Just out, the Timex Marlin Automatic continues the brand?s venture back into mechanical watches that started with the true-to-original Marlin released in the fall of 2017. Where last year?s 34-millimeter Marlin almost exactly imitated a back-catalog watch, the new 40-millimeter Marlin Automatic we have on hand is a whole new design that draws its inspiration from the same era.
The new Marlin Automatic next to the smaller 2017 Marlin.
The Marlin Automatic?s dial is about as straightforward as it gets, with simple applied baton markers, minimalist lume-filled hour and minute index hands, and a stick seconds hand. An unadorned outer minute track holds down the perimeter, and the dial?s text is kept to merely ?Timex? and ?Automatic.? Legibility is excellent, and the dial ends up being handsomely functional and decidedly conservative. The set of four.
The date window at 3 o?clock is unoffensive enough, though the Marlin Automatic would likely look better without it. The date disc is white with black lettering on all four colorways, and though color-matched date discs are generally preferred, the Marlin Automatic’s work well on the black dial, pretty well on the gold tone and burgundy models, and not so well on the silver one where the white date disc outshines the dial itself. The lack of an aperture frame appears a little unfinished, but it also streamlines the dial.

While the Marlin Automatic isn?t huge, it is 13 millimeters thick, largely due to the tall minera...