Value In Vintage: The Nivada Grenchen Antarctic
Nivada Grenchen is always fun to explore. The brand was well regarded in the 20th century for tough tool watches, including a series that went to Antarctica. This led to the Antarctic watch line, and today, we’ll look at a vintage example.
Revitalized in recent years, Nivada Grenchen has been going from strength to strength, focusing on reissues of watches that populated its impressive back catalog. The original brand fell victim to the Quartz Crisis. Nowadays, its catalog ranges from chronographs to dive watches and time-only pieces.
It is the brand’s Antarctic line, however, that is one of its mainstays. Nivada Grenchen debuted this product line in 1950. It is also one of the brand’s leading model lines today, with multiple iterations, including a hand-wound 35mm example. The original Antarctic was a mid-sized (for the time), durable, and “waterproof” daily watch. The company put its claims of durability to the test by providing the watch to the members of the American Navy’s Operation Deep Freeze I during their expedition to the South Pole.
An adventurous milestone for Nivada Grenchen
As I noted in this feature, the Nivada Grenchen Antarctic survived the harsh conditions of the frozen South Pole. The company went on to advertise the watch’s use during this mission in marketing campaigns. One such effort claimed: “They were subjected to prolonged immersion, extreme altitude, and high magnetism. They were dropped and knocked against the ice. They were never wound. Through all these tests, Nivada’s ‘Antarctics’ kept perfect time.”
Note the penguin fielding on the pitch
Providing watches to the expedition team for something as adventurous as Operation Deep Freeze was not an uncommon strategy for watch brands at the time. Rolex and Smiths had made marketing efforts in a famous (and successful) attempt to summit Mt. Everest. Then, in the 1960s, Rolex Explorer watches were provided to a British caving team in Spain. There are many stories of this nature.
Operation Deep Freeze
As I noted in my earlier feature, the first Operation Deep Freeze mission took place in 1955–56. Operation Deep Freeze II, Operation Deep Freeze III, and many others would follow until 1998. According to Wikipedia, “the impetus behind Operation Deep Freeze I was the International Geophysical Year 1957–58,” although the mission predated it. In any case, the US, along with New Zealand, the UK, France, Japan, Norway, Chile, Argentina, and the USSR, agreed to go to the South Pole, the least explored area on Earth. US government records state that their objective was to learn more about “Antarctic hydrography, weather systems, glacial movements, and marine and bird life.”
Armed with that context, I suppose we can understand why the Antarctic line was so important to Nivada Grenchen. In a way, it played the same role as the Rolex Explorer or the Tudor Oyster Prince — a tool watch (for the time) in a 35mm case with a simple, highly legible dial. Modern Nivada Grenchen is great for enthusiasts seeking something with (most likely) vintage-sized proportions and modern build tolerances. Today, however, we’re looking at a vintage Nivada Grenchen Antarctic.
The Nivada Grenchen Antarctic line
According to VintageNiada.com, a website dedicated to the brand, the Antarctic was based on the brand’s preceding Aquamatic line. This was a series of watches released in the 1950s. The Antarctic had Art Deco numerals with faceted hour markers and beautiful dauphine hands in a water-resistant case. This case had beveled lugs that were flattened on top to create a curved design, which is a nice detail to admire when looking at the watch from above. The watch also has a relatively thick bezel, providing a sense of muscular toughness.
The box the Antarctic came in
The 35mm case has a nice 42mm lug-to-lug length and takes an 18mm-wide strap. This means a multitude of strap options are available to anyone lucky enough to own one! The case back is dodecahedral, which means it requires a specific tool to open it. The whole case, including the crystal, has a roughly 11.5mm profile. This vintage example’s dial shows some obvious damage, but I don’t mind this because it wasn’t a particularly expensive pick-up for me. Thankfully, the numerals and faceted markers are still visible.
Picking up a used (and well-loved) Nivada Grenchen Antarctic
So, when the opportunity to purchase a Nivada Grenchen Antarctic emerged, I didn’t need to think all too much about taking the plunge. While the dial is in rough condition, the glinting faceted indexes are still visible in various lighting conditions. This is one of the Antarctic watches to come with a three-dimensional textured dial reminiscent of snow. It’s a nice touch that we now associate with Grand Seiko. The textured dial is truly quite beautiful and would have been even more impressive when the watch was first released with that combination.
Inside beats an ETA caliber. This could either be an ETA 1256 or 2375, but later on, additional calibers sourced from ETA would be used. They usually had a roughly 40-hour power reserve and a frequency of 18,000vph. These movements were solid enough, and my example seems to be keeping good time. The great thing about older ETA movements is that sourcing parts, while rarely straightforward, is a little bit easier than with calibers from other manufacturers.
The new model is also a good choice
Thankfully, Nivada Grenchen’s modern offering in the Antarctic line is also rather attractive and faithful to the original. Yes, there’s a larger version, but the brand recently released a 35mm model that is stylistically true to the original. It offers a Landeron 21 caliber, a 10.1mm case thickness (including the crystal), and a wonderfully compact 41.9mm lug-to-lug.
For those who don’t want the quirks of a vintage watch, the modern 35mm Antarctic models retail for less than US$1,000 (unless you opt for a version with a bracelet). This means they aren’t much more expensive than older examples you will find on the secondary market. In fact, in some cases, new versions will be cheaper.
Concluding thoughts
It’s great news for enthusiasts that we have modern Nivada Grenchen, and clearly, it’s run by people who “get it” when it comes to vintage reissues. The sizing is usually spot on, as is the attention to many of the small details. We can also find examples of the original Antarctic on the used market.
What do you think, Fratelli? Is the Nivada Grenchen Antarctic a watch you could see yourself owning? I’ve found myself quite smitten by the textured dial. I look forward to reading your thoughts in the comments section!
