After testing the waters on Instagram, as they have prior to releasing other recent models, Nivada Grenchen chose to move forward with a circa 1955 re-issue of the Antarctic “Spider.”

A collector shared photos of their vintage Spider, which looks very similar to what you see here, and that’s how the idea came about. As has been true Nivada Grenchen’s entire resurrected collection to date, everything is based on archival models — and that seems to be the formula that works so far.

The new Antarctic “Spider” is housed in a modern 38 mm x 11 mm stainless steel case, with a lug-to-lug that’s just 45 mm (the original case measures 35 mm in diameter). This watch is going to wear great for those with smaller wrists, or like a dress watch for those with larger wrists.

While the case itself is nothing out of the ordinary, uniquely, the end of all four lugs looks almost like a portion has been sliced off and then polished. The domed stainless steel bezel has also been polished, which when combined with the lug ends provides a subtle contrast to the brushed surfaces of the case middle.

This special vintage-inspired re-issue “Spider” dial features a silvery-white brushed sunburst surface, with polished, stepped, applied steel indices, except at 12, 3, 6, 9 — which instead have the full cross-hair marks going all the way to the edge of the dial. Similarly, the luminous dots, are only at the end of the eight printed legs, which represent the spider.

Machined from stainless steel, luminous Dauphine-shaped hour and minute hands, a baton-shaped center seconds hand, and the off-center “Nivada Antarctic” font complete the retro aesthetic of the dial. A domed sapphire glass protects the dial side of the watch, and on top of it sits a cyclops, which add approximately 2 mm to case thickness, but only over the date. The crown screws down to the case, as does the solid steel caseback, and water resistance is rated to 100 meters.

Driving the hours, minutes, center seconds, and date is an outsourced automatic Soprod P024 movement, which is comparable, and compatible with an ETA 2824-2 or Sellita SW 200 and runs at 4Hz, with 25 jewels.

The Antarctic Spider (Ref. 32023A) retails for ($728 pre-order) $775 on a black or brown two-stitch leather strap or a black tropical rubber strap. The retail is ($929 pre-order) $975 for one of the four styles of stainless steel bracelets.

 

Photos by Nivada Grenchen.