42mm
Case Diameter
Nivada Grenchen
Depthmaster
A Watch for the Island · Sint Maarten
There is a particular blue you only find in the shallows off Sint Maarten, somewhere between the white sand and the deep water, lit from below. That is the blue we kept coming back to. Over four months between Grenchen, Switzerland and the Caribbean, it became the heart of the watch you see here.
Nivada has a nearly 100-year history. Founded in 1926 in Grenchen, the Swiss town that gave the company its name, Nivada built its reputation on watches made for a purpose: diving, flying, polar expeditions, endurance.
The vintage Depthmaster was, in the words of Nivada's own period advertising, "probably the world's most waterproof watch." Its case was cut so the lugs formed part of the same block of steel, guaranteed to a depth of 3,300 feet. For a 1960s tool watch, the claim was almost absurd. It was also exactly the kind of over-built honesty we wanted to bring to an island where the water is the whole way of life.
The first proposal arrived in August: a handsome, serious Depthmaster on a black rubber strap, with a black bezel. It was a strong start, and only a start. Nivada told us the dial, the text, the straps and the case were all open to change. So we changed them.
The dial came first. A diver could have stayed black, but this was a watch for the Caribbean. We specified a sunray-brushed dial in a single color, sealed under enamel oil so it shifts with the light the way the lagoon does.
Then identity. We asked to place the map of Sint Maarten into the packaging, the way Nivada once worked a map into the Antarctic. The answer was immediate. That one idea reshaped the box.
Finally, the wearing experience: a beads-of-rice bracelet in steel, with the black tropical rubber strap in the box as a second option. One watch, two moods. By late November the design was locked, and new dial, hands and bezel tooling went into production.
Every part of this watch was argued for, not assumed. The color of the sea. The map of the island. The crest on the back.
Turn the watch over and the story is engraved into the steel: a Sint Maarten pelican above a shark, the banner reading "SXM × CSC," ringed by the words "Little Europe SXM × Depthmaster" and each watch's number out of 25.
A share of every piece supports the Caribbean Shark Coalition, founded in Sint Maarten to strengthen protections for sharks and rays and keep their habitats intact. Sharks are the sign of a sea that still works. Protect the sharks, protect the whole sea.
| Edition | 25 individually numbered pieces |
|---|---|
| Case | Stainless steel · 42mm diameter · 49mm lug-to-lug · 13mm thick |
| Bezel | 40mm, stainless steel with black aluminum insert and C1 luminous pearl |
| Dial | Sunray-brushed, Pantone 15-4825, enamel-oil finish; embossed luminous markers |
| Movement | Soprod-based P024 automatic, no date |
| Water Resistance | 1,000 meters |
| Strap | Beads-of-rice steel bracelet, plus black tropical rubber strap in the box |
| Caseback | Reverse-etched, "Little Europe SXM × Depthmaster," individually numbered |
| Cause | A portion of proceeds supports the Caribbean Shark Coalition |
Twenty-five people will own this watch. Each one carries a number, a piece of Sint Maarten, and a stake in the sea that made it.
Reserve Yours