SpotlightA Mouthful Of Metamorphic Lustre: Nivada Grenchen F77 Stone Dials
For their 2024 launches, Nivada Grenchen have launched an F77 quartet that features stone dials made from anthracite, aventurine, lapis lazuli and meteorite
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The story behind the Nivada Grenchen F77 collection began in 1977, when the brand was among the first few to produce stainless steel sports watches and kickstart the widely popular trend of steel sport watches. Then the ‘Quartz Crisis’ hit, and the 1879-incepted brand went kaput. Forty years later, two gallant French entrepreneurs Guillaume Laidet and Rémi Chabrat took a leap of faith and resurrected Nivada Grenchen. Then Laidet chanced upon an Instagram post featuring a 1977-dated F77, and in March 2023, the brand opted for a contemporary reissue of the F77 line. A year later, the brand have extended their F77 line with a new quartet of no-date versions that feature semiprecious stone dials made from anthracite, aventurine, lapis lazuli and meteorite.
The New F77 Line: A Foray Into Titanium Watches
The initial batch of reissued F77 watches featured deep blue, brown tobacco, and black dials, with design signatures such as fumé (smoked) glass, date aperture, basket-weave motif, 316L stainless steel case and integrated bracelet, octagonal bezel, and baton applied indexes. With the 2024 launches, the brand decided to try out Grade 5 titanium in two of the four new F77 watches. Laidet realised the F77 timepiece could have a lighter metal bodied when he began to take cognizance of how his own F77 felt bulky and heavy on the wrist. While doing a check test with diverse metal prototypes, he found titanium to be extremely light, and instantly approved it. Out of the four F77s, the watches with anthracite and meteorite dials—basically grey-black dials—feature lightweight and robust titanium bracelets.
Shimmery Or Woven Stone Dials
Moreover, metamorphic stone dials such as lapis lazuli, ornamental rock heavily composed of minerals blue lazurite, slivers of metallic pyrite and white calcite; aventurine, quartz created after centuries of crystallisation and infused with shimmering mica; anthracite, a high-rank coal; and even meteorite, debris from intergalactic occurrences that landed on Earth. Given the natural formation of rock patterns, no two dials look the same.
Further, the anthracite dial is enhanced with the trademark basket-weave motif to create a texturized dial that catches light at the intersection of warp and weft, and complements the silverish baton-shaped and faceted hands and hour markers. One design quirk is the ‘F77’ monogram. Here, the ‘F’ and ‘7’—featured on the dial and engraved on the caseback—are styled to appear similar. All cases feature brushed satin and polished finishes, have screw down crowns and a protective double-domed sapphire crystal.
Powered by the mechanical self-winding movement SOPROD P024, the beats at 28,800vph and offers upto 38-hour power reserve when fully wound. All F77 models feature classic integrated stainless steel bracelets.
