Croton also worked with jewellry stores to promote their wares. The unique design and functionality of these watches struck a high note with consumers, and Nivada saw their exports go from 52,000 in 1964 to 173,000 in 1969 as a result. By the ‘60s, Nivada had hit their stride with watches like the Chronomaster, Aviator, Sea Diver. In 1940 Croton was formed to distribute Nivada watches to US retailers, and subsequent watches could be found bearing the name ‘Croton’, or ‘Croton Nivada’ or even ‘Croton Nivada Grenchen’. A judge ruled that adding ‘Grenchen’ to the title would suffice, and so watches sold thereafter are labeled as such. Nivada hit a legal hurdle when trying to sell in the USA, thanks to Movado who felt that their names were too similar and would confuse consumers.
While this watch was in for repair, I also had two other Nivada chronographs to service, which gave me a rare chance to take this group shot. Here is the watch after the service and cosmetic work, and fitting a new crystal. The hands were in poor shape though and needed to be completely repainted and re-lumed.
These parts would have been hard to find, particularly the correct hands, but thankfully they were included in a zip-loc bag along with the watch. Obviously the watch was missing some parts, namely the crown and stem and the main hands. The movement was in good cosmetic shape and needed little more than a service. The movement inside the watch this time was one of the best found in Chronomasters, a Valjoux cal. I won’t miss another chance to include a link to this excellent post on the website Inventit Et Fecit too, which gives a comprehensive history on the model. The Nivada Grenchen Chronomaster is one of my favourite watches and I’ve written a couple of posts about them in the past, this one containing information about the company and the various Chronomaster models. Arriving in a sorry looking state, this Nivada Grenchen Chronomaster certainly needed a bit of TLC.
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