Nivada Grenchen, a Swiss brand that made affordable chronographs in the 1960s, is now set to make a comeback thanks to two French entrepreneurs. Established in 1879 in the Swiss town of Grenchen, Nivada had a good run in the post-War years before winding up operations in the aftermath of the Quartz Revolution that swept the Swiss watch industry in the 1970s. Interestingly, Nivada had to change its name to Nivada Grenchen during the 1960s and 70s because of its phonetic similarity with Movado. The company’s most famous model is the Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver, a manual-winding chronograph introduced in 1961 and produced for the next 10 odd years. It was important enough for publishers Anthony Marquié and Grégoire Rossier to produce a book “Chronomaster Only” which is now considered the go-to reference for Chronomaster collectors.
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