The revitalized Nivada Grenchen has made a splash through its startlingly accurate reissues of its famous Chronomaster, Chronoking, Depthmaster, and Antarctic collections. With their latest release, they’ve gone back to the Jet Age with the Antarctic GMT, a rare reference produced for just a few years in the early 1970s.
The revived Antarctic GMT features a brushed 36mm cushion-shaped stainless steel case true to the 1970s original. This simple design is radically accented by the Antarctic GMT's twin crowns, based on the original EPSA Super-Compressor case, though the reissue does not use this technology. The GMT scale is rendered through an internal rotating bezel operated by the top crown. Its dual-tone black and yellow scale is true to the past, offering a unique splash of color. The Antarctic GMT is available in black and tropical dial variants, the latter a limited edition of just 99 pieces, and is paired with a matching brown leather racing strap that oozes vintage charm.
Underneath the Antarctic's engraved Penguin caseback is a Soprod C125, a Swiss-made automatic caliber featuring an independent 24-hour hand “caller” GMT complication, date, 25 jewels, hacking, hand winding, a frequency of 28,800 beats per hour, and a power reserve of at least 42 hours.
The Antarctic GMT Tropic begins shipping Mid-December.
- Case: Stainless Steel
- Dial: Black with Internal Black and Yellow Bezel
- Movement: Soprod C125
- Complications: GMT, Date
- Winding: Automatic
- Lens: Box Acrylic
- Strap: Brown Rally-Style Leather
- Water Res.: 50M
- Diameter: 36mm
- Length: 40mm
- Thickness: 11.6mm
- Lug Width: 20mm
- Swiss-Made
- Warranty: Two Years
- Case: Stainless Steel
- Dial: Tropical Brown with Internal Black and Yellow Bezel
- Movement: Soprod C125
- Complications: GMT, Date
- Winding: Automatic
- Lens: Box Acrylic
- Strap: Brown Rally-Style Leather
- Water Res.: 50M
- Diameter: 36mm
- Length: 40mm
- Thickness: 11.6mm
- Lug Width: 20mm
- Swiss-Made
- Warranty: Two Years
Nivada Grenchen timepieces have been in the watchmaking industry since 1926, the year when Jacob Schneider first created it in Granges (Grenchen). In 1976, his son Max took over the business. In the United States of America (USA), the Croton Company distributed all Nivada Grenchen watches. The timepieces can have either the Nivada Grenchen or Croton signature, or both.
In 1930, Nivada Grenchen was one of the first companies to manufacture automatic watches. This led to the creation of Nivada Grenchen’s first waterproof automatic watch called the Antarctic in 1950. The watch was worn by the members of the American Navy’s Deep Freeze 1 during their expedition to the South Pole from 1955 to 1956.
