Nivada
Nivada is a manufacturer of Swiss watches founded in 1926 in Grenchen, Switzerland. The company gained traction after World War II, producing a series of successful watches before succumbing to the quartz crisis. Some sources place the beginning of the company as early as 1879 or 1887.
Wullimann and Schneider
The firm of Wullimann Schneider et Cie, Uhrenfabrik Nivada (Nivada Watch) was registered on February 13, 1926. The company was located at Kirchenstrasse 38 in Grenchen (Granges), with Otto Wullimann of Grenchen, Hermann Schindler of Thörigen, and Jakob Schneider of Diessbach pres Büren. Hermann Schindler died a few years later and was removed from the company's management officially on April 28, 1931, with his widow Louise Schindler receiving a 1,000 franc payout and Wullimann and Schneider remaining as directors.
The company relied on proven movements from ETA and Phénix S.A., as was typical at the time, and the company was known for quality mass-produced watches.
The company was registered as a Société Anonyme on September 20, 1932. The new firm, officially called Nivada A.G., was capitalized at 75,000 francs, with Otto Wullimann as president, Jakob Schneider as secretary, and Julius Brandts of Germany joining the board. It was now located at Bündengasse in Grenchen. Another firm, Regalis-Uhren A.G., was registered by Jacob Schneider (president), Otto Wullimann (vice-president), and Julius Brandts (secretary) on the same day. It was also located on Bündengasse. Julius Brandts left the board of both Nivada and Regalis on August 24, 1937, and was replaced by Robert Lerch of Ruegsau and Mlle Rosa Lachat of La Scheulte.
The company was officially renamed Wullimann Schneider & Co, on April 19, 1933.
Later
Nivada celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1976, suggesting that the company officially dates to 1926. The company was run by Max Schneider, son of the founder, at that time.
Nivada was prevented from using their name during the 1960's and 1970's due to its phonetic similarity with Movado, so the products were labeled "Nivada Grenchen". In the United States, Croton was formed in 1940 as a distributor for Nivada products, so many were sold under the "Croton Nivada", "Croton Nivada Grenchen", and simply "Croton" names.
Today, the Nivada brand continues in some markets, notably Mexico. The brand was purchased by Salinas Pliego and Grupo Salinas restarted sales in 2000 selling entry-level watches and operating company-owned branded stores. The Nivada brand was also used in South Korea by the Kim Suk Keun Watch Company from 1985 through the 2000's but appears to be defunct now.
Products
- Rollamatic (also "Rollador") using Phenix 200 movements
- Reglavit, a water resistant watch with a unique external regulator screw
- Antarctic was a long-running series of watches initiated in 1958 in celebration of the International Geophysical Year, and using the ETA 2472 movement
- Depthmaster was a diving watch, water resistant to 1,000 M
- Depthomatic was another diving watch, water resistant to 200 M, and using the ETA 2472 movement
- Alertamatic was an alarm watch using the Lemania 2980 movement
- Ultramatic 36000 (1975) used the rare 36,000 A/h ETA 2734 movement
Due to their close relation to Phenix/MSR, Nivada sold the Vulcain Cricket alarm watch under their own brand as the Wanderer.