Not all images were able to load for printing. Please close the print window and try again. The New Nivada Grenchen Antarctic GMT, Another Cool 1970s Remake
Nivada once again dives into its archives to offer a cool, accessible remake of its first GMT watch.
Since its relaunch in 2020, the historic brand Nivada Grenchen has become one of the most active watch companies in the field of vintage revivals. Take a look at the entire portfolio of models offered by Nivada, and you’ll see that almost everything is based on a historic design. And the brand’s latest creation, a watch that is modelled after Nivada Grenchen’s first GMT watch, is not going to change this rather successful recipe. Here’s the new Nivada Grenchen Antarctic GMT, a timepiece that’s all about bringing back 1970s Jet Age vibes.
Just like the recent Chronosport, the story behind the creation of this Nivada Grenchen Antarctic GMT involves historical research and a bit of luck. While searching Nivada’s past collections, along with Aashdin K. Billimora, to complete the book dedicated to the Nivada Grenchen Antarctic, Guillaume Laidet (CEO) came across a rare gem for sale on a famous online shop. This watch, most likely dating from the late 1960s or early 1970s, with the reference number 87013, was the brand’s first GMT watch. Indeed, Nivada joined the ranks of many brands producing such watches. It was made during the Jet Age, which peaked between 1955 and 1972, sparking demand for GMT watches among frequent travellers.
The watch in question, the historic Nivada Grenchen Antarctic GMT, came in a 200m dive-ready case developed by Ervin Piquerez S.A. (EPSA), with its classic twin-crown design (here with one to control the 24-hour bezel, the other to actuate the movement) and the patented technology that leveraged the water pressure at depth to compress the case against its gasket. Inside was an AR-1146 movement, which didn’t yet allow for independent adjustment of the 24-hour hand. Instead, it moved in sync with the 12-hour hand (like an early GMT Master by Rolex).
Fast forward to 2024, using its now classic theme of reviving past icons in a relatively faithful way, Nivada Grenchen introduces a deliberately vintage, historically relevant and compact watch with many attributes of the past watch. It starts with the case, made of polished steel, with a typical 1970s shape, and faithful dimensions – 36mm in diameter, 11.1mm in thickness and about 41mm in length – that echo the vintage watch. To remain true to the original look, Nivada has opted for a domed plexiglass crystal instead of a sapphire crystal, thus enhancing its retro charm (there’s a unique warmth to plexiglass) and avoiding the distortions commonly seen with thick, ultra-domed sapphires.
Some concessions, however, have been made regarding the case’s construction, which is now a classic 2-part architecture with a traditional screw-in caseback and a rather limited 50m water-resistance. It might retain the look of an old EPSA Compressor watch with its emblematic two crowns, but it’s not a real compressor watch anymore. It’s a bit of a disappointment, but it’s also how Nivada manages to offer its watches at highly competitive prices. It nevertheless retains the unique flair and feel of the original model, visually speaking at least.
Move on to the dial, and you’ll see that the new Nivada Grenchen Antarctic GMT is all about the old model… Yet again, with some modifications and upgrades. First, two dial colours will be available, either classic matte black or a brown “tropical” option as a limited edition of 99 pieces. Other than the base colour, both versions are identical, with a black-and-yellow 24-hour rotating bezel (actuated by the 2 o’clock crown), which is now made of plexiglass for added depth. Local time is read thanks to polished hands and applied markers (all with SLN), while the GMT function – an office/caller style – is displayed with a bold and (again) retro-style red-and-black chequered hand.
Inside, there are some welcome upgrades. However, as the Antarctic GMT now features an independent 24-hour hand, which can separately track an additional time zone, the bezel becomes a third time zone indicator. We’re not talking about a true GMT function, with one-hour increment adjustments on the local hour hand, but it’s certainly a major improvement over the vintage model. Power comes from an automatic Soprod C125, an alternative to the ETA 2893, with a 4Hz frequency and a 42h power reserve.
Regarding straps, Nivada always offers multiple options and this new Antarctic GMT is no exception, with either a perforated leather strap in light brown or black, a tropic-like rubber strap or a steel beads-of-rice steel bracelet.
All in all, this new Nivada Grenchen Antarctic GMT is once again done with great visual appeal. It might come with certain concessions on the case construction but also mechanical upgrades, but mostly a very cool visual appeal and great retro dimensions. And at EUR 1,500, CHF 1,400 or USD 1,600, it’s also fairly priced. It will be available for orders as of November 14th, 2024, at 4PM Europe Time, with the tropical brown version being limited to 99 pieces. For more details and to register your interest, please visit nivadagrenchenofficial.com.
