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What's the significance of the contract date? Is it because the tritium tubes fade?

 

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as far as i know, the descriptions are as follows:

SAR - Search and Rescue
TSAR - tritium search and rescue
GSAR - government search and rescue
JSAR - jumbo search and rescue
CSAR - chronograph search and rescue
SAR-D - search and rescue - defect

the SAR name, of course, was just a nickname given by owners and admirers since they were initially intended for use with the Canadian Forces Air Force Search and Rescue Technicians. the SAR-D was so named because of the defect dial which indicated the use of tritium when in fact there was none.

i recently gave up almost my entire watch collection, including a few SAR series watches, to fund a grail which i'm STILL trying to pay off.

shameless photo plug:

. . .and with each new contract there may be changes to the specifications such as the addition or removal of tritium, or the use of the "U.S. Government" branding, or the use of 60 or 120 click bezels, etc. and with each new iteration of the SAR series, a new nickname is given, such as TSAR, GSAR etc etc etc.

Thanks for the photo VERY good for getting an idea of relative sizes.
The top row is SAR, TSAR, GSAR and JSAR?
Is the SAR larger than the TSAR and GSAR but smaller than the JSAR?

The last part of your post is what I was driving at. I read that the newer versions have 120 click bezels. I was wondering what other changes have been made through the generations. Are certain contract date versions of a TSAR or GSAR more desirable because of small differences?

 

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Thanks for the very thorough and informative response.

I now have to decide whether to save for a CSAR or to buy a TSAR or GSAR now.

 

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I have recently been getting into large watches. I have a 47mm Panerai Homage and a Prometheus CR1 which is 16mm thick. I've handled a CSAR and am quite sure that I want one.

Thanks again.

What I wish is that they would make a quartz version of the CSAR at an affordable price.

 

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Friend in CT has one, among other watches I wouldn't mind having.