Croton Nivada Grenchen Chronomaster
Croton Nivada Grenchen Chonomaster
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. A judge ruled that adding ‘Grenchen’ to the title would suffice, and so watches sold thereafter are labeled as such.
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’. By the ‘60s, Nivada had hit their stride with watches like the Chronomaster, Aviator, Sea Diver. 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.
The CASD is a classic 1960s diver going through several iterations like the Omega Speedmaster, with tritium, radium, broad arrow and baton hands, brown chocolate aged dials etc etc. They now have a big following, greatly enhanced by the recent Chronomaster Only book in 2018.
Model One - straight lugs 1961 to circa 1971
This is the version covered in the Chronomaster Only book and most popular with collectors. There are 5 main versions depending on the movement:
