Hands-On: An Unusual Chronograph Revival – The Nivada Grenchen Chronosport
You know what? Sometimes, I miss things. I’ll admit it. I saw the press release for the Nivada Grenchen Chronosport – a recreation of a vintage Nivada (as the brand does) and immediately put it out of my mind. The thing looked weird. I can’t place another chronograph with subdials at nine and 12 o’clock, with a date at three o’clock. It felt like an unfinished idea (not the fault of the new one, but more about the prototype it was based on) and almost disconcertingly visually top-heavy. My gut said that the community would feel the same, and I didn’t feel like I needed to create a forum to dunk on a solid recreation of a watch that I thought suffered for no other reason than being weird.
Turns out I was wrong. The watch has been selling well. It was well received by Nivada fans. I guess I was out of touch, but “too late now,” I thought, “it still looks kinda weird.” Then I saw a listing for an original version on Chrono24 and thought about buying it, which means that either I had gone insane or maybe there was actually something here I thought was compelling enough to talk about. Unfortunately, by the time I saw this new release in the metal – and the company’s owner, Guillaume Laidet – at Geneva Watch Days, that vintage example had sold, which was a bummer for both of us. But it proved to me that, yes, we’ve got a watch here that’s worth at least a quick look.
The first thing I’ll say is that, while many people will disagree with me, I am often a fan of vintage reissues. If they’re done right, that is. I love the idea of vintage watches and own a handful, but I like the comfort of wearing something new. It’s no so much about a cleaner look, it’s just about not wanting to worry about banging up a watch that survived a long time before my clumsy self got my hands on it. You also get things like the reliable 200m water resistance in this case.
The buzz around the watch started a bit before launch when Nivada Grenchen shared a photo on its Instagram of one of these “exotic Singer dial” prototype watches from the 1970s that was up for sale at Bulang & Sons. With an estimated 20 pieces produced, the watch was never sold commercially. If you know vintage watches, you’ll know that Jean Singer was one of the greatest dial makers in Switzerland and is known for everything from Omega Speedmaster Racing and the Heuer Skipper to the famed Paul Newman Daytona.
A close up of a ref. 6241 Paul Newman, from our Reference Points in 2014.
You’ll also know that Singer prototypes are a thing unto themselves (heck, there’s a bunch of weird and wild Rolexes out there with Singer dials taken from a salesman travel sample book). This vintage watch falls somewhere between the rare one-offs and the mass-produced commercial products. They’re not extremely expensive, but they are still pretty rare. And that kind of wrinkle of interest in a brand’s history is enough to launch a watch, especially for a brand built on recreating past pieces.
Funny enough, when I looked at the file name of the photos from Bulang & Sons, it said “Poor Man’s Newman,” and there are certainly recognizable features on both the old and the new to give it that sort of title. The biggest is the “lollipop” markers and Art Deco font on the subdials, similar to the Newmans. In the vintage watch, small touches make a difference, like the open 6 and other numbers like 2’s and 5’s that are a bit bolder and more crisp in different areas. It’s a pretty close semblance, but these are the tiny things that deep vintage lovers are passionate about.
Photo: courtesy of Bulang & Sons
The new model.
Focusing on other details, the original watch featured a flat printing for the subdials, tachymeter on the dial, and even just flat printed dial markers. You’ll also notice that the dial is much more flat, with a little texture to it but not much. The lume was relegated to the end of the hands and (aged) yellow dots on the end of the hour markers. With the new Nivada Grenchen Chronosport, this has been turned up to 11.
I think that things like the fully-lumed Super LumiNova baton hour markers and more lume-filled hands make a lot of sense from a usability standpoint. Sinking the subdials seems like a solid plan, even if not necessary. And while I like the raised printing of the tachymeter, the texture of the dial feels like it went just a little too far. It’s very grained and a bit distracting.
The watch isn’t particularly thin and feels a bit top-heavy for that fact. The stainless steel case is 15.7mm tall, 38mm in diameter, and 44.3mm in lug to lug and felt pretty noticeable on my wrist. But it’s a very particular case shape: blocky, chunky, and very ’70s, and if watch media was around in the ’70s, would they have complained about what was standard for the time?
The flanks have a nice high polish, contrasting against the brushed top case and bracelet. The thickness is because of the modified Valjoux 7750 automatic movement inside (an iconic movement and a good reason to consider any watch, in my opinion). The bracelet has been improved from the vintage example, with end links that meet the case. And the double-domed sapphire crystal sticks out like the original plastic one.
Photo: courtesy of Bulang & Sons
The thick case and better end links.
Photo: courtesy of Bulang & Sons
The caseback on the Bulang & Sons example had a flat caseback but Nivada Grenchen stuck with what would have been more of a production design. All of this came sole from the team at Nivada working off the pictures of the Bulang & Sons model. Guillaume told me they weren’t able to acquire one of the rare 20 original pieces, so they used pictures, measurements, and essentially went by feel. They 3-D printing and tried CNC for refining so that the shape and thickness was correct and the pushers and crown sat appropriately on the case. Without the original watch in hand, I feel like they must have gotten quite close.
I am not sure how much overlap there is between people who love heritage reissues and hate fauxtina – they seem to go hand in hand, but I’m sure a commenter will chime in and say, “I’m here.” But Nivada has made another version where all the yellowed bits are still white as they would have been back in the day (minus the subdials, which were designed that way from day 1). I didn’t get to see that watch, but it brought me to the last little thing I liked about it. If you’ve ever handled an old watch with a textured aluminum bezel (or sometimes even plastic, like the TAG Heuer F1s), there’s something instantly recognizable about the feeling of an old coated bezel on your fingers. The fluted unidirectional rotating aluminum bezel here is blacked out and feels pure vintage in a charming way and has both minutes like a dive bezel and twelve-hour numbers.
The Nivada Grenchen was listed at $2,180, which feels like a solid price for the design, build, and movement. It was also offered on different strap options, though I like the one here. But I say “was” because here’s the worst part for those people who love the watch: the pre-order window has already closed. But you can see watches starting to be listed on secondary market sites. Did I fall in love with the watch? Not really, but I learned that I should have given it more credit. Just because I’m a CASD guy doesn’t mean I should be so closed-minded. At a time when I often feel like a lot of releases are “rinse and repeat,” an iconic designer creating something weird in the 1970s is probably just what I needed to check out.
For more, visit Nivada Grenchen here.
Nivada Grenchen Chronosport. 38mm diameter by 15.7mm thick 316L Stainless Steel case, with 200m water resistance. Singer-inspired black dial with yellowed subdials and lumed hour indices. Stainless steel hands with Super-LumiNova. Hours, minutes, seconds, chronograph with 30-minute counter, running seconds. ETA Valjoux 7750, automatic cam-lever chronograph. 42h power reserve. Available on brushed steel bracelet with folding clasp or a selection of 10 different straps (leather, fabric or rubber). Price: $2,180.
Hodinkee