8 responses
Nivada do things right. 50m are enough and acrylic as a deliberate option is not a cost-cutting measure, as Lorier have proven. That GMT hand though… a deviation from the original wouldn’t have been a bad thing in this case.
from afar the gmt hand looks like a red snake 😛
Nice. Like the aesthetic.
No excuse for 50m WR minimum of 100m WR should be standard given the amount of pressure that could be exerted on a watch from daily use.
I think this is a solid miss. Nobody walks around boasting about his watch having an acrylic crystal and some underwhelming 50m of water resistance (no screw in crown!), because only that assures the original vintage flair. visual design and movement choice will do that. I cannot understand, why a sports watch produced today, would be missing a sapphire, screw in crown and and at least 100m water resistant so that you can actually wear it in all situations.
I applaud this release by Nivada and wish Hong Kong based Enicar would do the same one day with their immense catalog (or any other brand with a passion for these classics, Sherpa Watches, are you listening?). There are more than a few similarities between the late 1960s Enicar Sherpa Jet 4 hand pilot watch (36mm EPSA case, AR1146 in house movement) and the original Nivada GMT. Checkered red ‘n black GMT hand, color scheme of the inner 24 hrs bezel, movement type: it certainly looks like this was either a colab avant la lettre, or a case of one brand being heavily inspired by the other. Both watch factories were located in the same region too (they were practically neighbors). Anyway, I have the Nivada book by Aashdin K. Billimora on my shelf, but I cannot find information about the movement that was used. The webshop mentioned in this article does not state the movement version either. I can assume this was the Enicar engine, but I would love to see the definite proof. So, anyone who owns the original Nivada, please open it up and look for the AR1146 signature on the base plate. Thanks & well done Nivada!
I’m one of the few collectors with an original Antarctic GMT. It’s one of 20+ Antarctic models I photographed for Aashdin Billimora’s Book about the Antarctic models.
This watch does share much with the Enicar Sherpa Jet and according to information I have in my archives, Enicar used the AR1145 movement. I have seen other Antarctic GMT models for sale but not one identified the movement, so I assumed Nivada also used the AR1145 movement. But I could be wrong. Whatever it is, it works.
I was thrilled to see this reissue announced and think Guillaume Laidet and his team have done a fantastic job with their offerings. Some have been tweaked for the modern market while others have been recreated more closely to original specifications and done a great job recreating something for everyone.
There are going to be compromises. The price points have been exceptional and in this case they’ve improved on the movement but sacrificed the EPSA compressor case inner workings. Has there ever been a recreated super compressor case made to original spec? EPSA is another favorite collector category of mine, but I’ve never really looked for a reissued case. I love the diving bell on the inside of many of the case backs. That would make a great case back medallion if they did.
I really like the new black dial option and guessing maybe there was an original model with that? I’m only familiar with the brown dial and having seen a dozen others over the decades and the consistency in the color, assume it was brown and not a ‘tropical’ aging effect. Brown is not common and appeals to me because of that.
The fun thing with vintage Nivada is that after over 30 years of searching, I still see models I’ve never seen before. Antarctic models are my thing, love the history tied to exploration. I was born in 1958 which was The International Geophysical Year were countries were encouraged to explore the unknown parts of the planet. Antarctica was a focal point for many and there’s yearbooks created showing progress that are great fun as well as lots of other ephemera to collect. In the last year I discovered another version of the Antarctic GMT with different case, two crowns, and black dial and it’s a total mystery. It’s got a rather stubby 4th hand and there’s something that’s been removed on the dial under the Antarctic dial, maybe the GMT type? The seconds hand had detached and it needs a service. Not sure my local watchmaker will want to deal with it yet. This is but one of several anomalies to the Nivada program I love to find. I also own an Arctic model and only recently saw another in an online group. It’s not the exact same, so there’s another watch to look out for. There’s more out there for those who love that kind of collecting.
@xbarx1, are you on Instagram, by chance? I am a huge fan of Nivada past and present and you seem to know a lot about the brand. I just acquired what seems to be a very rare Nivada C1 diver from the 1970s (only the second I have ever seen available online) and would love to see what you know about it and the C1 line. I can DM an image of it if you are interested. If not, no worries.