Nivada Grenchen Antarctic Spider (the vintage one) review

Here she is, the bargain of my lifetime. I have fully come to terms with the fact that I will never get as lucky as this again. I bought it from the pawnshop for R99 (about 5 USD equivalent) and it's as good as almost new sort of kind of maybe after a service and new crystal. This was my bargain purchase; it's all downhill from here.

This is exactly what I had in mind when I learnt to service watches: buy low, service, sell high, but that almost never goes to plan. It's more often like: buy medium-low, clean, keep, or, get gifted something condemned to the bin by a customer of my watchmaker, desperately try and fix it, get it half running, smile, then wear it. Selling is hard for me, not just for this rare beauty, but in general. I tried to sell a Camy earlier this year, but maybe I just had the wrong watch at the wrong time, because I waited for aeons until a South African expressed some interest, until he didn't, then waited long enough to have grandkids, at which point an Indian expressed some interest, until he didn't. I then said something like "I loved you, Slim, we coulda been together— think about it," except I didn't, because that's a line from an Eminem song, but I took the watch off of Chrono24 anyway.

I asked a little under 130 USD equivalent for the Camy. Not really life-changing money, but it would have been a healthy profit for me. The Nivada is different. I was offered some money, I didn't even have it for sale anywhere. And I was offered some money that could make some changes in the life of a teenager going to university. The sum is roughly what I could make working a hair under four months at a minimum wage job. Money like that could be stored safely in an investment account (where I have a little bit of cash saved up from a few years back) or the South African president's couches for when I need it in a pinch for things like food or light-up neon signs of Freddie Mercury.

I had to withstand some ridicule and cocked eyebrows by friends who thought I was as sane as Charlie Sheen for not selling it. They thought I was smoking something when I said that I thought that the watch was worth more. One sentence was the only thing that stopped me from selling it. My father, who isn't a watch enthusiast in the slightest, said, (I am sort of paraphrasing here) "well, if you see yourself as a collector and this is the sort of thing you want to own one day, this is a very cheap way to get that experience; it's not like you bought it for a lot and owe someone money." He is absolutely right. I like it, I got it for almost nothing, so why shouldn't I wear it?

The Antarctic has a lot of history behind it, which is why it's staying in the collection for a while. They were designed to be worn on the wrists of the American explorers during Operation Deep Freeze. Admiral Richard Byrd wore one, so if it's good enough for him, it can handle more than I can throw at it, even sixty odd years down the line. It was waterproof at some point. Nivada claimed that it was submerged and dropped against hard ice. I will lie for the sake of the review and say that I would have tested this claim if there were glaciers in Highveld South Africa. Behind the caseback is a 21-jewel ETA 2452. Some models had slightly different ETA movements that were nickel-plated as well, but I'm not sure if the 2452 was ever plated. I don't care either way, because there are probably bigger things to worry about in the Antarctic than magnets. Sure, there are some sciency machines there, but I'm sure it's resilient enough for day-to-day wear. Power reserve is a decent 40 hours. Winding is fine. Nothing really interesting in terms of the movement.

How the movement is packaged is a whole different story. First off, the dial. I love it. It's amazing. Is it easy to read? No. They may as well have put tiny hands and hieroglyphic numerals on, because unless the time ends in a 0, 5, or 2:30, reading it is a guessing game. This also makes setting it a pain. No hacking coupled with this dial means that it's never going to win any accuracy awards in my collection. Then again, do you really need to know the time when you're sword fighting penguins and drop-kicking baby seals down in the Antarctic? I might, but that's only because abusing Antarctic wildlife is so much fun you will lose track of time, which means mom will have to call you in for supper and she'll be really mad because the snow and seal blood make your clothes dirty. Shock- and water resistance come in handy here too, because you'll know if you've ever engaged in some fisticuffs with any Antarctic creature that they do not play around.

The case dimensions are the real cream for me. 9,8mm thick. Every time I remember that fact I have to relieve myself, although I can't say that, because ladies might be reading this. 34,5mm across and 42mm lug to lug, which are both pretty good vintage dimensions. Some will say that it's too small, and I respect their totally wrong, rubbish, and useless opinions. Tool watches don't always have to match the dimensions of Lizzo.

One slight niggle about the case is that the lugs are sharp and can eat away at straps. I have seen some minor damage after frequent or prolonged wear, so if you have very expensive straps, you may want to take a minute and think before you get your spring bar tool out.

In summary, this is the perfect tool watch for me. I like dress watches, and this is a tool watch that is a hundred per cent as capable as its tool watch rivals from the time, like the Rolex Explorer, while remaining very aesthetically pleasing. It has a sort of art-deco and classical feel to it; it doesn't look out of place dressed up. This is the GADA watch (if such a thing exists) for me. If I can pressure test it and get the gaskets replaced, it will be more than capable of handling everything my life can throw at a watch. I seldom have to work on cars or do underwater welding or other very manly things that require G-Shocks, so this is already overkill. Granted, it is old, so it's probably for the best that I don't wear it when operating a jackhammer or hammering metal things that make nice noises; I have a Casio for that.

It's sad that these are so rare. They're a great design on a reliable platform, like a Mustang on a Land Cruiser chassis. Not the best analogy, I know, but you get my point.

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