This Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver from Nivada Grenchen arrived in pretty much the same condition as the last one (that post here).

(Click pictures to enlarge)

The Chronomaster was first introduced in 1963 and remained in the Nivada lineup until 1978. During that time it changed significantly both in terms of styling and the calibres used inside. The main changes being that the broad arrow hands were eventually replaced by baton style hands, and the column wheel chronograph calibres were replaced by cam-lever chronograph calibres which were significantly cheaper to produce.  (For a detailed history of the Chronomaster check out this excellent post on the website Inventit Et Fecit).

I bought this watch as a restoration project based on a few pictures and an email discussion with the seller. Overall the condition looked to be relatively good, but the calibre inside remained a mystery until the watch arrived. While there is no such thing as a ‘bad’ Chronomaster (in my opinion!), I knew based on the style of dial and hands that this watch was one of the earlier models which gave me hope that one of the better column wheel chronograph calibres would be inside.

Opening the caseback I was pleased to see a Valjoux cal. 23, still in excellent condition and with no sign of abuse or corrosion… always a bonus.

In terms of the cosmetic condition, things looked good too. The case had a few marks, but no major dents, and the bezel insert was still in decent condition which is not always the case on these watches. I’ve yet to see a Chronomaster with a perfect original bezel insert as the bezel insert sits slightly above the level of the bezel it is subject to wear, especially on the outer edge.

The dial was still in near perfect condition, the lume on the hour markers had darkened but was still intact. The lume in the hands was well past its sell by date and had deteriorated to the point of falling out.  You may have noticed in the first picture that the hand for the minute register was missing. When a hand is floating around the dial there is always a chance that the tip of an axle has been broken off, but thankfully that wasn’t the case here, the hand was just loose.

While the watch did run and the chronograph was working, looking at the condition of the oil under the microscope I could see that it had completely dried out, a sure sign that the movement hadn’t been serviced for quite some time. A full service followed and the movement was looking good again.

All that was left to do was to tidy up the cosmetic issues. The hands were relumed, the case cleaned and the crystal polished, here is the result.

To finish off this post, here is a 1960’s advertisement I found for the Chronomaster… a watch for all time.

Rich.

Another great looking chronograph from Nivada, this time a Taravana Autochron.

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Bought while on vacation in Australia in 1973, this watch is still in the possession of its original owner. It was worn daily until the early 80’s when an accident while repairing a tractor left the glass broken and the wearer with a badly sprained wrist. (It must have been some impact as the crystal on this watch is 3mm thick).

Nivada are an under-rated brand in my opinion as they produced a variety of great looking chronographs over the years, all fitted with good quality calibres. Although the movements were often marked Nivada they never actually produced their own calibres, opting instead to re-brand ebauches from well known Swiss manufacturers such as ETA, Valjoux, and Lemania.

The calibre in this watch is a Lemania Cal. 1341 which I described recently in a post about a Tissot Navigator which has the same calibre. If you want to see a bit more ‘tech’ stuff, you can read that post here.

This Autochron has a rotating inner bezel which can be used as a timer, and is turned using the second crown on the left hand side of the case. Other models were also available in the same series, one with a fixed Tachymeter inner bezel…

… and also a model with a ’square’ case, reminiscent of the Heuer Silverstone chronograph from the same period.

The Autochron also bears more than a passing resemblance to the popular Sinn 142 which featured the same case and a reworked version of the Lemania cal. 1341, the Lemania cal. 5100.

With regard to the work required on this watch, needless to say that a new crystal would be needed, along with a service after it’s 25 year ‘retirement from active duty’. As a piece of the glass was floating around inside the watch, and I was concerned that it may have scratched the dial or hands, but luckily that wasn’t the case. So, with a new glass fitted and the movement serviced, the watch was back to its best.

Rich.

** Many thanks to John Graham for letting me feature his watch on the blog. **

Another interesting model from Nivada Grenchen, this time a Taravana Diver from the 1970’s…

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Though the watch was in generally good condition, as you can see above the crystal had a few stress cracks, so would have to be replaced.

Unlike most dive watches these days this watch has an acrylic rather than a mineral glass crystal. You wouldn’t imagine that a regular acrylic crystal would be strong enough to resist the pressure of scuba diving, particularly as this watch is rated to a depth of 200m…. and you’d be right!

A much more substantial crystal is needed in this case, an armed diver crystal, which is around 3 times thicker than a regular acrylic crystal and made specifically for the job…

I’m really starting to appreciate Nivada Grenchen watches, from what I’ve seen they always used good quality movements, the one in this watch being no exception; a nicely decorated 21 jewel ETA2472 automatic calibre with a Nivada marked rotor.

I’m sure the retro styling of this watch won’t be to everyone’s taste but it certainly has all attributes of a good diving watch; a rotating bezel, a screwdown crown and a rock solid case.

… and one of the funkiest casebacks I’ve seen in a while… great!

In case you were wondering… ‘Taravana’ is a Polynesian word meaning ‘to fall crazily’ and is used to describe a rare form of decompression sickness suffered by breath-hold divers in that region. The symptoms of Taravana are vertigo, nausea, lethargy, paralysis and death… yikes! Read more about it here.

Rich.

I bought this Nivada Grenchen Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver (what a title!) from the 1960’s which was certainly in need of some attention…

(Click pictures to enlarge)

Although not one of the major Swiss players, Nivada started production in Grenchen, Switzerland in 1925. Over the years, the company released a number of good looking models with catchy names such as ‘Antarctic’, ‘Depthmaster’, ‘Chronoking’, ‘Taravana’ and ‘Alertamatic’.

Like many others, things were going well until the company was hit hard by the quartz revolution, and it eventually closed it’s doors in the late 70’s or early 80’s. The Nivada name still lives on however, as it was sold to a Mexican company in 2000 who now produce a range of quartz watches under the name Nivada Swiss.

You’ll often see the Nivada name linked with another watch company, Croton, who were actually the US distributor for Nivada watches. It’s not uncommon to see some of the Nivada watches branded Croton (or sometimes Croton Nivada Grenchen) for the US market, the Chronomaster being one of them…

The Chronomaster was produced with a host well respected calibres over the years, namely the Landeron Cal. 210 & 248, the Venus 210 and the Valjoux Cal. 23, 92, & 7733. In my watch is one of the best, a Valjoux Cal. 92; a manually wound, 17 jewel column wheel chronograph which was also used in many of the Heuer chronographs from the same era.

My watch had two main issues, the keyless works were jammed so the watch wouldn’t wind, and the reset mechanism had been set up incorrectly meaning that the watch would automatically reset when stopping the chronograph. Thankfully, no parts were damaged so after a service the movement was back up and running again…

With the movement finished the rest of the work was cosmetic, starting with a relume for the hands and a polish for the crystal. There wasn’t too much I could do to repair the dial, but I did the best I could to patch in the faded area. It isn’t perfect but it isn’t noticeable in daily wear.

I didn’t polish the case on this one, with the wear on the edge of the bezel, a mark free case wouldn’t have looked right, but a good clean certainly made a big difference…

Rich.