Nivada Grenchen and Operation Deep Freeze: Clearing the Air

Awhile ago, I posted a poll here on WatchCrunch asking users which of the two watches between the Lorier Falcon 3 or the Timefactors Smiths Everest PRS-25 I should pick. I added a third option for something else and to leave a comment. A lot of you responded and one response for a third option that kept coming up was the upcoming Nivada Grenchen Super Antarctic line of watches and their newly announced Antarctic 35mm. This option intrigued me as I liked the design so I dug around and discovered it was a faithful recreation of a watch from Nivada Grenchen's catalogue from the late 1950s. On top of that, it was a watch that was supposedly built, tested, and selected for this groundbreaking expedition to the Antarctic. A watch with a military history and historically significant? Now you have my attention.

But, something just didn't sit right with me. We have seen time and time again that the watch industry is no stranger to fibs of advertising and marketing. And watch brands are more than willing to entertain these gaps in history with whatever fits their narrative to sell more watches. That's what drove me to investigate this claim by Nivada Grenchen.

Firstly, let's take a look at their claims.

"Our Super Antarctic is the not-so-distant cousin of the original Nivada Antarctic collection launched in 1950. The original rose to fame when it was used by members of the American Navy’s Deep Freeze 1 Task Force during their expeditions in the South Pole (1955-56). It was noted as being reliable and robust enough to perform in the most extreme conditions. Today’s Super Antarctic is an evolution from the original Antarctic keeping close to the 50s’ lines & design. Just like the original Antarctics, we’ve added the 1957 International Geophysical Medallion directly on the case-back of all our modern Super Antarctics.

In the mid-1950s, the United States initiated a series of missions to Antarctica. Dubbed Operation Deep Freeze, the project conducted from 1955 to 1956 aimed to establish the first permanent base in one of Earth’s most severe and icy landscapes. At the time, esteemed polar explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd was President Eisenhower’s fitting choice to oversee Operation Deep Freeze I. On his wrist, the ANTARCTIC – the same watch that is now being reissued – robust, shock-resistant, and antimagnetic. And crafted to endure the harshest conditions."

There are some other claims I have heard online that the watch was tested and selected over others as an issued watch, but there is no evidence of this. From what archives I have combed through (I don't have access to physical archives so there may be something buried somewhere; perhaps the archives are incomplete), there are no records of any watches being tested by the US military for Deep Freeze 1. There were of course watches that have been tested by the US Navy like the one for the Tornek-Rayville/Blancpain Fifty Fathoms vs others and the Bulova MIL-SHIPS-W-2181 testing report, but such a report does not appear to exist for the testing of watches before or after Operation Deep Freeze 1.

The biggest tell to me is in the "Technical data from Deep Freeze 1, 2, and 3 Report" where no standard wrist watch seems to have been issued to the members of the expedition. This report was written in 1961 at the US Naval Civil Engineering Laboratory in Port Hueneme, CA.

This report makes mention of every piece of gear and equipment used and tested during the first three Deep Freeze expeditions along with the above list of recommended clothing and accessories afterwards. If an issued wrist watch would be mentioned anywhere in this report, it would be in this section.

However, an issued watch is not mentioned anywhere in the report. This report is very detailed and something like standardized timekeeping device should have been mentioned especially if this was supposedly an issued watch. It is more likely that some of the people in these expeditions were wearing a personally acquired Nivada timepiece, but not as a hand-selected and issued watch.

The other claim stating that this watch was on the wrist of Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, the leader of Deep Freeze 1, and that very well might be the case. That there was a Nivada one of one made specially for Rear Admiral Byrd and worn by him. But, one problem I have with this is the fact that all ads featuring or rather, pointing out him by name as the leader of the expedition, were all made after his death in March 11, 1957. The earliest ads and by extension, the first time the name "Nivada Antarctic" appears in the US Copyright archives were marked on June 8, 1957. This also goes against their claim that this newly re-issued watch "...is the not-so-distant cousin of the original Nivada Antarctic collection launched in 1950". The name "Nivada Antarctic" is not seen until these ads in 1957. The watch Nivada Grenchen is referring to from 1950 was likely the "Aquamatic".

On a small note, the current marketing material on Nivada's website states that he was an Admiral, but that is not the case. He was a Rear Admiral and yes, it's an important distinction to make. We are all watch lovers here. These little details matter.

I understand that these ads would have taken time to write, make, and submit, but if it was a watch chosen and worn by him, why weren't more ads used featuring his likeness and his words of praise? Again, that seems to be a glaring omission. It would have been an easy win for the marketing and advertising department of Nivada to feature a quote from Rear Admiral Byrd praising the watch before his passing. Just look at this ad by Smiths.

I would reach out to his estate to maybe get an answer, however, while researching all of this, I discovered that these expeditions and indeed Rear Admiral Byrd himself has become a sort of martyr and been co-opted for the Flat Earth movement and no, that is not a joke. I cannot imagine myself contacting a family that must be getting asked questions by the likes of the Flat Earth Society on what is probably a constant basis. I think that thread is going to have to stay closed.

So, what actually happened? As I said previously, I think this is a case of an exaggerated truth. My personal theory is that there were some Nivada watches (namely the Aquamatic) brought along as personal items by members of the expedition. At some point, Nivada Grenchen learned about some of the people in the expedition who wore their watch and ran with it to name or re-name this line of watch the Nivada Antarctic in honor of the expedition. Again, it is entirely possible I missed something during this maddening investigation into the past. Shout out to the all the archivists out there.

Does all of this take away from the watch itself? Not necessarily. Why did I write this? Probably my hyper-fixation on watches and history.

It's still a great looking watch and I am sure will be a hit for Nivada Grenchen.

Please feel free to share this post around to those who you believe would be interested!