Nivada Grenchen, established in 1926 by Jacob Schneider in Granges (Grenchen), Switzerland, has been a pioneer in watchmaking. Taken over by his son Max in 1976, the brand was distributed in the USA by the Croton Company, and their watches might carry either the Nivada Grenchen or Croton signature, or both. They were among the first to manufacture automatic watches, introducing the waterproof Antarctic in 1950, renowned for its durability during the American Navy’s Deep Freeze 1 South Pole expedition (1955-1956). In 1961, Nivada launched the Chronomaster, a waterproof chronograph up to 200 meters, under three collections: Chronomaster, Aviator, and Sea Diver. The innovation continued with the release of the Depthomatic in 1964, the first diver's watch with a depth indicator, followed by the Depthmaster in 1965, capable of withstanding pressures up to 1000 meters. Read more ⇢