Some stories in watchmaking get told a lot. This one doesn’t. In the mid-1980s, at the height of the quartz era, #Marathon was tasked with developing a new electrically powered #pilotswatch for the U.S. military capable of maintaining precise time through the extreme altitude changes and long-duration flights faced by aircrew. The project was developed in partnership with Kelly Air Force Base (now Kelly Field) in San Antonio, then one of the largest logistics and maintenance hubs in the entire U.S. military. The watch that emerged would become the #Navigator. Developed by Jean-Maurice Huguenin (who remains Marathon’s Chief Watchmaker today) and then-president Leon Wein, the early models carried a small detail known mostly to collectors: the word ADANAC on the dial—CANADA, spelled backwards. A quiet nod to the watch’s origin, added during government contracts that restricted overt branding. #purposebuilt