Nivada Antarctic Models
From Chronopedia
For the history of these models read here
Nivada Antarctic Models
Version One - Circa 1956 to 1964
- Diameter (excluding crown): 35mm
- Lug to lug: 42mm
- Lug width: 18mm
- Large crown for ease of winding whilst wearing gloves in cold conditions
- Movement: Various automatic ETA 1256, 23xx, 24xx.
- Power reserve: ~40 hours
- Case: All stainless steel, later gold plated available.
- White dial with radium lume and steel hands with lume
- Blued second hand
- Most non-date, some date versions - see below.
- Dial lettering can contain Croton, Nivada Grenchen combinations.
Early models are most popular with collectors having the distinctive hour markers, flat lugs and sometimes textured dials, known as tundra.
Version Two - The Roman Numeral models
Antarctic II
Antarctic III
Antarctic IV
Early Date Model - Unsigned
With the same flat lug case and big crown as the first series, these contain an ETA with date dial and no Antarctic subtext. It is assumed that these were made before the US Navy 1957 DeepFreeze tour as Nivada certainly used the marketing coup associated with the expedition to its maximum on a huge variety of dials after this date. The same watch also appears with the Antarctic name in an advert. This ETA movement is mostly associated with models circa 1950-1954.
- Radium white dial and silver lumed hands
- 17.5mm lug width
- ETA 1258 with signed rotor
- White dial, silver furniture, blued second hand
- 34mm width ex crown
- screw caseback with 63L engraved
