In the early 1990s, only a few months after NIVREL was acquired by the Gerd Hofer company, Gerd Hofer himself found an old NIVREL chronograph that was built in the 1940s. It was built within the first years of the brand’s existance. In 1994, the design was adopted in order to create a very special watch - the NIVREL Chronograohe Replique, Ref. 515.001. It contained an old hand-wound chronograph movement cal. Lemania 1873 and was limited to 100 pieces. The watch was sold out immediately and is a coveted collector's item today.
Today - more than 15 years after the first NIVREL replique model – the popular design of this old NIVREL watch is presented once again in a watch that integrates beautifully into the current NIVREL Replique series.
The new Chronographe Replique III is presented in a 42 mm steel case. The black galvanized dial displays additional tachometer and telemeter scales. It also indicates hours, minutes, seconds and the typical chronograph functions (60-second, 30-minute and 12-hour counter) as well as day and date. The Arabic numerals as well as the hands are coated with Superluminova C1.
Today, telemeter and tachometer displays are mainly used for design reasons. Nevertheless, they do have a practical meaning! A telemeter chronograph for example was originally used in the military to measure the seconds between seeing a muzzle flash and hearing the corresponding blast. Thanks to the telemeter scale, the distance to the gun could be directly read of the dial without multiplying the time with the sonic speed (333 m/s). The tachymeter display can be used to measure an average speed by stopping the time for a known distance. The average speed can be read directly from the dial when stopping the chronograph. For a given distance of 100 meters, the display of the NIVREL Chronographe Replique III allows to read off an average speed between 60 and 1,000 km/h.
Inside the NIVREL Chronographe Replique III a ETA Valjoux 7750 movement is used. It is refined with Geneva stripes, fine finished bridges and blued screws. The sapphire crystal case back gives view to this extraordinary piece within the 7750 family. The complete watch is offered for 1,855, - Euro.
More information about our model Chronograph Replique III can be found in the collection category.