Following on from the recent announcement of Nivada Grenchen’s REBIRTH along with the release of the Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver comes some even more exciting news for fans of vintage diver’s watches.
Nivada Grenchen have resurrected one of the rarest and most sought after cult dive watches outside of the Rolex Submariner single red or SD COMEX.
This is the Nivada Grenchen Depthmaster Pac-Man a very special variant of the Depthmaster 1000.
The OG Depthmaster Pac-Man was produced in the 1960s – there were several Depthmaster variants but this was the most famous.
It wasn’t until much later that it earnt its Pac-Man nickname taken from Tory Iwatani’s iconic arcade game that was developed and released by Namco in 1980.
The watch was characterized by its unusual dial markers – which were based on an Art Deco design that gave rise to its affectionate moniker.
IMPORTANT if the Pac-Man dial is too much of an acquired taste for you, don’t worry a more sober dial variant with classic Arabic numerals will also be available.
The Depthmaster’s dial is shown here in matt black but green and orange will also be available – there are also two hand/marker colors – these include old school Tritium color or white.
NG have decided to keep the Depthmaster’s dimension faithful to the original so; a diameter of 38mm, a case thickness of 14mm, a lug width of 20mm and lug-to-lug measurement of 47.5mm or so.
Diver’s features include: a screw-down case-back and crown, a unidirectional rotational diver’s bezel with a red 15-min scale, an automatic HEV positioned at 9 o’clock and like the OG model from the 1960s - 1000 meters of water-resistance.
While the OG watch was powered by an ETA 2472 automatic, the 2020 model gets a modern Sellita SW200 automatic movement.
Strap options include: a black Tropic –style rubber diver’s strap with a Stainless steel buckle, tan or black leather as well as a Stainless steel Milanese mesh bracelet.
Thoughts? Wow, this is ridiculously cool – with pricing around 950€, I would imagine that people are gonna’ be all over this. Once again 38mm is on the small side but NG wanted to remain faithful to the OG model in every respect so fair play to them.
Original but I agree 38mm for a dive watch could be Prohibitive
ReplyDeleteLoved everything until you mentioned 38mm. They can still make a larger version.
ReplyDeleteWas like "meh" until I saw 38mm, well done. :)
ReplyDeleteI hate small cases
ReplyDeletewe should troll them into doing a 42mm version ;)
ReplyDeleteI'm all-in for one of these! And for the record, the lug spacing is gonna be 20mm, not 18mm like the original, which I'm sure we will all agree is a definite upgrade!
ReplyDeleteBravo on keeping it 38mm. The red second hand looks best. I have a date version with the ETA 2472 inside. I'm not a leather strap on a dive watch guy though. Waterproof canvas would look great. The dials on the Depthmasters were everything. I love the orange dialed version with Arabic numbers too.
ReplyDeleteIf they want to do a bigger version they should search out the even rarer model of the Depthmaster that in the same case as the Scubapro500 used. I think the case looks like G. Monnin. The crown guards and bezel insert are spot on Monnin.
I have one with Nivada branded caseback ("N" with the diamond) and a Nivada branded ETA 2472 that's got the same hands, bezel, insert and crown as the ScubaPro500. My dial design matches a Nivada branded model I've seen ( quartz), although that one has a different bezel and destroyed insert. My dial is marked Phenix, a lost Swiss brand that sold movements to Nivada in the past.
If someone at Nivada can do the research, this later version of the Depthmaster could solve the mystery of who Made the ScubaPro500. Even ScubaPro doesn't know, and reintroducing that with the Nivada branding would be awesome.
its actually 39mm
ReplyDelete