The revived Nivada Grenchen is hands-down one of the most popular watch brands of the past decade. That is if you are extremely dedicated to neo-vintage horology—vintage-looking designs coupled with modern technology—which the Grenchen-born Swiss house of horology excels at. Not only is it slowly but surely reviving every single one of its most iconic, daring, and obscure collections, but it is doing a fine job at providing us with quality timepieces which isn’t always a given when brands, whether still owned by the original family or by a new one or by a conglomerate, decide to dust off their archives. We’ve reviewed a few Nivada Grenchen’s on Mainspring already—the Super Antarctic 3.6.9, Antarctic GMT Black, and Antarctic Glacier 35mm—many ice-related collections it seems actually, so it was a little about time that we explore a different category of horology—chronographs. (Actually, I’ve handled one of the versions of the Chronomaster and reviewed a Datomaster a while ago for another online publication.) 

So we got a little way over there. 

One little trend Nivada has created within its own operation and strategy is to offer quartz-powered versions of automatic models so that they tickle the interest of more enthusiasts by being priced radically differently. For example, the Autochron Mecaquartz we’re going to discuss today retails for €750/$856 USD on the metal bracelet while the automatic for €2,595/$2,963 USD, almost three and half times more. That is a significant mass of money separating the two versions when the “only” difference between the two seems to be the type of machinery we find under the hood (along with an additional sub-register on the battery-powered one.) After having written about many Nivada Grenchen’s in the past few years, I can tell you with a great level of confidence that the reborn Swiss brand does make excellent watches and the Autochron Mecaquartz is a particularly appealing model. The design of this collection was inspired by a 1970s prototype, about 20 of which are known to have been produced, brought up to snuff. 

Specifications 

There are certain themes throughout watch journalistic content, whether presented in written or video or podcast form, which have been milked to such extremes that we know everything there is to know about them. Rehashing these themes once again comes with the unfortunate consequence that any new article, video, or podcast sounds the same and shares the same stories as well as the identical so-called nuggets of wisdom. Which is why we all know that owning vintage watches presents certain challenges, and that many of us are told to steer clear of them—because of their high service costs, how it is better to baby them or better still, to let them rest in a cushy watch box, or because they fetch astronomical prices nobody can objectively justify. Nivada Grenchen has understood that and I assume this is where the whole idea of reviving the brand came from. After all, Nivada only deals with recreations and revivals and that is a business model which is obviously working. Again, because the watches are excellently made. 

We can perhaps agree on the following: owning a modern version of an automatic chronograph is better than owning a vintage version of an automatic chronograph, and it is much better to own a modern version of a chronograph powered by a mecaquartz caliber above all else. The later technology is cheaper, more accurate, and superiorly reliable as we’ve seen many times on Mainspring. While the automatic version of the modern Autochron is powered by a Valjoux-ETA 7750 caliber which must be acquired by way of a few hundred dollar bills, the Mecaquartz version by one of Seiko’s popular VK line of calibers, the 67 to be precise which all brands should be using instead of the VK64 for it comes with better functionality—a 30-minute counter yes but also a 12-hour totalizer, bringing its use-case scenarios closer to that of full-fledged mechanical chronograph movements. (Which is what many of us are looking for.) The VK67 is said to be accurate to ± 20 seconds per day and to have an autonomy of approximately three years. 

The choice for this movement was a first great move from Nivada for it technically follows closer in the footsteps of its automatic older brother than a 24-hour sub-register VK64 would have. What was also a good move was to equip the Autochron Mecaquartz with more water resistance than necessary for this type of watch (or any other for that matter)—200 meters of it by way of a screw-down crown and case-back—aligning it with professional-grade divers to satisfy the nerdiest of enthusiasts amongst us. There are also rather satisfying applications of what appears to be C1 SuperLuminova on the hour/minute hands, printed hour markers, and bezel pip, which glows green at night and has a yellow tint during the day, precisely pantone 7506C. The bezel is a period-correct bidirectional dual-scale friction-fit aluminum bezel which is satisfying to use and perfectly torqued. And the crystal is a piece of double-domed sapphire which creates distortions at its edges and appears to be equipped with inner anti-reflective coating. 

And lastly, the case measures a Vincent-perfect 38mm in diameter, 44.3mm lug-to-lug, and 13.1mm thick including the crystal (10.8mm without it,) and I managed to get my hands on the version with the flat-link bracelet which is quite superbly made to be honest with you. It begins at 20mm at the lugs and tapers to 16mm at the clasp, the latter being a double-pusher deployant mechanism equipped with seven (7) holes of old-school micro-adjustment. The links, by the way, are attached to one another by way of screws for easy sizing. This is quite all fun and good things to have for €750/$856 USD according to yours truly. 

Design 

Perhaps the following assessment is erroneous but I would assume that you clicked on this review because you are seriously attracted by the bespoke vintage aesthetics of the Autochron Mecaquartz, which I would understand since this is why I wanted to review it. (You and I tend to have similar tastes.) Even though I’m not a legit chronograph connoisseur yet—although I’ve been working on it in the past year through multiple reviews of these types of machines—I know for a fact that I am mostly interested in those which have hour totalizers for they make it possible to time more sorts of events than a 30/60-minute totalizer only could, and are thus more useful. For example, for how long I have been working on this review, how much time I’ve been running errands for, or how close I am to having cooked the roast to perfection—tasks I could manage using my smartphone of course but which I prefer to complete using a wristworn analog timekeeping device. So you too perhaps are looking for a practical chronograph to time things with. 

