The origin story of Nivada Grenchen‘s Chronosport is peak watch culture in 2024. Guillaume Laidet, one of the most enterprising and industrious up-and-comers in the business, saw a watch on noted vintage dealer Bulang & Son’s IG account — a prototype Chronosport from the 70s — and promptly shared it, resulting in a slew of requests from the watch community for Laidet to make an accessible take of this rare bird. Fast forward to today, and that’s exactly what we have: two versions of the 38mm Nivada Grenchen Chronosport, evoking the golden age of sports chronographs.

For a watch that began life on social media, its essence is incredibly analogue. The 38mm polished and brushed case boasts chunky (almost cushiony) lugs, which neatly fit into the delightfully retro steel bracelet. Having said that, there’s a total of 10 strap options available, so if steel isn’t your deal, don’t worry. The 316L steel case is rated to 200m, not shabby for a chronograph, and sits a solid 15.7mm high — of which a decent proportion is the domed sapphire crystal.

The blocky case nails the funky fundamentals of the historically inspired Chronosport, but the personality and heart of this watch is truly captured in the dial. The dial of the watch that inspired the Chronosport was designed by the famous Jean Singer, and has elements, such as the blocky marks on the subdials, that fans of other famous Singer dials will instantly recognise. The Chronosport eschews the typical layout for a twin register chronograph, with the minutes and seconds subdials located at 12 and 9 positions, respectively. This lopsided design is charming and evocative, being balanced neatly by the date display at nine, framed neatly by a rotating aluminium bezel marked with elapsed minutes.

Of course, as with any great vintage-inspired watch, there’s more to nailing the brief than just dial layout and case shapes. There’s also the importance of colour palette: the subdials stand out against the black base dial in a colour reminiscent of old parchment. Of course, there’s also the single red line of text indicating the water resistance. Interestingly, Nivada Grenchen has opted not to use the ever-popular old radium-toned luminous material, instead favouring two options: clear white or a brighter vintage tone, which appears to be an almost egg-yolk yellow. The latter is an uncommon choice but one that adds just the right level of visual pep to this by-the-book recreation of a historic dial.

Funnily enough, the movement hasn’t changed too much from those used in 70s sport watches — the ETA-made Valjoux 7750 is a staple; a cam-actuated automatic chrono which aptly lives up to its ‘workhorse’ reputation. With 42 hours of power reserve, it’s not the longest running watch in 2024, but it’s still hard to beat — especially at the price Nivada Grenchen is offering these at.

Does the Nivada Grenchen Chronosport break any new ground in the world of horology? Not really. But then again, it doesn’t need to. The formula for an effective historically inspired creation is well-established these days, and Nivada Grenchen has sensibly stuck to it. They haven’t made it too big or too fancy. They’ve done a solid job of emulating that past and knowing where to use restraint. The result is a watch that looks and feels remarkably like a piece of 70s history on the wrist, except this 2024 version is much more reliable.

Tech Specs: Nivada Grenchen Chronosport

Movement: Automatic-winding ETA Valjoux-7750, 42-hour power reserve
Functions: Central hours, central minutes, central seconds, date, tachymeter
Case: Steel; 38 x 15.7mm; water-resistant to 200m
Dial: Black with off-white or white Super-LumiNova
Strap: Black or brown leather; black or brown perforated leather; black rubber; steel bracelet (beads of rice, Forstner flat, or new bracelet)
Price: USD 2,180
Availability: Pre-order for four weeks starting from July 25, 2024, 4:00 PM CEST, October 2024 delivery

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