June 25th, 2024 | Words and photography by DAHTT
My kind of smart watch.
In 1963 Nivada Grenchen made one watch to do it all.
I'm standing by the banks of the river Avon in Bath, looking at the timeless symmetry of the neo-classical Georgian buildings, an architectural style so aesthetically satisfying that it's still replicated in many new buildings to this day. On my wrist another piece of timeless symmetry. A modern re-imagining of a twentieth century classic. The achingly cool Nivada Grenchen Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver. A panda dial chronograph, or is it a dual time? Or is it a diver? Whatever it is it's gorgeous. So close to being perfect, but let down by some tiny details. Imperfect though it might be, I'm really rather taken with it.
Nivada Grenchen is a Swiss watch maker founded in 1879. They've made many notable watches, but the one I've always been slightly obsessed with is the catchily named Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver. In 1963 when it was launched the idea of a chronograph with any sort of water resistance at all was pretty unthinkable. The Chronomaster burst onto the scene with 200m water resistance which is still impressive by the standards of today. Throw into the mix a dual function bezel which can track a 60 minute dive or a second time zone and you have a watch which had more functionality than any other on the market. Oh and there's a regatta timer in the second sub dial. Just for fun.
It's the perfect watch then for flying across time zones, parachuting into the ocean, swimming to your racing yacht and getting the start absolutely spot on. I can't tell you the amount of times I've had to use more than one watch when trying to do this before. At last, one watch to do it all!
It's rather superfluous actually I'll grant you that. But then aren't all of the best luxuries in life? I likely won't be doing any of those things any time soon. What I will be doing is getting lost in possibly my favourite dial of any watch ever made. How on earth they managed to cram so much information onto one quite small dial and it not look cluttered I cannot understand. It's a design masterclass. As is the case. The pushers perfectly proportioned, the crown signed and a joy to use. The way the case gently slopes back towards the caseback creates the illusion that the watch is thinner than it actually is. The lugs confident, and conveniently drilled.
The box sapphire crystal stands proud of the bezel, reminding me of John Lautners UFO house, and creating beautiful distortions around the edge of the dial. I've said it before, Lorier - take note, this is how you do it, this is what buyers want.
The splash of red offered by the regatta timer against the black and white of the panda dial is joyous. I'm usually not a fan of faux aged lume, but here it works beautifully to distinguish the indices against their white background greatly helping legibility. Nivada does actually offer this watch without the faux aged lume and I don't think it works anywhere near as well as the legibility seriously suffers.
The lume though is where we encounter the first of my criticisms. The hands illuminate perfectly, but sadly the lume on the indices leaves a lot to be desired.
While we're on the bad points, the bi-directional friction bezel moves far too easily. A cuff will move it. I suspect a gentle riverside breeze will move it. This means you cannot just set it to track a second time zone and expect it to be where you left it, making that function somewhat questionable. I've handled an original 1960's example and the bezel friction was exactly the same. I feel this was an ideal area for improvement over the original and that an opportunity has been missed.
When you're making a reissue of a classic watch, I believe the goal should be to sympathetically improve upon the original, as has been done with the sapphire crystal. Sadly, this brings me to this watches greatest failing. The water resistance. Whilst 100m is more than adequate for almost anything I might do, the water resistance was such a big part of the chronomaster's claim to fame that it seems to me a monumental oversight to not match the 200m of the original. A huge opportunity lost and a silly own goal from Nivada in my opinion.
Despite the negatives, I love this watch. I love that the Sellita SW510 movement is a remanufactured Valjoux 7750 (I've always admired and fancied a Valjoux chronograph). I love how on a rubber it feels like a classic skin diver, but throw on a jubilee and all of a sudden it's a mid century racing chronograph.
I love the proportions. Subtle, but with just enough presence. Most of all I love that dial. The font. The faux lume. Those hands. The splash of colour and the negative space despite the abundance of information. I look at it as much to smile as I do to tell the time. To my eyes it is absolute perfection.