Nivada Grenchen Super Antarctic Gets Seconde Seconde Treatment With “Keep Frozen”

Nivada Grenchen is adding a touch of flair to their Super Antarctic reissue with the help of Seconde Second, a Paris based horological artist that crafts playful hour, minute, or second hand replacements. The outfit has been used by the likes of Massena LAB, and renowned watch designer, Eric Giroud. In working with fellow French based brand Nivada Grenchen, now for the second time, we’re treated to a limited edition Super Antarctic called “Keep Frozen”, featuring a snowflake central second disc rendered in one of two colors. 

The Super Antarctic is a reissue of the Antarctic watch from 1950, a watch popular with the American navy during the Deep Freeze 1 expedition to the South Pole between 1955 and 1956. If there’s one thing that Nivada Grenchen has impressed us with in the course of their re-birth in recent years, it’s been their ability to accurately capture the look and feel of the original watches in modern reissues. See our review of the wild Chronomaster Aviator Sea Diver here. The Super Antarctic is no exception, reviving the aesthetic of the mid century tool watch to great effect.

In this Keep Frozen limited edition, the watch receives a disc rendered in either blue or orange with a snowflake design at its center. The words “Keep Frozen” are also applied to the disc, and serving as the seconds hand, will make a full rotation each minute. The disc obscures much of the hour hand and a good portion of the minute hand, but each remains perfectly visible. The practical component of this watch feels a bit besides the point, though. The juxtaposition of the colorful, graphic element and the ‘50s design is what make this watch so appealing, creating a contrast of styles that work way better together than you’d ever imagine. 

Nivada Grenchen leans into the playfulness with a selection of 4 color options for the KFM vulcanized rubber strap: Ocean Blue, Polar Blue, Forest Green and Tropic Orange. Additionally, the watch will ship inside of a cooler, similar to the one seen in the images here. They are sticking to the theme at every step of the way here and it brings a level of cohesion to the package as a whole. 

The watch itself gets a steel 38mm case that measures 11.6mm in thickness with a Soprod P024 automatic movement inside. Each color option is limited to just 15 examples, and are available for purchase right now directly from Nivada Grenchen for the price of $1,005.