Horological Meandering

mkt33
[PuristS]
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Maratac GPT 2 Review- The US Government paid how much for that watch?

In the 1980's, the US government was found to have paid $436 dollars for hammers, $640 for toilet seats, and $7,600 for coffee makers.  When I joined the military fifteen years later, common sense would dictate that the fraud, waste, and abuse would have been eliminated... Not!  I remember being asked to spend tens of thousands of dollars on supplies because if we didn't spend all of the money budgeted for the current year then our budget for the next fiscal year would be cut.  Those days were like scenes out of the movie Brewster's Millions.  Totally outrageous and stupid behavior. 

Now out of the military, I occasionally find myself shopping on "government surplus" websites for gear because all the excess equipment will eventually be liquidated.

Most of us recognize the brand Maratac for their good and inexpensive nylon Nato wrist straps. Recently I was pleasantly surprised and purchased the GPT 2 ( General Purpose Timer ) from a government supplier. Would spending $219 dollars on a new watch be considered excessive? For the average taxpayer, I would probably say yes.  However I think the average WIS would consider this automatic watch rated to 10 ATM water resistance with a domed sapphire crystal a decent purchase. Could the US government be actually getting a deal here?

First Impressions:

The Maratec GPT 2 fits the classic description of a knock around daily watch.  Since the watch is meant for general issue there is absolutely no customization available or visible. Solid build quality. Fits perfectly on the supplied Nato strap which prevents the top heavy watch from rolling over on your wrist.

Case and case back:

It is a large (46mm diameter), chunky (15mm thick), diver-styled watch cut from a single block of 316L stainless steel.  The surface is simply brushed.  The lugs are slightly curved, the edges are sharp without fine beveling or secondary finishing, and drilled for easy strap changes. 

The case back is solid and this is the only place where Maratac chose to engrave its name and its corresponding CAGE (Commercial and Government Entity ) code.  Total weight is 113 grams.

Note that the well grooved screw down crown is positioned at the 4 o'clock location which makes this watch easy to wear on smaller wrists. The previous generation, GPT-1, is identical to the current version except it utilized a flieger type-conical crown.

Bezel and Crystal:

The bezel's edge is milled with a deep column pattern to allow for a confident grip. It rotates counterclockwise only, a total of 120 clicks for a complete rotation.  There is very little play which again demonstrates the surprisingly good build quality. 

The minute indicies are also cut into the surface of the bezel and then painted which should optimize readability if the bezel is damaged from wear.  A small lume pip occupies its traditional location within a triangle index at 12 o clock.  The crystal is slightly domed and is also coated with a blue antireflective film.

The Dial and Hands:

Maratac produced a completely sterile dial. The outer rim represents the minute track while the center is slightly sunken with the hours displayed by Roman numeral. 

The printing is sharp and triple layered with superluminova C-3.  The lume is quite good and lasts for hours, I can honestly say better than watches from other well recognized Swiss brands which cost multiples more. 

The hands are blackened towards the center pinion to minimize visual distraction and also coated with superluminova for nighttime readability.  The seconds hand is painted orange...this is the only visual flair found on the GPT-2.

The Movement:

Maratac uses a well recognized and reliable movement, the Miyota caliber 9015.  This 24 jeweled mechanical movement features automatic winding, hand winding, the date, and hacking seconds. Power reserve is over 42 hours, and it beats at 28,800 vph. Surprisingly the movement is also nicely finished albeit in an industrial fashion.

For the GPT-2, there is no date display but when you pull the crown out to the first stop and turn, you can hear the date wheel advance underneath the dial.  Accuracy, as rated from the manufacture, is 10-30 seconds a day with positional variation under 40 seconds/day.  Here is what the timing machine is reading for my specific example. As they say "good enough for government work"!

Final Impressions:

Enjoy, Mike

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