In only a few short years since its revival, Nivada Grenchen has grown to become a serious contender at the ~$1,000 price point. The brand has arguably become a leader in entry-level vintage-inspired horology, creating a range of finely detailed, impressively faithful reissued timepieces pulled from its own illustrious 20th century history. So much of this success, though, comes down to sheer old-fashioned charisma — many of the brand’s watches simply have a sense of old-school, lived-in character that vintage revivals from larger brands can’t capture by virtue of familiarity. To put it another way, half the fun of many of Nivada Grenchen’s watches is the feeling of discovering that funky, perfectly aged vintage watch that you’ve never seen before in a shop display or at a show. Perhaps no other watch in the brand’s lineup exemplifies this better than the compact, cushion-cased, and ultra-capable Depthmaster diver line. For one of its latest additions, Nivada Grenchen has reimagined a ‘60s-era high-visibility orange variant of the Depthmaster with modern build quality, creating an eye-catching, summery statement watch with immense capability in the process. The Nivada Grenchen Depthmaster Orange packs a startlingly strong punch into its compact, affordable package, blending a lighthearted, vibrant old-school diver colorway together with finely considered, authentic vintage design flourishes and a massive 1,000 meters of water resistance.
Despite the immense water resistance, the Nivada Grenchen Depthmaster Orange’s stainless steel case is surprisingly small and balanced on the wrist. Measuring in at 39mm wide and a more-than-manageable 13mm thick, this cushion-style design gives off an old-school, stocky wrist presence, but remains easy to wear for smaller wrists. The overall shape is shared with the rest of the Depthmaster family, with a softly curving “baby Panerai”-style cushion main case body flanked by an unguarded screwdown crown, tall coin edge dive bezel, and stout, gently angled straight lugs. There’s an impressive amount of nuance to this cushion form, with the sloping upper case surface featuring sharp radial brushing and transitioning crisply to a continuous polished chamfer running the circumference of the case. When coupled to the sumptuously rounded, polished case side surfaces, there’s a feeling of brightness and soft refinement to the Depthmaster Orange that cuts through the utilitarian bulk. Of course, the 9 o’clock helium escape valve is a modern departure from its ‘60s inspiration, but it’s an entertaining reminder on the wrist that this quirky, small diver is capable of hardcore saturation diving work. Meanwhile, the lug design gives the watch a squared-off, short-but-strong look during wear that greatly impacts its overall character. While Nivada Grenchen uses a variety of bezel designs through the Depthmaster series, the bare, radially brushed engraved steel bezel here is perhaps the best match for the watch’s overall style. The tone-on-tone steel construction further visually shrinks the watch on the wrist, and the open, rounded design of the lacquer-filled engraved numerals imparts a charming ‘60s skin-diver feel. Around back, the heavily built solid caseback keeps things simple with an engraved rendition of the Nivada Grenchen shield logo above a matte blasted background. Where this caseback really excels, of course, is sheer durability, thanks to this caseback and the decidedly un-vintage flush-mounted sapphire crystal, the Depthmaster Orange can reach an impressively beefy 1,000 meters of water resistance.
Given Nivada Grenchen’s fanatically accurate approach to vintage-inspired watchmaking, it’s little surprise that the Depthmaster Orange’s dial is nigh-on identical to its ‘60s forebear with two exceptions. The first and most obvious shift, of course, is the no-date layout, replacing the 3 o’clock date window with a simple printed rectangular hour index. On the other hand, the second tweak to this dial design requires an eagle-eyed observer – rather than the “T Swiss Made T” text flanking the original ‘60s Depthmaster’s 6 o’clock hour numeral, this new model opts for “L Swiss Made L.” This refers to the dial’s use of Super-LumiNova as opposed to tritium for its luminous markers and handset. As for the dial layout itself, the design is simple, graphic, and ultra-legible, with a mix of oversized, rounded printed Arabic numerals and rectangular indices for the hours surrounded by a classic black printed minutes scale. Interestingly, the handset Nivada Grenchen uses for the Depthmaster Orange is unique to this model, with a midcentury-style spear-tipped hours hand coupled to a narrow, tapering Roman sword minutes design. Thanks to thick, gloss black outlines, these hands pop dramatically against the main dial surface, and the khaki lume tone used for the hands and dial offers an attractive compromise between lume performance and fauxtina warmth. Of course, the real star of the show here is the semi-gloss tangerine hue of the dial itself. Between the texture and the tone, it’s a dial that feels lovingly aged right out of the box, and this old-school diver colorway makes the Depthmaster Orange a bold and stylish companion for any number of warm-weather styles. It’s a textbook “summer watch” design that should feel at home in the ocean or dining outside at a chic café.
Like many of its three-hand offerings, Nivada Grenchen powers the Depthmaster Orange with the Soprod P024 automatic movement. The P024 has become an increasingly common sight in recent years as an alternative to the familiar ETA and Sellita offerings, and the P024’s performance is largely comparable to these rivals. However, while the P024’s 28,800 bph beat rate and generally solid accuracy are competitive in the current marketplace, the movement’s under-gunned 38-hour power reserve feels markedly outdated. Nivada Grenchen offers the Depthmaster Orange with a broad range of leather straps and stainless steel bracelet options, but perhaps no strap pairing fits the character of this rugged little vintage-style diver better than the optional black rubber tropic strap. Featuring a classic crosshatch texture, enough ventilation to keep things comfortable on a hot summer day, and a light, flexible construction, it’s a comfortable and durable strap option that dovetails naturally with the ‘60s-era spirit of the design.
In the past few years, Nivada Grenchen has become truly adept at capturing the look, character, and wearing experience of offbeat vintage timepieces at a reasonable price point, and the brand’s hot streak shows no signs of slowing down. In terms of sheer capability and personality on the wrist, though, the Depthmaster line might well be its best offering, and the newly-restocked Nivada Grenchen Depthmaster Orange offers the line’s warmest, most attention-grabbing, flat-out fun iteration to date. It’s a bit early to crown the official “Watch of Summer” for 2024, but this is a strong early-game contender. The Nivada Grenchen Depthmaster Orange is available now through the brand’s e-commerce platform. MSRP for this watch as tested stands at $995 USD as of press time. For more information, please visit the brand’s website.
