch developed for military use. The new model carries forward the Navigator name and recognizable instrument watch features, then adapts the presentation for a retail collaboration. Its 41mm case puts it in a familiar size range for a contemporary tool watch, though whether it wears compactly will depend on the wearer and the shape of their wrist. The price also makes the details matter: buyers are paying for the materials, movement, design, and brand connection together.

Small changes, clear intent

The design’s most noticeable shift is the Arctic white dial, a first for a CeraShell Navigator. It sits inside Marathon’s matte-black CeraShell case, with the familiar 12- and 24-hour scales still in place. Huckberry replaces the standard red seconds hand with hunter orange and keeps its branding off the dial, putting its tree logo on the crown instead. That restraint is the point. The black, white, and orange palette gives the watch a cleaner look without erasing its military-watch roots. A white dial changes the character of a watch more than a small logo or strap swap would: it creates stronger contrast with the dark case and makes the color accent stand out. The orange seconds hand also gives the collaboration a visible signature, but it doesn’t crowd the face with co-branding. There’s a practical tradeoff in that cleaner appearance. High contrast can make markings easier to pick out at a glance, but the dial’s appearance alone doesn’t tell you how the watch will read in every lighting condition. That’s where the tritium illumination becomes relevant. It’s a functional feature with a direct role in low light, rather than a decorative detail that only suggests field use. The case combines bio-sourced plastic with ceramic powder, a proprietary Marathon material intended to keep the watch light. It’s 11.5mm thick, topped with sapphire crystal, and uses tritium tubes to illuminate the hands, hour markers, and bezel pip continuously. For a watch with a 41mm case, a thickness of 11.5mm gives some indication of its profile, though the materials and dimensions don’t tell the whole story of how it’ll feel on the wrist. The CeraShell material is central to the pitch. Ceramic powder suggests a different approach from a conventional metal tool-watch case, while the bio-sourced plastic component is intended to reduce weight. Marathon’s stated aim is a light case; the useful question for a buyer is how that material feels in everyday wear, since a specification can’t describe the tactile impression or long-term comfort. A sapphire crystal and continuous tritium illumination add more familiar tool-watch credentials.

Military credentials, with a polished finish

The specs make the Marathon x Huckberry Navigator a practical tool watch: its 41mm case houses an ETA F06.115 HeavyDrive quartz movement and is water-resistant to 60 meters. Two included straps let you shift the look—the olive DEFSTAN nylon option or a coyote-brown HANK strap made with neoprene and Kevlar. Quartz is a sensible fit for a watch framed around straightforward utility. The movement specification tells buyers what powers the watch, while the water-resistance rating gives a defined measure of its protection from water. It doesn’t, by itself, establish that the watch is suited to every water activity, so the rating is best read as one part of the overall specification rather than a general promise of toughness. The two straps give the watch different visual registers. Olive nylon leans toward the established military style, while coyote brown and the neoprene and Kevlar construction offer a second combination of color and material. That makes the package more flexible than a single-strap release, although the added choice is modest: both options keep the watch within the same utilitarian design language. This is more significant than it looks. The collaboration’s appeal depends on the small choices adding up: an Arctic dial, a restrained logo, a lightweight case, and straps that support the military styling without turning the watch into a costume piece. (And this is the part most people overlook.) A convincing tool-watch design needs to make its functional details feel connected to the product, not just pile up rugged-sounding materials.

What the collaboration gets right

That mix of hard-wearing materials and considered styling captures the collaboration’s appeal. The Navigator is available exclusively through Huckberry’s site. Exclusivity gives Huckberry a central role in the release and ties the watch directly to the retailer’s audience. It also means the collaboration’s identity rests on the choices made here, rather than on broad availability or a long list of variations. At $600, the proposition is specific: Marathon’s Navigator heritage and technical features, presented through Huckberry’s styling preferences. If you’re working out whether the watch suits you, the strongest case is its balance of recognizable tool-watch details and a more distinctive dial. The limits are just as plain: its military lineage doesn’t tell you whether the fit, materials, or price will suit your needs. Those judgments require seeing the watch in person or comparing it with alternatives. A focused collaboration, with a clear point of view.