In the watch world, we talk a lot about bezel materials. Just yesterday, we covered the new Panerai Navy SEALs collection, in which one of the models featured a titanium case with a carbon fiber composite bezel. These rings on the outside of the dials are fun because they can add (or subtract) dimension and character from a given timepiece. They can also a great deal of function as an extension of the dial itself, such as with a graduated divers scale or a tachymeter.
Heading back to the 1960s, Nivada Grenchen resurrects a vintage catalog piece called the Colorama VI, which featured interchangeable bezels. It’s now transposing the idea to the modern scene with special editions of Chronomaster and Chronoking chronograph models.
Across three different references — the Chronoking Mecaquartz, Chronomaster Broad Arrow, and Chronomaster Paul Newman — the Interchangeable Bezel Kit comes with five different colors per model, each with plexiglass inserts. What’s more is the bezels can be snapped on or off tool-free and still provide you with bi-rotating tachymeter scales on each, which help to approximate your speed when driving a car. They lock in with a super secure four-ball locking system to make sure they don’t come falling off. I’ll be curious to see if the swappable bezel concept will be added to other Nivada Grenchen watches, like the Depthmaster or the F77.
Not much has changed in the way of the three watches themselves. Starting with the Chronoking Mecaquartz, the watch runs on the typical VK63A mecaquartz movement,, Landeron supplied the brand’s movements long ago and the 70 can be viewed through the sapphire caseback. 38mm across, the stainless steel case has the option to be paired with one of nine different straps. Also, for this watch only, you can choose between a tachymeter or a GMT worldtimer bezel with city names around the outside. Paired with the matte black textured dial with orange accents, the bezel colors that come with this watch are gray, pink, blue green, and black/orange.
Next we go to the two vintage-inspired Chronomaster watches, the Broad Arrow and the Paul Newman, with the former sporting a black dial with red and gold accents and the latter featuring a white panda-style dial. While these 38mm stainless steel watches are highly similar to the standard versions, they do swap in the Landeron 70 manually-wound chronograph movement for the regular Sellita one. These also come in the same nine strap options. Unlike the Chronoking Mecaquartz, there’s no GMT-only option, but there’s one that comes in the bezel lineup which includes red, blue, black, and green, along with the black/red GMT. Also, you do get to choose if you want an open or closed caseback, which is a pretty unique customization option. The open back will cost you $200 more.
Case Size: 38mm
Case Thickness: 13.75mm (Chronomasters), 13.4mm (Chronoking Mecaquartz)
Case Material: Stainless steel
Water Resistance: 100m
Movement: Manually-wound Landeron 70 chronograph or Mecaquartz chronograph
Band: Nine different options
Limited Edition?: No
Not limited in edition size, the Chronoking Mecaquartz starts at $579 and the Chronosport models start at $1,975 when they drop next month. Head over to Nivada Grenchen’s website to learn more.
Nivada Grenchen took the interchangeable bezels from its ’60s-era models and transposed them for the Chronosport and Chronoking Mecaquartz chronographs.