Heck, to each his/her own. 

So yes, I was actually more keen to review the mecaquartz version for the 12-hour totalizer than the automatic variant which only comes with a 30-minute counter. In my mind: if you go as far as offering us a chronograph, might as well go all-in and add the third sub-register to make it a complete tool watch. Which is what Nivada did by opting for the VK67 and perfectly integrated the third sub-register within the original dial layout which is rather neat, in my nerdy opinion. So all of them showcase the same copper-champagne background color on top of which all markers are printed in crisp black paint. For the running seconds and hours, an alternation of old-school serif numerals and pin-shaped markers, and additional dashes for the 60-minute counter. My only pet peeve with the latter is the bizarre division of the markings emphasizing the 10-minute increments and four graduations between them representing what…2.5 minutes? This makes it impossible to precisely measure elapsed minutes which “forces” us to turn to the bezel. 

Before we get to this one, there is more to be said about the dial, which I do find very pretty. For example, a fine melted-plastic like texture encompassing a framed date aperture at the three (composed of black printed numerals perfectly centered on a white date disc,) tab-shaped printed hour markers of two lengths, made of creamy longer sections and 7506C-colored dots, a fully-graduated minute track outside of which we find a tachymeter scale, and lastly, the brand and model name embossed east of the pinion, complemented by the depth rating printed in red. Thus a dial which follows the 1970s original almost to a T which is why I’m writing this review. The case is also a remarkable element of design whose shape I have never encountered before (which doesn’t mean no other brand ever made it, I’m no Carl Sagan of horology,) something of a mix between a tonneau (barrel) steel chassis and perhaps that of a skin diver, or simply put an Autochron case. (We shouldn’t always feel the need to coin something for vanity’s sake.) 

Whatever shape the case has, it comes with a wide, rounded-rectangular-like profile and meaty lugs which make the tri-compax + date dial combo look smaller and perfectly framed within the case + bezel combo. In other words, it looks sporty and purposeful in addition to being endowed with a few whiffs of elegance, a unique pairing which makes the Nivada Autochron Mecaquartz particularly seductive. The muscular aspect of the case thus stems from the wide and tall lugs which also form the mid-case, from which wide mirror-like polished chamfers emanate, tapering dramatically towards the 3 and 9 o’clock sides. These chamfers are sandwiched between vertical brushed surfaces on the upper case and horizontal ones on the case flanks, complemented (in finish) by the 6.5mm screw-down crown and knob-shaped chronograph pushers semi-recessed within the steel body. But the icing on the cake is the narrow bi-directional friction-fit aluminum bezel which shows a superb contrast between its matte black finish and the crisp white markings. 

We do find two scales incised and paint-filled within the aluminum body: a larger one counting the minutes from 0 to 60 by way of Arabic numerals marking the five minutes and dashes, and a smaller one indicating a 12-hour GMT scale to easily track time in another time-zone (or why not totalize the hours for a second long event.) The double-icing on the case is the plump lumed dot at the twelve which shines bright at night and pops from the bezel during the day. Oh shoot, I forgot to mention the hands: white painted thin and straight-shaped ones for the sub-registers, a larger needle-shaped one for the chronograph, also painted in white, and faceted polished baton-style ones for the hour and minutes composed of white paint-filled sections sandwiching the alleged C1 lume. 

The Heart of the Matter

There was much more that needed to be said about the Nivada Grenchen Autochron Mecaquartz  than one thought there would be, which indicates that there is much more to it than meets the eye. At first, you might have been intrigued by this model for its stereotypical Nivada Grenchen vintage aesthetics—because yes, amongst the plethora of revived historical Swiss brands, that one always had a design language of its own—which was faithfully transferred from the 1970s prototype onto this modern version of it, plus a third sub-register. But you definitely stayed for more—as I humbly bragged about earlier, I’ve reviewed quite a few Nivada’s in the past few years and each time I found them to be well manufactured and finished, making them high-value options not even taking into account their designs and specifications. Which is why you stuck around. As we know, the design is straight from Nivada’s 1970s playbook and it shines today through its hyper vintage charm. And the specifications are comprehensive, so much so that the Autochron Mecaquartz constitutes a great everyday/all occasions and adventurous watch which can be acquired for the modest sum of €750/$856 USD, all things considered. 

Whatever the 1970s prototypes were supposed to be for the brand and the market at that time, the mecaquartz version has most likely gone beyond that. It is that good, I promise. 

Conclusion

At one point in the past couple of years, Nivada Grenchen released other versions of the Autochron Mecaquartz, however at the time of publishing this review, there is only one of them, and that is all you need. The black dial with copper-champagne sub-registers which will set you back €750/$856 USD on the flat-link bracelet. But you can also opt for one of many other fastening systems—for example, leather of all sorts or a black rubber one, bringing the price down to €550/$628. Whichever one you opt for, the Autochron Mecaquartz is an excellent watch and a compelling multi-scenario timepiece. 

Thanks for reading.