The Nivada Grenchen Chronosport Blue

Nivada Grenchen goes again nearly a century to 1926 and has a sizeable portfolio to attract from for contemporary reissues, such because the Depthmaster “Pac-Man”, Tremendous Antarctic and lots of extra. Though a sufferer of the Quartz Disaster, like many different manufacturers, it got here again in 2020 with devoted releases at accessible costs. The newest Chronosport Blue is just a little completely different because it’s primarily based on a prototype that by no means noticed correct manufacturing and joins the Chronosport with a black dial from final 12 months. Solely round 20 of the unique prototypes have been made, so you can say the revived Chronosport fashions are 5 many years within the making.

Guillaume Laidet took management of the model in 2018 to start a brand new chapter, ultimately resulting in the 2024 Chronosport (nearly) by likelihood. He came across a really uncommon prototype at an public sale and posted it on Instagram, and it shortly went viral. The demand was clearly there, and plans for a manufacturing model started. The unique has a singular aesthetic with a dial designed by Jean Singer, among the many most celebrated dial makers in Switzerland. His uncommon and unique strategy is seen in watches just like the Omega Speedmaster Racing and Heuer Skipper, and he’s additionally behind the SpaceOne model with Parisian watchmaker Theo Auffret.

The stainless-steel case has vintage-inspired proportions at 38mm in diameter and 15.7mm in peak (43mm lug-to-lug), though the latter is certainly cumbersome, and the watch has a stunning quantity of weight on the wrist. That mentioned, it wears nicely (outdoors of a cuffed shirt, possibly) and the distinctive three-link metal bracelet joins a smorgasbord of leather-based, rubber or cloth strap choices, so discovering the fitting look and match received’t be a difficulty.

The case is generally brushed with daring, polished lateral bevels, and the fluted unidirectional rotating bezel has a black aluminium insert with a primary 60-minute scale and a small 12-hour counterpart on the within perimeter. A yellow lume pip sits at 12 o’clock. Basic chrono pushers sit at 2 and 4 o’clock, whereas the outsized crown screws down to make sure 200 metres of water-resistance. A double-domed AR sapphire crystal protects the dial, and there’s a stable screw-in caseback.

The textured blue dial once more joins the textured black dial from 2024, and there are two embossed, black sub-dials at 9 and 12 o’clock. You’ll instantly discover Jean Singer’s work because the unique print on the sub-dials nearly completely matches his Paul Newman Rolex Daytona sub-dials at 3 and 9 o’clock (ref. 6239 for example). The 9 o’clock sub-dial has the small seconds, whereas the 12 o’clock sub-dial has a 30-minute counter. Black hour and minute arms have Tremendous-LumiNova inserts, whereas utilized indices have matching lume dots on the ideas. A framed date window sits at 3 o’clock. If you wish to measure pace, a tachymeter additionally circles the outermost perimeter, whereas an in depth minute/chrono seconds observe sits simply inside. The dial merely has completely different colors than final 12 months, however they add as much as make a big visible distinction.

Powering the Chronosport Blue is an ETA Valjoux 7750 computerized cam-lever chronograph with 25 jewels, a beat fee of 28,800vph (4Hz) and a 42-hour energy reserve. Features embrace central hours, minutes and chronograph seconds, 30-minute counter, small seconds and date. It’s a really confirmed and extensively used workhorse chronograph motion.

The Nivada Grenchen Chronosport Blue retails for EUR 2,395 on a strap and EUR 2,625 on the metal bracelet, which isn’t dangerous for such a trendy and historic Swiss chronograph with Jean Singer’s dial design.

For extra info and to position an order, please go to Nivada Grenchen’s web site.