There’s no shortage of high-quality, interesting vintage-inspired watches in the current market. Whatever your personal preferences or style, whatever complications or durability you may need, chances are there’s a vintage-styled timepiece that fits the bill and can be purchased brand new. Despite the incredible depth and breadth of the current vintage-inspired landscape, there’s one of the joys of the vintage watch enthusiast experience that these modern reissues almost always miss: the sense of walking into a vintage dealer or a watch show and discovering that one old piece that you’ve never heard of before, but instantly becomes an obsession. Most of this comes down to the nature of selling vintage reissues – after all, if a watch wasn’t popular or well-liked in its initial run, why would a brand go through the cost and effort of reintroducing it to the market? Nivada Grenchen, on the other hand, has built a reputation for diving into uncharted waters and taking risks on obscure vintage designs. For its latest release, the brand reaches into its archives to find one of its rarest and most obscure ‘70s creations, breathing new life into a chronograph that had an original production run of 20 units or less. The new Nivada Grenchen Chronosport joyously captures the feeling of coming across an unknown diamond-in-the-rough in a shop or at a watch show, combining uniquely striking ‘70s sports chronograph styling with fully modern build quality, finely balanced proportions, and a sense of authenticity that few vintage-style chronographs in this price segment can match.
On the surface, the Nivada Grenchen Chronosport’s stainless steel case feels like a “greatest hits” album of every ‘70s sports chronograph cliché. The overall shape is a bold, pleasingly chunky cushion, defined by broad, sloping polished case side chamfers, a tall double-domed sapphire crystal, and muscular, wide directionally brushed case sides and upper surfaces. The Chronosport’s wide, squarish stance seems to visually imply a sense of mass and scale, but on the wrist, this design is impressively well-packaged. With a diameter of just 38mm wide and short, blocky lugs, the watch takes up remarkably little real estate on the wrist, even if the shape gives the impression of a larger, more aggressive scale. It’s an attractive proposition, combining ‘70s-era “big chronograph” swagger with dimensions that work for nearly every wrist. That said, the Chronosport is a 7750-powered chronograph, so the question of case thickness is unavoidable. Its overall thickness of 15.7mm is anything but slender, but the brand works to mitigate this height in several ways.
First and foremost, a full 3mm of the case thickness is relegated to the crystal, leaving the main bulk of the case at a more manageable 12.7mm thick. In addition, a deeply curved caseback allows much of the movement’s heft to rest between the wrist bones during wear, further reducing the perceived bulk on the wrist. The visible thickness that’s left here arguably works in the Chronosport’s favor, as an elegantly slim case profile would run counter to the rest of this bold, athletic design. Both the oversized screw-down pillbox crown and the simple cylindrical pushers are straightforward and sporty, fitting in well (if a bit anonymously) with the rest of the case. On the other hand, the Chronosport’s matte black bidirectional bezel adds significantly to the watch’s overall character. Dark, narrow, and crowned with chunky, rounded teeth, this bezel further visually expands the watch on the wrist while tying into both the color palette and the attractively busy, function-heavy style of the dial. In keeping with this philosophy, the bezel offers both a full minutes scale and a 12-hour scale (allowing the Chronosport to track a second time zone in a pinch), as well as a funky, attention-grabbing yellow lume pearl at 12 o’clock. Around back, Nivada Grenchen takes a remarkably simple and straightforward approach to the solid caseback with a deep, clean engraving of the brand’s shield logo. The original ‘70s Chronosport was billed as a rugged all-purpose sports watch, and this new model follows suit with a dive-watch-grade 200 meters of water resistance.
If the Nivada Grenchen Chronosport’s case is a compilation of classic ‘70s sports watch cues, its dial is more of a remix. There’s a grab bag of some of vintage collecting’s most sought-after visual cues here but filtered through a distinctive, funky new perspective. The original ‘70s Chronosport’s dial was designed by renowned third-party dial-maker Singer, and this new model is a virtually perfect recreation. Right off the bat, the layout here is going to be divisive — some enthusiasts will be immediately put off by the asymmetrical two-register arrangement at 9 o’clock and 12 o’clock, but beneath the surface-level asymmetry is an interesting, charismatic whole. Nearly as striking as the oddball layout is the Chronosport’s use of color — the pebble-grained matte black dial and sandy tan subdials are joined by a vivid “Red Sub”-esque “feet first” depth rating at 6 o’clock, along with prominent splashes of yellow. This is no attempt at faux-patina khaki, but a faithful rendition of the daffodil yellow accents on the original model. Yellow is a rare enough color in modern watchmaking, and back in the ‘70s was even more of a novelty, leading to one of the watch’s most uniquely handsome elements. Rather than simple printed rectangular hour markers, the Chronosport uses what might be dubbed candle indices – classic white columns tipped with a diminutive yellow “flame”. The striped baton handset echoes this unique white and yellow color scheme, complete with lume fills in the same strong yellow hue. For hardcore vintage chronograph fans, however, the real centerpiece of this dial will likely be the subdials. Singer is the same dial-maker that created the auction-record-shattering “Paul Newman” Rolex Daytona, and the Chronosport shares the same boldly graphic square-and-line scales as that legendary Rolex. Once other factors like the light, razor-sharp outer tachymeter scale and the classic needle-style central chronograph seconds hand are factored in, it’s a richly detailed, joyously offbeat dial design with cues shared with some of the era’s most beloved sports watches.
Inside the Nivada Grenchen Chronosport beats the classic, familiar ETA/Valjoux 7750 automatic chronograph movement. The 7750 has been a watch industry staple for over 50 years, and despite the Chronosport’s removal of the 6 o’clock chronograph hours register this movement is more or less in line with its other appearances across the market. Its 48 hours of power reserve and 28,800 bph beat rate are still competitive in the modern world, especially at this price, and the 7750’s ease of servicing and abundance of spare parts should make living with the Chronosport long-term quite easy.
As with the rest of the watch, Nivada Grenchen echoes the ‘70s original for the new Chronosport’s stainless steel bracelet. Apart from modern upgrades like flush-mounted end links, solid links, and a thick, handsomely machined clasp, the overall style is pure ‘70s sporting charm, with a fully brushed three-link design that calls to mind the square-link bracelets used on some Seiko chronographs in the same period. Heavy and solidly built, this bracelet suits the character of the Chronosport well, but a 20mm lug width should make life simple if aftermarket straps are more your style.
Enthusiasts are currently living through a golden age for vintage-inspired watches, but few of the multitude of options on the current market capture the thrill of unearthing an unknown, obscure, and totally captivating timepiece from the display cases of a shop or seller’s booth. The new Nivada Grenchen Chronosport delivers that joy of vintage discovery well, with a potent cocktail of muscular styling, unique layout, classic movement, and sheer ‘70s charm at an impressively reasonable price point. The Nivada Grenchen Chronosport will be available to order through the brand’s e-commerce platform for four weeks beginning on July 25, 2024. MSRP for this watch stands at $2,180 USD as of press time. For more information, please visit the brand’s website.
